If cheesemaking is the birth of a cheese, affinage is how it is raised.
When a raw wheel of cheese arrives in a cellar, it is young, chalky, and essentially a blank canvas. The true magic happens during affinage, the traditional French art of maturing and ageing cheese.
At Mons, I learned that affinage is about deep intuition. In the caves, affineurs act as caretakers. They observe, touch, and turn the cheeses daily. They wash rinds with local wine or brine, brush away certain moulds to encourage others, and manage incredibly precise levels of temperature and humidity. It reminded me of tending to the veggie patch I grew when we lived in the Hunter Valley, where patience and daily care yield the greatest rewards.
Understanding this intricate, hands-on devotion completely changed how I look at the cheeses in our cabinet. When you take home a piece of Comté for your Friday night cheeseboard, you are not just eating dairy. You are tasting months, sometimes years, of someone's quiet, daily dedication.
Who exactly are the masters performing this magic? In our next post, we are stepping inside the legendary Maison Mons and a forgotten tunnel hidden deep underground.
