Cheese, wine and absinthe in Franche-Comté

There’s a lot to do in Franche-Comté, with its many lakes and outdoor activities, but first you have to drag yourself away from the wonderful food and drink on offer. From award winning cheeses to a notoriously famous tipple, there is something to please everyone.  

 

The department of Jura in Franche-Comté is home to 220 wine makers and its vineyards are the oldest in France. Even Charles V reputedly enjoyed a glass or two back in the 14^th century and a Chateau built in the same period now houses a museum dedicated to Jura wines. Pecauld Castle in Arbois also holds wine tasting events and seminars, where you can sample wines such as the unusual Vin Jaune, an aromatic yellow wine that gets its colour after maturing for precisely six years and three months in oak casks.

 

Franche-Comté is also the home of the infamous ‘Green Fairy’. Banned in France from 1915 to 2001, Absinthe is now making a triumphant return, albeit minus the molecule that was blamed for causing all the trouble in the first place. Believed to contain hallucinogenic properties and to bring about death, the green fairy’s intriguing history and reputation is irresistible. To greater or lesser extents, Van Gogh, Oscar Wilde and Ernest Hemingway are among those said to have enjoyed a glass of two of the aniseed tasting spirit.

 

 

Ironically, the birthplace of the man who discovered the process of pasteurisation now prides itself on producing cheese the old fashioned way; unpasteurised. AOC Comté is the region’s most famous produce; a hard cheese with a fruity flavour. A visit to one of the many farmers and fruitieres will provide the opportunity to see Comté cheese made by hand and you can even milk a cow if you wish.

 

Being handmade means that no two cheeses are the same but the excellent quality of the cheese is also influenced by what the cattle eat. Munching on the local prairie meadows, rich in a natural flora, are the Morteau and Montbéliard cows, the latter distinctive for their bright red and white colouring.

 

Once made, the wheels of Comte are then matured over time in dedicated cellars, turned every day and salted every other to give the cheese its waxy rind. One such cellar is Fort Saint Antoine in Pontarlier, a former military fort that now houses 65,000 slowly maturing cheeses.  

 

The soft and creamy AOC Morbier is a local cheese easily recognised by a line of black ash running through the middle. Historically, small farmers would put ash in the middle so the old cheese wouldn’t contaminate the new as layer on layer was added each day.

 

For excellent food in stunning surroundings try the Chateau de Germigney, an 18^th century former Marquis home and a Chateau & Relais property near the Swiss border in Port Lesney. Magnificent is an overused adjective but entirely appropriate for this place, complete with gravel driveway, silk drapes and period furniture.

 

The grand vaulted dining room with its polished cedar wood floors sets the scene for the magnificent food to come. Michelin-starred Head Chef Pierre Basso-Moro produces plate after plate of exquisite cuisine. Food to be savoured slowly, each dish is accompanied by a carefully thought out glass of wine.