Comte Aged 6 Months

Comté is a raw cow's milk Alpine cheese from the Jura Massif in Franche-Comté, made under AOP rules that pin the recipe to a specific corner of eastern France. This one is aged six months, right in the young end of the Comté spectrum where the milk still leads.

The paste is a pale straw color, semi-hard and supple, breaking in clean slabs under the knife with real moisture still in it. On the palate it opens with fresh cream and sweet milk, then a soft toasted hazelnut note that sits underneath rather than out front. The natural rind adds a quiet cellar and hay pull on the back end, keeping things savory. There's very little bite here, and none of the deep crystalline crunch you'd get from a longer-aged wheel, which is exactly the point of a six month.

This is the Comté for people who want the milk and the sweetness of the style without the intensity of an older cave-aged version. It melts beautifully, which makes it a workhorse for gratins, croque monsieurs, and fondue, and it holds its own on a board next to fresh fruit and a lighter white wine.