Epoisses de Bourgogne

Note to self....when I start to go into detail about some obscure cheese I should really get my facts straight. Sorry everyone but I was wrong about two things regarding Epoisses....first is that it is spelled with an 's' at the end and second that it is not from a French city by the same name but a village with that name. Now I'm sure most of you are like "village...city...same difference" and you're probably right to some extent but I like to be as accurate as I can in order to not confuse or misguide any of you. I won't beat myself up about these two thing too much but I guess by writing a post to clarify I'd get another chance to talk about this beloved cheese.

After some Googling and Wikipediaing I am now much more versed on this delectable gooey goodness called Epoisses de Bourgogne (or Epoisses for short). This pungnent cheese is what is referred to as a wash-rind cheese and the wash for this particular cheese is marc de Bourgogne which is a local pomace brandy. Apparently I am not the only fan of this epicurean delight as it was highly regarded by Napoleon as well as epicure Brillat-Savarin who called it the "king of all cheeses." Such fun interesting things you learn on the internet. As I (and my boyfriend's neighbors) can attest to, this cheese is known for being super stinky and supposedly it's banned from being taken on public transportation in France. This is surprising as France is one of the cheese capitals and I'm sure a lot of them stink but alas my poor Epoisses is the only victim of this segregation that I know of. This is not the only hardship this cheese has endured. Even with over 300 farms producing this cheese at the start of the 20th century it almost went extinct after WWII but was thankfully saved from it's demise by a fellow named M. Berthaut who is now responsible for the manufacture of all fermier Epoisses save for a few artisanal fromageries who have started manufacturing it as well.

Epoisses de Bourgogne was awarded AOC status in 1991. What's AOC? Glad you asked as I had no idea either so I looked it up. Appellation d?origine contrôlée or AOC, translates as "controlled term of origin." It's the French certification granted to certain French geographical indications for wines, cheeses, butters, and other agricultural products, all under the auspices of the government bureau Institut National des Appellations d'Origine (INAO). Basically what this means is that not just anyone can manufacture Epoisses and call it by this name. In order to be true Epoisses de Bourgogne it must be made in the region of France for which it originated. I relate this to Champagne which is also AOC certified. So next time you go out for some bubbly look at the label and if it wasn't manufactured in Champagne region of France then it should just call itself a sparkling wine or something of that sort. I know...it's confusing but I wanted to mention it because it's only one of forty French cheeses that have been given this status which is quite the feat since France manufactures tons of different cheeses. For this specific certification's purposes, the cheese can only be made in listed communes in the Cote-d'Or, Haute-Marne, and Yonne departments.

*ring* Okay, class dismissed.

If you have a cheese that you regard as highly as I do Epoisses I'd love to hear about it because my philosophy is that there's no such thing as bad cheese.