T r a v e l i n g t h e

C h ee s e T r a i l
Goat Why fans of creamy, tangy chèvre
flock to France’s bucolic Loire Valley

G
BY JASON WILSON

oats are pretty cute, especially the ones here at Claire Proust’s farm in France’s Loire
Valley. I arrived on a cold, foggy fall morning, and Proust was feeding her goats hay and
alfalfa as they roamed the grounds, poking their heads through wooden slats, curi-
ous to check out the new visitor. “We want the goats to live a goat’s life as much as
possible,” Proust said. “They live outside, not in pens, and they still have their horns.”
The goats had already finished their work for the day. They’d been milked that
morning, and the milk would soon be turned into the goat cheese that’s famous in the region. (“If
MAP: VIRGINIA VALLELY

you milk at night, the milk sits until morning, and then the taste changes,” Proust said.) She led me
out of the barn and into her little shop, where she grabbed a classic log of Sainte-Maure de Touraine,
CHANEL KOEHL

the cylindrical chèvre rolled in ash. She sliced into the soft cheese, only a few days old, revealing the Goats thrive in France’s
smooth, glistening white center. I bit into the dense creaminess, slightly nutty, slightly salty, slightly Loire Valley.
fruity, slightly tangy, full of nuance and complexity. The deliciousness was no accident.

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 “We have the goats on the farm. We keep the milk on the farm. And we make
the cheese on the farm. It’s better to stay small and sell directly,” Proust said. Goats graze by the
“There is no other way. It’s a way of agriculture we fight for.” In fact, Proust and Vienne River
in Chinon.
her husband, Sébastien Beaury, started Ferme du Cabri au Lait near the town of
Sainte-Maure-de-Touraine 13 years ago with a mission: to be a ferme pédagogique, Chavignol once boasted a popula-
teaching goat cheese lovers like me where their fromage comes from. “We are a tion of around 500 people. Now only
country that loves its goat cheese,” she said. about 80 people live in the village,
France, of course, loves many cheeses. Charles de Gaulle famously declared: though there are more than a dozen
“How can you govern a country that has 246 varieties of cheese?” Yet only 46 of wineries. Delaporte has been buying up
these cheeses are recognized as Appellation d’Origine Protégée (AOP). Only 15 and renovating abandoned buildings in
goat cheeses are legally protected in France, and 5 of these are made in Loire the village. “I am waiting for my second
villages, most within a 2-hour drive of one another. The Loire Valley in central baby, so I am also working to repopu-
France is the undisputed world capital of goat cheese—that’s why I’d come here. late the village,” he joked.
Back home in the U.S., I have a friend called Madame Fromage (a.k.a. I stayed in an apartment above an
Tenaya Darlington, cheese expert and author of the encyclopedic tome art gallery, next to Chavignol’s only ho-
Di Bruno Bros. House of Cheese). She has a colorful way of describing, say, tel and across the tiny square, past the
Crottin de Chavignol, the disc-shaped cheese from the town of Chavignol, fountain from cheesemaker Romain Du-
as “dainty toadstools” that turn “peppery and a little angsty” as they age. Of bois. Behind his shop’s counter was an
Valençay (the beloved cheese from that town), she says, “Were Harry Potter to array of Crottin de Chavignol, from a few
wave his wand and develop a cheese, it would no doubt be black and shaped days to 5 weeks old. When it’s young, it’s
like a stunted sorcerer’s cap.” soft and white. As it ages, the rind gets
Madame Fromage insists that true French goat cheese cannot be experienced harder and darker, and the taste gets
in America because raw-milk cheese is subject to strict regulation here. Most stronger. I tried not to think too much
American cheese is pasteurized. Any imported cheese made with unpasteurized about the cheese’s etymology—it had
milk must be aged for at least 60 days—anathema to ideal goat cheese, most of been originally named in Sancerrois di-
which is eaten within a week or 2 of production. So to taste the best goat cheese alect for a small clay oil lamp, but since
in the world, Madame Fromage insists, you must go to France. crottin in French means “dung” and be-
cause of its resemblance to … well, any-
way, the name stuck.
Great Pyramids of Cheese An older man behind the counter

CLOCKWISE FROM BOTTOM LEFT: FOOD-MICRO/STOCK.ADOBE.COM; BARMALINI/STOCK.ADOBE.COM; CHANEL KOEHL

I’d spent a good deal of time in the Loire Valley in my job as a wine writer, but I’d took an aged cheese in his hand and
never really explored the area’s cheese. By the time I had my face-to-face encoun- said, “When the cheese is a little blue like
ter with the goats, I’d already geeked out in a cheese museum in Sainte-Maure-de- this, you must eat it all, including the rind.
Touraine. And I’d spent a cool, sunny morning at the central market in Valençay, It is very healthy for you.” Besides the
near the town’s famous 16th-century château, where people were waiting in line cheese, he also sold me a dry sausage
to buy cheese shaped like truncated pyramids covered in ash. (Legend has it that (also in the crottin shape) and a cheese
Napoleon, in a rage, once lopped off the top of the cheese with his sword after knife. With a stop at a boulangerie for a
his defeat in Egypt; the shape remained ever since.) baguette, and a white Sancerre in tow,
On the drive from Valençay to Selles-sur-Cher, amid pastures of nibbling goats, it was all perfect for a picnic in the hill-
I stopped at one of the numerous farmhouses bearing the sign FROMAGES DES top village of Sancerre—recently named
CHÈVRE FERMIER. I rang the doorbell, and a friendly older woman wearing a white France’s favorite village by a French
apron and rubber boots appeared, asking which cheese I wanted: Valençay or television network. In a park near Châ-
the circular Selles-sur-Cher. “I’ll have both,” I said. In the town of Selles-sur-Cher, teau Sancerre, I unwrapped the Crot-
I stood in line at a boutique called Huchet behind a woman who bought 8 discs tin de Chavignol and the sausage, tore
Goat cheese from of the local cheese. This seemed excessive to me, but a French friend corrected hunks of bread, uncorked the wine, and
the Loire Valley
me: “No, that seems about right for a family. One for each day of the week and watched the Cher River drift lazily along
comes in many
varieties. Among 2 for Sunday.” in the valley below. I couldn’t think of a
them: Crottin de But my journey actually began in Chavignol, an adorable village that’s famous better lunch, name be damned.
Chavignol (above), for both cheese—Crottin de Chavignol—and wine. The village is entirely surrounded That evening, as if I hadn’t eaten
Valençay (right),
by hilly vineyards that produce the famous wines of Sancerre. “When you come enough goat cheese, I ordered the local
and Sainte-Maure
de Touraine from Paris, you go to Sancerre for the wine, and you go to Chavignol for the specialty at a bistro called La Taverne de
CHANEL KOEHL

(far right). cheese,” said Matthieu Delaporte of Domaine Delaporte, where I stopped to taste Connétable on Sancerre’s main square:
his wonderful sauvignon blanc and pinot noir. “The match of Sancerre and goat ravioli stuffed with parsley and dripping
cheese is one of the most perfect pairings you can find.” in Crottin de Chavignol.

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Goat Cheese Theory as they crafted wheels of Selles-sur- When I asked Bilien which of the Loire goat cheeses French connoisseurs
You don’t have to be a cheese and wine geek like me to enjoy the Loire Valley. Cher and logs of Sainte-Maure de To- consider to be the finest, he shrugged. “I have some older people who
Oenophiles know towns like Chinon, Vouvray, and Saumur. But the Loire is also uraine. “We collect milk from the farm come and buy Selles-sur-Cher for the week and Sainte-Maure de Touraine
renowned for its gorgeous Renaissance châteaus lining the riverbanks, including every day,” he said. “That milk was in- for the weekend, because it’s traditionally considered finer. But in my opin-
the famed Château de Chambord and the Château Amboise, which I explored side the goat 2 days ago.” They mold ion, both are very fine cheeses.”
after dining at the warm, modern bistro Les Arpents. Chèvre isn’t the only food around 1,000 cheeses daily. By the fifth Still, they taste significantly different. Sainte-Maure de Touraine is thin
specialty here either. As I grazed my way across the Loire, I ate wonderful duck, day, the molds are dried, then coated and molded vertically, so the curd drains more whey. Thus, “It’s more fruity,”
pâté, plates full of roasted chestnuts and mushrooms, and a delicious local dish of
eggs poached in red wine called ouefs en couille d’âne. Still, no meal in the Loire
with salt and charcoal ash to create the
telltale rind. I watched 2 rubber-gloved
Bilien said. “You have more of the taste of the goat in the Selles-sur-Cher,
and it’s more acidic.” The GOAT
of Goat Cheese
will end without some goat cheese being offered. employees hand-wash dozens of logs of “And how exactly do you describe the taste of the goat?” I asked.
So why has this region become historically synonymous with goat cheese? Sainte-Maure de Touraine with this sel “Strong,” he chuckled.
There isn’t really a clear answer. Legend says that Arabs brought goats with them cendre mixture. “There’s only 1 compa- Later that evening, at my hotel in Rochecorbon, I understood what he
when they occupied France in the eighth century, until the Franks defeated the ny in France that makes this sel cendre,” meant by strong. I’d gone out for a walk along the river, and when I returned,
Loire Valley’s “goat cheese trail” is not
Umayyads at the Battle of Tours. But why has goat farming persisted? Locals he said. “We always use the same, and the aroma of cheese hung thick and pungent in the room. I opened a win-
official, but some farms and shops are
have theories. all of my colleagues do, too.” Eventual- dow, along with a bottle of Chinon red wine. It was a Monday night and all the tourist-friendly. Websites are in French.
“Traditionally, you farmed goats on poorer lands,” explained Jean-Luc Bilien of ly, each log of Sainte-Maure de Touraine restaurants in town were closed, so the hotel made up a simple dinner for
Fromagerie Moreau. “Goats don’t need a lot of land. Years ago, this was a poorer is inserted with a thin straw, which will the room, which I was planning to enjoy with all the cheese I’d bought. When A good place to start is Valençay, both
the region and the quaint town of the
region. It’s a business now, but back then it was never the main activity of a family. bear the number of the fromagerie. I opened the door for the hotelier bearing a tray, I apologized for the smell.
same name. An informative brochure and
Years ago, everyone had 5 or 6 goats. Goats were everywhere.” I asked why they made the cheese He looked at all the chèvre arrayed on the desk and gave a Gallic shrug. “It a map of cheese and wine producers can
One day, I visited Fromagerie Moreau, which sits in both the Selles-sur-Cher in this odd shape. Bilien said the an- smells beautiful.” be found at vins-fromages-valencay.com.
and Sainte-Maure de Touraine AOPs. In 2012, Bilien bought the fromagerie from swer was as mysterious as why goats
Sainte-Maure-de-Touraine also offers
the original cheesemaker, Jean-Pierre Moreau, whose family had run the company first appeared in the Loire. “For 400 to
a good online guide (with maps) to
since 1879. Moreau had sold his goats to a farmer a decade before that, and this 500 years, there’s been a tradition of JASON WILSON is the author of the books Godforsaken Grapes, cheesemakers in the region. Be sure to
herd is still where Bilien sources his milk. this long cheese,” he said. “But nobody Boozehound, and The Cider Revival. He writes the newsletter visit the town’s small cheese museum,
When I arrived, Bilien’s crew was busy molding both cheeses, and I watched really knows why.” Everyday Drinking. Les Passerelles, housed in a futuristic
building. stemauredetouraine.fr.

Many of the cheesemakers who produce

Valençay or Sainte-Maure de Touraine
also produce Selles-sur-Cher using
milk from those respective areas. One
Morning sunlight illuminates
excellent cheesemaker who makes both
Sancerre village and
Sainte-Maure de Touraine and Selles-
surrounding vineyards.
sur-Cher is Fromagerie Moreau, whose
owner, Jean-Luc Bilien, speaks English.

FROM LEFT: ROBERT HARDING/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO; NADEYKINA EVGENIYA/STOCK.ADOBE.COM

fromagerie-moreau-pontlevoy.com.

To experience life on a goat farm (as

well as to eat some great cheese), make
a stop at Ferme du Cabri au Lait near
Sainte-Maure-de-Touraine. Claire Proust
and her husband, Sébastien Beaury, offer
tours and tastings. cabriaulait.fr.

Farther west in the Loire, near the

famed wine village of Sancerre, lies the
quaint village of Chavignol, where the
goat cheese Crottin de Chavignol is
produced. Visit cheesemakers Romain
Dubois (romaindubois-affineur.com)
or Dubois Boulay (dubois-boulay.fr) to
sample and buy.

Your AAA travel advisor can help

plan and book your next trip.
Visit an Auto Club branch, call (800)
814-7471, or go to AAA.com/explore.

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