Comte St. Antoine *HALF POUND*

Comté AOC Fort St. Antoine is a semi-firm, unpasteurized, aged, cow's milk cheese from the Jura region of France. Century-old techniques are used to make Comté, which is the most produced and consumed cheese in France. The taste is complex, nutty and caramelized with a lingering but not sharp flavor.

The combination of sweetness and saltiness give this cheese an intriguing flavor. This mature Comté is firm but supple, with a buttery and oily texture. It is traditionally sold in huge blocks and matures for a year before it is ready for sale. This Comté is aged for 14 months in a cold and humid cave at an altitude of about 1000 meters at Fort St. Antoine. The natural cave atmosphere of the fort allows this longer aged Comte to have a rich, nutty, fruitier and more flowery taste than its younger aged counterparts. Pairs great with a glass of Chardonnay.

In 1966, Marcel Petite discovered a defunct military fort in a forest of Haut Doubs, at 3600 feet altitude. The fort’s structure of cut and vaulted stone, covered with a thick layer of soil, provides ideal conditions for “Affinage Lent” (Slow Maturing). Petite realized that his Comtés should be aged in their natural environment, near the mountain cheese dairies where they are made. Today, over 100,000 wheels are ripened for 10 to 20 months, in the Cathedral of Marcel Petite Comté.