Antony: Eleveur de Fromages (Vieux Ferrette, France)

5 rue de la montagne, Vieux-Ferrette
68480, France
03 89 40 42 22

http://fromagerieantony.pagesperso-orange.fr/

Jean-Francois at the Counter

About half an hour north of Basel, in the tiny Alsatian town of Vieux Ferrette, there is a remarkable fromagerie. Actually, it's much more than a cheese shop; it is the base of operations for Bernard Antony, probably the most famous affineur in France. The charming, perpetually smiling Mr. Antony carefully selects partially aged cheese from some 50 some odd small producers, picking only the ones that show the most promise, and then "elevates" or ages them to perfection in strictly temperature- and humidity-controlled environments. The resulting quality is incredible. Since I haven't spent much time tasting cheeses outside of the United States, I am a bit of a country bumpkin when it comes to cheeses -- but I can safely say that the purity and intensity of flavors is like nothing I have tasted, before.

Mr. Antony is known for supplying only very well-rated French restaurants with his wares, including a world-famous four-year old Comté. He limits his clientele to a few select chefs, including Alain Ducasse, Pierre Gagnaire, Alain Passard and Alain Senderens. The walls of his humble little shop are lined with framed letters of thanks from numerous dignitaries, including President Sarkozy and his wife, Carla, and documentation of numerous honors he's received during his three decades in this line of work. There is a rumor that the town of Vieux Ferrette (population 561) built a landing strip just so various Middle Eastern sheiks could fly in to buy their elevated cheeses, and then fly home. I don't doubt the story.

We waited in line for about 20 minutes, behind a young, Swiss-German couple who seemed intent on buying out nearly the entire store. According to Charlotte, Mr. Antony sells his cheese for about the same price as many grocery stores in Switzerland, so it's not hard to see why one might want to load up. In any event, the wait gave us time to drool over the selection. Business had been brisk as of late, the counterman, Jean-Francois (who happens to be Mr. Antony's son and an accomplished cheesemaker in his own right) said, and he warned us that some of the cheeses were younger than he'd usually care to sell. Still, we walked off with an impressive loot.

Among other things, we bought an excellent, almost caramely aged Mimolette with a slight corona (not pictured). We also purchased: (1) a downy rind Camembert made from raw, unfiltered cow's milk, shown in the upper left of the photo; (2) a sharp unpasteurized sheep's milk Valencay, fairly crumbly and probably still fairly young; (3) a nutty, raw milk Reblochon with a uniform moldy rind; (4) a stinky, very runny and highly enjoyable Epoisse; (5) what I think was a Saint Nectaire; (6) a Maroilles; and (7) a well ripened, assertive Munster.

All of these cheeses, except the Mimolette, were made from raw milk and about a million times more flavorful than cheeses sold by the same name in the United States. Part of the difference is attributable to the fact federal law in the U.S. prohibits raw milk cheeses younger than 60 days from being offered for sale. (These restrictions may become even more stringent: The Food and Drug Administration is currently reviewing guidelines for raw milk cheeses and some fear it may ban raw milk cheeses altogether.) Many cheese lovers believe that unpasteurized cheeses better express the terroir; Mr. Antony has famously compared pasteurizing cheese to castration. It would be a real shame if ordinary Americans never have a chance to experience these sorts of delights. I am certain that anyone who has tried an Antony-aged cheese would never voluntarily eat a Kraft cheese product, ever again.

Final note: If you can't take any cheese with you (i.e. because of irksome import restrictions into your home country), note that the fromagerie has a tasting room, where you can reserve a spot at a six course cérémonie de fromages with Mr. Antony on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays.