Raw Auvergne sheep's milk, gentle and sweet despite its bold rind.
Lavort, a raw Lacaune sheep's milk cheese from Auvergne, aged on fir boards. Sweet, buttery, smoky with notes of hay and hazelnut. Order online.
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Lavort is a raw Lacaune sheep's milk cheese from France's Auvergne region, made at Fromagerie de Terre Dieu by Patrick Beaumont, who reinvented the recipe in 1989. The wheel itself is the giveaway, a flattened boule with a cratered top that looks a little like a sinkhole or a tiny volcano, finished in a rustic stony rind shot through with native molds.
The paste is ivory, semi-hard, with a delicate open texture that breaks rather than cuts. Aged on fir wood boards for three to six months, it picks up real woodsy character from the boards, the kind of thing you can smell before you taste it. Flavor leans sweet and buttery up front, then opens into hay, toasted hazelnut, a little smoke, and that meaty, bacon-like savoriness that good raw sheep's milk gives you. Long finish, all sheep's milk sweetness.
This is one of those Auvergne cheeses that wears its terroir on the outside. The rind looks intense, but the paste is gentle and elegant, the kind of cheese that surprises people who expect a raw sheep's milk to come at them hard. One of my favorites for showing what a small producer in the Massif Central can do.
Semi-hard and pressed with a delicate open-textured ivory paste, supple under the knife but breaking with a slight crumble at the edges. The stony, mold-mottled rind frames a paste that softens toward the rind as it ages.
Big rustic sheep's milk character with hay, smoke, and a bacon-like savoriness, but it lands sweet and buttery rather than sharp. Bold without being aggressive.
A long, sweet sheep's milk finish that holds for a good stretch, the smoke and hay notes lingering well after the bite is gone.
Sweet, buttery sheep's milk runs through the middle, more cultured cream than fresh yogurt, with the milkiness softened by the months on fir boards.
Toasted hazelnut and brown butter come through the paste, with a grassy, hay-like sweetness sitting just behind the nuttiness.
Stony, woodsy, with a clear note of fir from the aging boards and a meaty, smoky pull off the rind. Real Auvergne mountain character.
Mild, with just a faint savory tingle on the back of the palate. The character here is sweet and earthy, not peppery.
Natural rind
Rustic stony rind mottled with native molds, picking up earth, smoke, and a hint of fir from the aging boards. Edible if you like the rustic side; trim if you want a cleaner sheep's milk bite.
Lavort stands on its own, but the right partners turn a wedge into a moment. Regional pairings first — they were built for each other.
A dry, slightly floral white like Jurançon is the classic Auvergne pairing, cutting the buttery richness while echoing the hay notes. A Sauternes plays off the sweet sheep's milk finish for a dessert moment.
The sweet, smoky, hay-driven paste loves stone fruit and honey, which lean into its buttery side, while quince and mostarda give the richness something to push back against.
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