Crème de la crème

You know Fromager d’Affinois as the most decadent cheese on the board. But have you heard its origin story?

Place: Rhône Alpes, a green and mountainous region in southeast France. Time: the early ’80s. Passionate cheese-lover Jean Claude Guilloteau and his wife retreat to a farmhouse to experiment with a new approach to cheese, combining the dairying tradition of their picturesque region with his desire for disruption. Through an innovative method, Guilloteau pioneers a luscious and velvety cheese naturally richer in proteins and minerals. It sends taste-buds reeling.

Rivals clamour for his secrets; connoisseurs clamour for the cheese itself. He calls it Pavé Dauphinois, after the Dauphiné area of its creation. To accommodate the skyrocketing demand, he opens a dairy in the preserved terroir of the Massif du Pilat regional park next to the Rhône river, and another nestled in the foothills of the Alps soon after. Guilloteau knows he has crafted a cheese to captivate all of France, but what about the rest of the world? With his new Fromager d’Affinois (pronounced Fro-maj-ay Daff-eenwah) – a pun on affinage, the process of cheese-ripening – he vows to find out.

Today, Fromager d’Affinois is enjoyed by foodies all over the globe. Made in France and travelling over land and sea halfway around the world and finally ending up on your plate in Australia, it’s an epic journey — and when you taste it, you’ll see that it’s been worth every second.

It’s the ultimate special treat on any grazing platter — with all of it still crafted exclusively in those same two dairies in Rhône Alpes. This festive season, complement the flagship Fromager d’Affinois double cream with the decadent Bleu triple cream, the gooey washed-rind Campagnier and, of course, Fromager d’Affinois truffles... a new trifecta to impress your friends and spoil your family.