Examples

• Fresh goat cheese
• Ricotta
• Cottage

With their mild fresh taste and acidity, they represent cheese in its "childhood." Soft and creamy, they often have an attractive fresh milky whiteness. Unfermented and unripened, they are made from milk or cream that must be pasteurized.

How should they be eaten?
These cheeses should be served very cool - bring the platter out of the refrigerator just before serving. These are creamy cheeses that go very well with crudités and flavourful specialty breads, such as olive bread.

Wines
Light and fruity wines, served cool

Examples

• Brie
• Camembert
• Carré de l'Est
• Chaource
• Coulommiers
• Neufchâtel
• Saint-Marcellin

Creamy specialty cheeses These are cheeses traditionally covered with a fine white mould called "bloom." Their interior is soft and creamy, of a pale yellow colour when the cheese is well made. Unlike fresh cheeses, these soft cheeses undergo 2 to 6 weeks of cellar ripening after they are drained in perforated moulds.

Accompaniments

• Good crusty baguette.

Good pairings
A soft, well-rounded red wine like

• Côtes du Rhône
• Bourgeuil
• Brouilly
• Saint-Émilion
• Pinot noir d'Alsace
• Chardonnay
• Gaillac

or a Sparkling Wine

Examples

• Époisses
• Livarot
• Maroilles
• Mont d'Or(Vacherin)
• Munster
• Pont l'Évêque

Specialty Cheeses Their soft, smooth, shiny rind ranges from an attractive yellow to orangey-red. They differ from the preceding cheeses in that they are thicker and undergo a washing phase in salted warm water to hasten and encourage the formation of a soft rind and to further bring out their flavour.

Accompaniments
Rustic, hearty country-style breads

Good pairings
Well-structured and fairly full-bodied wines like

• Côtes de Nuit
• Saint-Émilion
• Côtes du Rhône
• Chateauneuf du Pape

Examples

• All goat cheese
• Fresh chèvre
• Banon
• Crottin de Chavignol
• Picodon
• Sainte-Maure
• Selles-sur-Cher
• Valençay

White or rolled in ash, sprinkled with aromatics or wrapped in a grape leaf, their only point of commonality is that they are made from goat's milk. They have a distinctive goat cheese flavour and range from fresh cheese to pressed cheese.
Their fine, smooth consistency becomes firmer with age.

Accompaniments

• Rusks Salad with walnut oil
• Confit tomatoes

Good pairings

• Sancerre
• Mâcon
• Côtes du Rhône
• Chinon
• Bourgueil
• Sauvignon / Fume Blancs
• Try Banon with a vin du pays, a white Cassis, for a very Provençal pairing.

Examples

• All Blue cheese
• Bleu d'Auvergne
• Bleu de Bresse
• Bleu de Causses
• Bleu de Gex
• Fourme d'Ambert
• Roquefort
• Stilton

These white cheeses owe their name to the thin blue marbling that runs through them. The length and conditions of ripening vary.
Except for Roquefort, made from sheep's milk, the other blues are made from cow's milk.

Accompaniments

• Walnut or raisin bread
• Roquefort is a perfect partner for pears

Good pairings

• Graves
• St-Émilion
• Côtes du Rhône
• Cahors
• Corbières
• Stilton prefers Vintage or Tawny Port
• Roquefort pairs well with French Wines as listed but you can serve also a Sauternes or a late harvest wine

Examples

• Cantal
• Pyrénées
• Mimolette
• Morbier
• Reblochon
• Saint-Nectaire
• Salers
• Ossau-Iraty
• Saint-Paulin
• Tomme de Savoie

Under their hard rinds, these mild-flavoured, nutty cheeses are firm and pliable. The texture comes from a particular step in the cheese-making process: the curd is placed in moulds and pressed. The ripening lasts 1 to 12 months during which the cheeses receive careful attention; they may be turned, washed and brushed regularly. Country-style bread

Accompaniments

• Assorted nuts

Good pairings
There are numerous good pairings like

• Pyrénées and Madiran
• Beaujolais
• Gamay
• Cabernet Sauvignon
• Merlot
• Reblochon and Tomme with a fruity Savoy white;
• Cantal and Saint-Nectaire with a Burgundy
• Salers likes a fruity red such as a Mâcon, a Burgundy or a local eau-de-vie such as Gentiane

Examples

• Brick
• Cheddar
• Colby
• Emmental
• Farmers'
• Gouda
• Gruyère
• Provolone
• Beaufort
• Comté

Gruyère These cheeses come from the Jura or the Alps where the mountain-dwellers traditionally produced a supply for the winter in the high mountain pastures.These are large cheeses, with a blond rind and a pale yellow interior that in some varieties is typically filled with holes.
Unlike uncooked pressed cheeses, the curd is heated for a long period before pressing.

The ripening can last almost a year in cold and warm cellars during which time the holes form.

Accompaniments
Rusks and fruit

Good pairings
A lively white or astringent red like

• A wine from the Jura
• Pair Beaufort with a white Savoy wine
• or a vin jaune from the Jura
• Cabernet Sauvignon
• Very mature cheddar will pair well with Syrah (Shiraz) or Zinfandel

Examples

• Processed cheeses
• Spreadable cheeses

These are soft smooth mild-flavoured cheeses that are often flavoured with other ingredients.
Plain or enriched with nuts, ham, garlic, herbs or spices… they are made from one or more pressed cheeses, to which milk, butter or cream are added.

Accompaniments

• These cheeses are perfect for canapés
• Place the cheese into a pastry bag and pipe onto endive leaves
• Form rosettes on crackers
• Fill little choux pastry puffs
• They love fresh chopped chives, ham, etc.

Good pairings
Light whites or reds like

• Beaujolais
• Costières de Nîmes
• Coteaux du Languedoc
• Saumur-Champigny

or Beers