Chavignol: The Wonder of Fromage – unveiling one French cheese at a time

The first thing you need to know about Chavignol is not to call it a “crottin de Chavignol” – no matter what the sign at the fromagerie says. “A crottin could be horse poop,” says expert ager Delphine Lafond, noting that she nevertheless has to correct a lot of consumers – both French and foreign – on the apt moniker of this illustrious little cheese, France’s oldest AOP-protected chèvre. Its true name – Chavignol – is an evocation of the tiny Loire Valley town in and around which it is produced.

The Loire Valley is undeniably goat cheese territory, with five AOP goat cheeses produced in the Centre region alone. But Chavignol stands out from many neighbors thanks to its subtle flavor laced with a hint of nuttiness. At a glance, it’s nothing if not approachable… but there’s far more to Chavignol than meets the eye.

“I think that’s what’s interesting, in a terroir, in a territory,” explains François Bailly, who runs the Bailly-Blain goat farm with his sons. Each Chavignol, he says, “will respond to the characteristics of what a Chavignol is, but each will have its own character.”

One AOP, Two Distinct Roles

Chavignol’s AOP stands out from many others thanks to its unique, two-pronged structure. “It’s one of the rare appellations where we have an affineur system,” explains François. “Agers are historic, here.” Back in the day, he explains, local farmers would typically devote themselves exclusively to producing these tiny, barrel-shaped goat cheeses; it was up to master affineurs to age and market them.

And while the industry has grown substantially from a time when a producer might have just seven goats, the AOP charter has ensconced this long-held tradition into law.

At Bailly-Blain, François and his sons Nicolas and Clément have taken specialization one step further. It was Nicolas, motivated by his passion for agro-ecology, who first decided to join the family business as a farmer. But, François muses, “if I only had Nicolas, I don’t think there would be cheese. He may love eating cheese, he loves tasting it, but making cheese would never have been his leitmotif.”

Luckily, younger brother Clément, who had originally set his sights on becoming a veterinarian, changed his mind. “He told me, ‘Dad, I’d like to keep making cheese,’” François recalls. He trained in nearby Pouligny before returning to the ancestral farm to transform the milk produced by his brother into Chavignol.

To make good cheese, you need good milk, and to make good milk, you need healthy animals. Nicolas is the captain of the team raising the family’s 500 Alpine goats, one of two breeds permitted by the AOP. “We picked Alpines because they’re closer to what would have been called the common Berry
goat,” says François, evoking the erstwhile endemic mixed-breed goat. Alpines, as their name suggests, originally hail from the Alps, though these days, the friendly, curious animals can be found all over France. While certainly hardier than some other breeds, goats are, by nature, “at once rustic and fragile,” according to François. And even if a farmer didn’t have the animals’ best interest at heart, goats have a built-in stopgap.

“With goats, we’ve got a great advantage with regards to animal welfare,” he says. “If you don’t raise her in optimal conditions, she won’t give any milk.” It’s for this reason that the Baillys have opted to raise their goats in state-of-the-art barns, where they can cultivate a crucial characteristic leading to their well-being: stability.

“The first rule of animal well-being is a lack of frustration,” says François. And stress, Clément adds, isn’t just bad for the animals – it can translate to issues with their milk. Given the ever-more-palpable effects of climate change, it’s ever more essential for farmers to exert control over the animals’ environment and, above all, their feed. And these goats have got the very best. For the past 15 years, Nicolas has tasked himself with growing all of the hay for the goats’ feed on-site, a move that guarantees a raw product little brother Clément is proud to work with.

“Our role, as cheesemakers, is to translate our feed, which will impact the milk, into the cheese,” he explains. And theirs stands out from many of their competitors in that it can spontaneously coagulate with nearly no need for rennet at all.

A Day in the Life of a Chavignol Maker

Clément starts his day at 6:30 am by cooling the fresh, raw milk to between 20 and 23 degrees and filtering it to remove any impurities. Its pH is taken to help him judge how much rennet and lactoserum need to be added to ensure the cheese separates into solid curds and liquid whey. “We’re adding very minimal rennet, with regards to the amount of milk,” explains Clément. “What’s really going to help us coagulate our milk is acidification.”

Acidification is the ancestral means of making goat cheeses, as well as some lactic fermented cow’s cheeses like Camembert. The slow coagulation leads to a soft, almost yogurt-like curd that’s already quite flavorsome, even before being transformed into cheese. And while the Chavignol AOP allows for anywhere from one to two days of acidification, Clément waits the full 48 hours for even more complexity.

This isn’t the only way that Clément goes even further than the AOP rules require. He’s adamant about not buying in outside ferments, opting instead to cultivate his own on-site. “Thanks to these ferments,” he says, “our cheese is going to take on all of its personality.”

At Bailly-Blain, Clément champions a unique technique of acidifying the curds directly in cheesecloth lined with plastic. Once it’s ready, he simply removes the plastic layer so that the whey can fall into a plastic tub below. This, he explains, prevents the delicate curd from being overworked, which can impact the flavor and texture of the finished cheese.

Once the curd has drained, it’s time to mold it into little crottins, spreading it out evenly in large plastic molds. It requires a bit of practice to get it just right, and since no two batches are just the same, company policy dictates that each member of his cheesemaking team prepares his or her own curd.

“You work better with something you feel good about,” he says. The cheesemaking team works until around 12:30, at which point they take a break, only to return after the 5 pm milking and do it all over again. Depending on the season, they may make up to 2,000 cheeses every single day.

The Role of the Master Ager

The production of Chavignol is just one part of the puzzle. After 24 hours, about 70 percent of the Chavignols that Clément and his team produce are sent to expert local affineurs to be salted, dried, and aged to perfection. (The remainder are aged on-site to be sold to passers-by or to certain Parisian cheesemongers with whom the family works, including MOFs Laurent Dubois and the Quatrehomme family.)

“In spite of the fact that it starts as the same cheese, the hands of the ager will give it all of its character, its personality,” says Clément.

Delphine Lafond is one such professional. She joined the team at 130-year-old Dubois-Boulay in 2005, and after eight years working as an ager, she was offered the store manager role, a job she happily accepted. “I’m on the other side, now,” she says, noting that her current job is facilitated by her past work. “It’s good to know where the cheeses come from, how we salt them, how we work with them. It makes it easier to sell them.”

The aging process begins with the day-old cheeses, which Delphine and her team collect every single day from a number of local producers. They carefully salt the outside of each cheese, which seasons it but also draws out its moisture and helps to encourage its rind to form.

“We don’t mix them,” she says of the cheeses. “They’re really salted cheese by cheese, producer by producer.” Next, they are transferred to stone aging rooms, where everything from the ventilation to the humidity is monitored 24/7. The walls, Delphine says, are home to a host of Penicillium and Geotrichum candidum spores, which land on the cheese, helping urge it to its perfect finished form.

After just ten days, the first cheeses will have developed their signature wrinkled white rind and be ready for sale. But while this demi-sec iteration is perhaps the most familiar form for Chavignol to take, it’s far from the only one.

How Old Is Your Chavignol?

At Dubois-Boulay, Chavignols can be aged to five distinct stages, and according to Clément, it’s up to these experts to decide which cheeses are best suited to which age. After ten days in the cellar, a demi-sec Chavignol is tender and fresh with a wrinkled, vermicular rind. The easy-to-love young goat cheese is the most common age, one you’ll find at cheese shops near and far. It’s also perhaps the most approachable, with a fairly creamy interior and a much milder flavor than most fresh goat cheeses you’ll find in the U.S., for instance.

At about two weeks of age, Chavignols reach the demi-bleuté stage, at which point their rinds become partially covered with fuzzy blue-white mold. This mold, Delphine is quick to note, is safe, edible, and delicious. “You don’t scrape it off!” she says. “This is the countryside. If you remove it, you remove all of its charm.” Flavor-wise, a demi-bleuté Chavignol is slightly more goaty than its younger brother, and it has a slightly firmer texture.

After four to six weeks, the cheese reaches the bleuté or “bluish” stage. Beneath the even thicker blanket of blue rind, this Chavignol boasts a woodsy, nutty flavor and, depending on the season, may have a slightly drier or more tender texture to its dense paste. Above all, Delphine notes, while the fuzzy rind may make some balk, a bleuté Chavignol “is not at all aggressive.

When it’s in season, they’re really quite mild, quite creamy.” Things start to get a bit spicier when you move into the sec category, at which point the cheese has aged to the point of taking on a brittle texture, almost like Parmesan. This, Delphine says, is the ideal stage at which to enjoy small slivers for an apéro, though it can also be grated or thinly sliced over salads or pastas.

There’s one last stage of aging that you won’t find in just any shop. Grand Affinage, also known as repassé, is a style of Chavignol that keeps true to time-honored tradition. To produce it, the master agers at Dubois-Boulay transfer bleuté goat cheeses into earthenware jars. Over four to six months, the cheeses become moist, tender, and extremely creamy with an extremely present, very assertive flavor. These goat cheeses could prove divisive, but in the hands of such a master ager, they’re well worth a taste.”There’s a crescendo (of flavors),” says Delphine of the palette of flavors and aromas. “That’s what’s so great about Chavignol – you have one for every palate.”

How to Enjoy Chavignol

Chavignol is delicious eaten all on its own, but putting it on a cheese board is just the beginning. One classic classic recipe for Chavignol is the famous salade de chèvre chaud.

To make it, halve the barrels of Chavignol into slightly thinner rounds and place them on a slice of bread. Garnish with some fresh thyme, and slip them under the broiler until the bread is toasty and the cheese warm and gooey. Place the finished toasts atop green salad tossed with mustard vinaigrette, and consider gilding the lily with a drizzle of honey or a handful of toasted walnuts.

If your Chavignol is slightly past its prime, it’s begging to be paired with eggs in a quiche or an omelette. Cooking the cheese will soften some of its more assertive aromas, and pairing the meal with a glass of local Sancerre will showcase the richness of its Loire Valley terroir.

Are you familiar with Chavignol? Which is your favourite fromage?

Image credit: All images are copyright the author unless otherwise stated.

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