Smells of distinction

Press, 17 April 1980, Page 16

Smells of distinction

From the “Economist,” London

Ever heard of "Bleu des Causses” or “Crottin de Chavignol”? If you are tired of keeping up with the wine know-alls, France now offers an alternative . attraction: cheese snobbery. ~ French cheesemakers, have just introduced a trademark giving their best produce the "appellation .. controlee / status that distinguishes France’s noblest wines from plonk. .., ■ The parallel between cheese and wine does not go far. There will not in' future be good years and bad years for Beaufort (no cheese remains edible for more than a vear any way).' •. Still, the new . trademark authenticates a .score ot cheeses as originating from tightly-defined areas .in France and as being made bv traditional methods ensuring high quality. Producers submit to rigorous Goverrimeht inspection ;to earn the-s.eal, which will figure on all packaging.- •. ■- OffiCiaL’certificates of origin have been granted to tne most constant of Frances

400 local cheeses for the.last ; 60 years, but the new mar--1 keting sign gives them group chic designed to support France’s quest, for food processing expansion. The '2l members of this club (more are to be admitted if they play by club rules), account for 12 per cent of France’s $3.5 billion cheese output, one fifth of which is sold abroad; The other 88 per cent is not so much second-rate as geographically indeterminate. - Camembert, Gruyere, Brie and other big names cannot be members of the “appellation controlee” club, however good they taste, because thew are often produced far. from their original home, even in America and Germany

So the mantle of class falls to Beaufort, Cantal, Comte, Munster, Roquefort and some more esoteric brands whose production has never budged from a welldefined area, sometimes only a single sJjuare-mile of pasture.

Roquefort, made from ewe’s milk, refuses to ripen anywhere but in cellars in or near the little southern town of the same name.

A cheese needs a history that; stretches back at least 100 years to win the “appellation controlee” classification; If inspectors find fault with such a cheese i( is their job to expel it, which is more than the Government’s • wine inspectors can do to wine that has lost its class.