Fresh Loire Valley goat cheese with bright lemon and soft ash-dusted rind.
Fresh Valençay from Jacquin, an AOP Loire Valley goat cheese in its iconic ash-coated pyramid. Bright lemon, fresh cream, chalky paste.
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Valençay is a classic Loire Valley goat cheese from Jacquin, instantly recognizable by its truncated pyramid shape, the wheel famously, if apocryphally, lopped off after Napoleon returned defeated from Egypt and refused to look at anything pointed. It carries AOP protection for the region and the recipe.
This is the "frais" version, young and soft, the paste bright white and chalky at the core with a creamier line developing just under the salted ash coating. On the palate it leads with fresh lemon and clean cream, the kind of lactic tang that feels closer to strained yogurt than barnyard, with a faint almond note running underneath and a soft mineral pull from the ash. The finish is short and clean, which is exactly what you want from a young chèvre.
Valençay shows the Loire tradition at its most approachable, gentle enough for someone who thinks they don't like goat cheese, distinctive enough that you'll remember the shape and the snap of ash against bright paste long after the wheel is gone.
Soft and yielding, with a chalky core that gives way to a creamier line just under the ash-dusted rind. Breaks rather than slices when young.
Gentle and bright, the kind of fresh goat cheese that leads with lemon and fresh cream rather than barnyard. Easy to like, even for people who think they don't love goat cheese.
Clean and short, a quick lemony tang that fades fast and leaves the palate fresh rather than coated.
Bright lactic tang up front, yogurty and citrusy, with the fresh cream of young goat's milk carrying most of the flavor.
A faint nuttiness underneath the lactic notes, more almond skin than toasted hazelnut at this young age.
The salted ash coating adds a soft mineral, vegetal note around the edges without pushing into mushroom or barnyard territory.
No heat or pepper, just clean tang and salt.
Ash rind
The truncated pyramid is dusted in salted vegetable ash, which firms the rind and adds a soft mineral note around the bright lactic paste. Edible and part of the experience.
Valençay stands on its own, but the right partners turn a wedge into a moment. Regional pairings first — they were built for each other.
Loire Valley goat cheese with Loire Valley Sauvignon Blanc is the textbook pairing for a reason, the herbal citrus of Sancerre lines up with the cheese's lemony tang. Champagne works for the same reason, bubbles cut the creamy paste.
The bright lactic tang asks for something sweet and floral to balance it. Honey and ripe fruit are the move; nuts pick up the faint almond note in the paste.
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“A traditional Loire-Poitou affineur working in lactic-set goat cheese — slow drainage, hand-ladling, and geotrichum-driven rind development across the region's classic shapes.”
Lactic-coagulated goat curds hand-ladled into individual molds and ripened on wooden boards until a wrinkled geotrichum rind develops.
Packed cold for overnight delivery.
Add to Cart →Cold-ship 2-day overnight nationwide
