Mont Vully

Mont Vully Cheese

I had the opportunity to try some Mont Vully cheese this week while visiting my friend Mike. He had rounded up some good cheeses to try, and not the everyday stuff. I think he has “a source” or some kind of inside “cheese connection”.

Mont Vully is a cheese that comes from Switzerland. It is made at a small family dairy owned by Ewald Schafer in Cressier, a tiny village above the medieval town of Morat. The cheese is produced from raw milk. During the aging, the cheese is washed several times a week with Pinot Noir wine from the slopes of Mont Vully. The cheese reaches maturity after 10 to 20 weeks.

The rind is usually gold to red-brown in colour. The center is creamy yellow. It is semi hard with a smooth texture. It has a stronger smell than taste. It pairs well with Chardonnay.

You can recognize a wheel of Mont Vully cheese by its unique grape imprint on the top of the wheel.

Like Appenzeller, the Mont Vully is available in three grades; Classic, Bio and Reserve. The grades are a function of how long the cheese is aged. Classic is the freshest and Reserve is the most mature. Bio is aged in between. Mont Vully Bio was chosen the “Cheese of all Cheeses” at the 2006 Cheese Gala of the Swiss Cheese Championships by an international jury, beating out 436 other Swiss cheeses.

I would recommend this cheese for a cheese board. We tried it alongside Appenzeller and I found a lot of similarity between the two. It was interesting to have them side by side but I would not recommend putting them together on a cheese board because of the similarity.

Here is a link to the Mont Vully Website.

I liked it and it’s a winner. Thanks Mike and thank your “source” too!