How to taste Le Gruyère AOP

While it’s tempting to tuck straight into a delicious piece of Le Gruyère AOP, it’s better to take your time and fully appreciate the experience. A visual inspection of the cheese is a good starting point. Classic cheeses, aged for six to nine months, have lighter rinds and a paler paste, compared to Réserve cheeses, which will become progressively darker and more golden. You may also spot some crystals in mature cheeses. These are amino acids called tyrosine, which form as the protein structure breaks down during maturation. They add a lovely crunch to the cheese.

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Give the cheese a squeeze – texture is important. A young Le Gruyère AOP has a dense, pliable structure, which is almost fudgey to the touch. Mature cheeses become much harder and crumbly with more snap and brittleness.

BREAKING DOWN A WHEEL OF LE GRUYÈRE AOP

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Time will tell with Le Gruyère AOP, so while Classic cheeses have gentle milky aromas with delicate hints of fresh hazelnuts, pasture or hay, the Réserve cheeses often have a much stronger scent. Think caramel and roasted nuts, but also fruit notes. The rind in particular could be quite pungent, earthy and meaty.

Slowly chew the cheese to let the complex flavours fully express themselves and try to pinpoint flavours on the aroma wheel (opposite) as you do so. Cheeses aged six to nine months will likely have delicate lactic notes of fresh butter, milk and cream with stone fruit aromas, such as apricot and apple. There could also be some savoury, nutty and salty characteristics, but these are unlikely to dominate.

Le Gruyère AOP Réserve will probably be more powerful and intense with ‘brown’ flavours, such as caramel, chocolate and toasted nuts, plus vegetal notes, such as hay, wet grass and roasted onion. Tropical fruit flavours, such as pineapple, are also more likely at this age, while umami and spicy notes become much more noticeable. Think meat broth and nutmeg. The Alpage cheese can be even more complex and powerful with pronounced animal and floral notes.

Cut the nose off the quarter around a hand’s distance from the heel, using a wire. This can be sliced crossways into smaller pieces quarters

Start by cutting a wheel in half using a double-handled cheese wire. You can then cut one of the halves into quarters of thirds, which are easier to work with. Do this using your wire or a doublehandled knife hand’s smaller remaining then Do not remaining large piece of cheese can then be cut into smaller wedges to order. Do not pre-cut too many pieces in a single day to avoid them drying out

You can identify the cheesemaker that made your cheese by looking up the number imprinted on the heel at gruyere.com

Le Gruyère AOP has been named Supreme Champion at the prestigious World Cheese Awards more than any other cheese. It has scooped the top prize on four different occasions.

Make sure to wrap all cut faces of the cheese tightly in cling film to stop drying out and oxidation

Before you offer samples to customers, make sure you try the cheese yourself first to make sure it is in good condition and you can describe it accurately. Use the steps outlined above and the tasting wheel

The rounded flavours of Le Gruyère AOP are a firm friend to many different drink styles

Wine

White wines are a good match with younger cheeses. Keep it all Swiss with a glass of Chasselas – an easy going white grape – or an oaked Chardonnay, which picks up on the buttery notes of the cheese. More mature cheeses match nicely with red wines, from lighter styles such as Pinot Noir, and Gamay through to more full-bodied reds for cheeses at 18 months plus. Try Grenache, Syrah or Cabernet Sauvignon.

Beer

Malt-forward ales are a marvellous match for mature Le Gruyère AOP, picking up on the sweet and savoury notes of the cheese. A dark Belgian dubbel or German doppelbock work well, as do brown ales and even porter. For younger cheeses golden ales and saisons are a good bet.

There’s plenty of other options to fill your glass when nibbling on Le Gruyère AOP. Ginger ale and kombucha both work well on the soft drinks front, while a medium sweet cider can also pair with more mature cheeses. For very powerful, brothy cheeses a dram of single malt whisky (open it up with a splash of water) is just the ticket.