Are you familiar with the 8 cheeses of the Savoie region?

Sometimes all it takes is opening a wheel of Beaufort or cutting a slice of Tomme de Savoie to bring back a whole landscape. The flower-covered alpine pastures, the tinkling of cowbells, the vast spruce forests, the herds heading back up to the pastures in the first days of June… In the Savoie region, cheese is not simply a gastronomic product, but it is also a piece of the mountains.

This relationship is long-standing. For centuries, the inhabitants of the Alps had to contend with a challenging territory. Winters were long, villages were sometimes isolated for weeks at a time, and milk, a perishable product par excellence, could not be consumed immediately or easily transported. A solution then emerged: transforming the milk into cheese.

Cheesemaking allowed the nutritional qualities of milk to be concentrated while preserving it for several months. A forty-kilo wheel of Beaufort or a seventy-five-kilo Emmental from Savoy represented a veritable food reserve, but also a wealth that could be transported and sold in the valleys or even in large cities.

Gradually, this economic necessity shaped the landscapes. To produce milk, it was necessary to maintain the meadows, move the herds to the mountain pastures during the summer, and build cheese dairies and aging cellars. A true mountain civilization was born around cheese.

Even today (2026 data), the eight Savoy cheeses with official quality labels – five PDO and three PGI – represent one of the most remarkable expressions of French Alpine heritage. They account for nearly 36,000 tons of cheese produced annually, involve approximately 1,600 farms, and support over 4,500 direct jobs. They alone represent nearly 15% of French PDO and PGI cheese production, while the two Savoy regions produce only about 1,5% of France's milk.

Eight cheeses to tell the story of a mountain

The Savoie region is entirely mountainous. Here, the peaks frequently exceed 2,000 meters in altitude, and more than a quarter of the territory is classified as remarkable natural areas. This unique geography largely explains the region's rich cheese production.

The Abondance is the child of Chablais This cheese comes from the Haute-Savoie region. It is produced around the Abondance Valley, from which it takes its name, and also shares the name of the breed of cow that gave rise to it. Its semi-cooked pressed paste reveals fruity and delicately buttery aromas. Each wheel weighs approximately ten kilos and requires a minimum of one hundred days of aging. With nearly 3,500 tons produced each year, it remains one of the great ambassadors of Haute-Savoie.

Le Beaufort It, on the other hand, possesses something monumental about it. Made in the high valleys of the BeaufortainOriginating from the Tarentaise, Maurienne, and part of the Val d'Arly valleys, it is immediately recognizable by its concave heel and its impressive wheels weighing around forty kilos. More than five months of aging are required to reveal its complex aromas, blending notes of alpine flowers, hazelnut, and melted butter. In the aging cellars, these enormous wheels are regularly rubbed and turned until they reach maturity.

Le Reblochon is undoubtedly the most famous on a national scale. Born in the Aravis And the Val d'Arly cheese owes its name to an old practice of a second milking after the tax collectors had passed. Its small size, weighing around five hundred grams, conceals a supple and creamy paste with notes of hazelnut and fresh cream. With over fourteen thousand tons produced each year, it is the economic giant of Savoyard cheeses.

La Volume of Bauges, with a single "m", is perhaps the cheese that best expresses the character of the Savoyard mid-mountains. Produced exclusively in the massif of wallowsIt boasts an almost wild, greyish rind that gives it an immediately recognizable character. Its flavor often evokes undergrowth, dry grass, and cream. With a more modest production, it remains deeply connected to its terroir and actively contributes to maintaining the open landscapes of the Bauges mountains.

Le Buckshot It is a rarity. It is the only one of the eight Savoy cheeses made exclusively on the farm and solely from raw goat's milk. Produced in the Mont Blanc, Aravis, Chablais and Bauges mountain ranges, it comes in the form of a small cheese of about three hundred grams whose delicate and slightly goaty aromas appeal to lovers of characterful cheeses.

The Savoy Emmental is the most imposing of all. Each wheel weighs approximately seventy-five kilos and requires more than a thousand liters of milk. Its pressed cooked paste develops sweet and fruity flavors, while its famous holes, called "eyes", are the result of a slow fermentation process during ripening.

La Raclette Savoy cheese is more recent in its official recognition, but it has become one of the symbols of Alpine conviviality. Produced only naturally, without spices or flavorings, it offers a soft and melting texture that perfectly expresses the richness of mountain milk.

Finally, the Tom de Savoie This is probably the oldest of the Savoyard cheeses. Once found on almost every farm, it is recognizable by its mottled grey rind and its supple paste with milky and nutty notes. Its success is considerable, as it now represents more than five thousand tons of annual production.

Alpine pastures, cheese dairies and cooperatives: a mountain civilization

To understand the cheeses of Savoy, you have to look at the landscapes.

As soon as the snow melts, the herds leave the valleys to gradually reach the high-altitude pastures. In summer, the cows and goats benefit from an extraordinary diversity of plant life. In some alpine meadows, dozens of plant species can coexist: grasses, clovers, gentians, wild thyme, and mountain flowers. This richness is directly reflected in the aromas of the milk and explains the distinctive character of Savoyard cheeses.

The alpine pasture It is also a remarkable ecological system. By grazing animals, farmers maintain open spaces, limit the closing of landscapes and contribute to the maintenance of exceptional biodiversity.

But producing milk in the mountains is not enough.

It then needs to be transformed quickly. This is where the fruit trees and the cooperativesFor centuries, several producers have pooled their milk in collective workshops to make large cheeses together, notably Beaufort or Emmental de Savoie.

These fruit dairies are part of the Alpine heritageThey are simultaneously places of production, meeting places, and sometimes even veritable village institutions.

Even today, more than seventy sites of the Savoy Cheese Route allow you to discover farms, mountain pastures, cooperatives and aging cellars up close to those who keep this tradition alive.

How is a Savoy cheese made?

It all starts with treaty, performed twice a day.

Raw milk is then borrowedThe cheesemaker adds rennet to cause coagulation. The milk gradually transforms into curd.

Then comes the chippingThe curd is cut into grains of varying sizes depending on the desired cheese. The grains are then poured into molds where they drain slowly.

For some pressed pastas, a pressing This is done to remove more whey. The cheese is then salted, either by hand or by immersion in brine.

Finally, the most fascinating stage begins: therefinement.

In the cellars, the cheese wheels are regularly rubbed, turned, and monitored. A few weeks are enough for some cheeses; several months are needed for Beaufort.

This extended period gradually transforms the material. Aromas appear, the texture evolves, and the cheese's personality is built.

The cows in the mountain pastures also have their own story.

The Abondance and the Tarine are the two major emblematic breeds of the Savoy region.

The Abondance, with her mahogany dress and its famous "glasses" around the eyes, is perfectly suited to the steep terrain of the Chablais and Aravis regions.

La Tarine, also called Tarentaise, is recognizable by its fawn dress uniform and to her dark gaze. An excellent walker, she perfectly withstands the long climbs to the alpine pastures and produces milk that is particularly appreciated for making cheese.

La Montbeliarde, which came later from the Jura, is now widely present in Savoyard farms.

Finally, goats Savoy also participates in this pastoral diversity, particularly for the production of Chevrotin cheese.

All these breeds have one thing in common: they are aadapted to the mountainsThey know how to traverse the slopes, make the most of the high-altitude pastures and produce milk whose exceptional quality constitutes the true wealth of Savoy cheeses.

Savoyard specialties that smell deliciously of cheese

In Savoie, cheese is not limited to the tasting platter.

La Savoyard fondue It traditionally combines Beaufort, Emmental de Savoie and sometimes Tomme de Savoie or Comté, from the nearby Jura region. It is probably the most famous of the regional dishes.

La tartiflette, born in the Aravis in the 20th century, combines Reblochon cheese with potatoes, onions and bacon.

The crozets with Beaufort cheeseBaked au gratin, they are reminiscent of the peasant cuisine of the Alpine valleys.

La cheese crust, a simple slice of bread covered with melted cheese and sometimes drizzled with white wine, is one of the oldest mountain recipes.

La Berthoud, a specialty of Chablais, showcases Abondance cheese melted with white wine and a hint of garlic.

La Savoyard raclette, prepared with Raclette de Savoie IGP, remains one of the great convivial traditions of winter.

La matouille, a specialty of the Bauges region, satisfies hikers and cross-country skiers.

These recipes all tell the same story: that of a mountain that has transformed a necessity for preserving milk into one of the most beautiful expressions of its cultural identity.

Tasting a cheese from Savoy is ultimately tasting an entire region. It's finding in a creamy paste or a matured wheel the flowers of an alpine pasture, the work of the farmers, the know-how of the cheese dairies and several centuries of mountain history.

Photo credit:

Fondue: Camille Gévaudan, CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0, via Wikimedia Commons // https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f8/Fondue_savoyarde.JPG

Beaufort: Zivax, CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0, via Wikimedia Commons // https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3e/Beaufort-sur-Doron11.JPG

Reblochon: Guy Waterval, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons //https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d1/Reblochon_1.JPG

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