Brandy-Washed Cheese and Other Things

The Gaugry Fromagerie is slightly different from Madame Bourdon's in terms of scale and, of course, cheese product. Gaugry makes cow-milk, runny, pungent Epoisses, of which some variaties are hand-washed with Marc de Bourgogne, a sort of brandy famous in the region. We got to see first-hand the washing process during our visit. 

The Gaugry fromagerie

A nice cow mural inside 

Cheeses

Washing process

The Epoisses selection in the store

Of course, we were then invited to sample some of their lovely cheese. The one with the grey rind was coated with ash.

Clockwise from stabbed cheese: Mildest to strongest

And of course some wine to go with it

Savoring bread and cheese and wine. The holy trinity of the French table 

The cheeses we ate

A nicer view of the Gaugry fromagerie front

 After an intense round of cheese-education and cheese-tasting, we proceeded to picnic in a nice patch of woods. We had melons.

Setting the table.

Melon, cheese, bread.

We followed our picnic lunch with an excursion to the Château du Clos de Vougeot, what used to be a rich plot of land for I believe the Benedictine monks. It is now the frat house headquarters of the 'Confrérie des Chevaliers du Tastevin', or the 'Brotherhood of Knights of Tastevin'.

Beautiful view of a vineyard

Dr. Max and his obsession with documenting everything. Microbiologist, I suppose.

Touristy pose

I am doing touristy stuff

Part of the chateau 

Sundial!

An old grape press

Old wooden structures intrigue me

Old fermenting vats. The CO2 buildup would have been phenomenal in here. and the large space would have served to disperse the gas buildup 

The Brotherhood's signature Tastevins

 This turned out to be another long day, as we continued our excursion to a smaller fromagerie, the Delin fromagerie. This one made cheeses on a smaller scale, and was not opposed to making non-artisanal or AOC cheeses, choosing to experiment and make new kinds of cheeses such as triple-cream sweet cheeses and the like.

The cheese selection. Notice the triple/double creams