Terroir, vous avez dit Terroir?

Terroir is a French word that comes from Terre (Land). It sums up the special characteristics that the geography, geology and climate of a certain place express through various local products such as wine, coffee, chocolate, tea, and of course cheese.

The concept of terroir is at the origin of the French wine and French cheese Appellation d'origine contrôlée (AOC) system.

Each and every region in the world has its unique characteristics, and the AOC is a sort of a protection but is equally and uniquely a way to celebrate a particular region. With that system in place, we acknowledge that what comes from this area is truly unique and impossible to be reproduced anywhere else in the world.

But terroir is not only about land. It is also about men and women working that land. It is also about the culture they inherited from their ancestors.

Have you ever wondered why certain cheeses look the way they do and why?

Mountain cheeses for instance are not only a tribute to the quality of the milk they come from but also a sign that cheese in these areas needed to last the distance during the long and unfriendly winter months. They are one of the first signs that show not only a desire but also a necessity for men to work together.

Take a 40kg wheel of Comte for example and have a guess at how much milk you need to make it? Well, not sure how close you got but the fact is, it takes around 35 cows and 2 milkings in a day –a vat of approximately 450l of milk is the very beginning of a Comte’s life!

‘Numbers makes strength’ as we say in French, and local farmers decided to gather their resources well over 700 years ago, creating the first collectivities.

As you can probably guess yourself, milk is also changing from season to season due to mammals feeding on different type of food. Therefore, a winter cheese will inherit different qualities from a summer one. Up to you to decide which one you prefer.

Australia might not have as much history as the old Europe in terms of dairy industry but that does not mean that we do not have good terroir.

And for that reason, it seems to me that the biggest mistake is to try and copy what the Europeans have been doing for centuries. We can copy a style of course, as long as we use the incredibly rich resources we do have here in Australia.

A good example of this is one of my favourite Australian washed-rinds, 1792, by Nick Haddow in Bruny Island – Tasmania. Nick has created a very beautiful French style washed-rind, which he regularly hand-washes in brine before letting it mature on Huon pine. A perfect Tasmanian twist on a French love affair!