Comte: Where Cheese Is Life, Love and a Journey

"Allez! allez!" yelled Jean-Francois Marmier. "Come, come!" he added in English.

His herd of bilingual black-and-white Montbeliard dairy cows came running over the rolling green hills of his farm in the Franche-Comte region of southeast France, near the Swiss border. Marmier is known around here as "Tas," a nickname he earned after spending a year learning the ways of dairy farmers in Tasmania.

The very first breed of dairy cow to be raised in France, the Montbeliard cows are pleasant, calm, stubborn and curious, Tas told us.

He called for Celestine, the leader of these bovine beauties, the only one to wear a cow bell and clearly Tas' personal favorite. Celestine made her way to him, and he hugged her neck and fed her a special bucket of barley, wheat and oats. Her fellow female cows — and one bull — didn't seem to mind the special attention and stayed close to their leader.

Tas is the fifth generation in his family to devote his life to raising these dairy cows. He must milk his 60 cows at 5 a.m. and again around 5 p.m. every day. His brother, Bernard, is his partner, and they are the only ones who can give each other any time off.

My friends and I were exploring "Les Routes du Comte," immersing ourselves in the lore and life, the land and livelihood of one of France's most beloved cheeses, Comte.

"France is considered the most cheese-mad country, and the cheese most loved in France is Comte," Tas told us.

Comte is a mild-tasting cheese that melts very well, similar to but smoother than Gruyere. It has been produced only in this region of the Jura Mountains for more than 1,000 years.

Like champagne that officially must be produced in the specific Champagne region of France, Comte is made under the strict rules of the AOC, the controlled appellation of origin that defines a production area and its traditional farming practices.

One of the leading French AOCs, Comte is produced by about 3,000 milk producers, 170 cheese dairies and 20 maturing houses, all of which operate as separate cooperatives — one of the world's first cooperative operations.

For these cheese producers, it's not their work but their heritage.

Les Routes du Comte lead visitors to the farms, like Tas' near Bouverans, that invite us to see this artisanal farming up close. The farmers are as proud of their way of life as they are their prized product.

Tas owns one of six dairy farms, called fruitieres, that provide the milk to make their brand of Comte cheese. Another farm owned by cousins Cyril Valion and Ludovic Valion traces their family tradition back to the 1600s here. Tas and the Ludovics and the four other farms in their small cooperative deliver their milk twice a day to the cheese maker, Philippe Morrey, whom they collectively employ, whose operation is called the cheese dairy.

Morrey, whose great-great-grandparents were also cheese makers, must follow his precise timetables twice a day when the milk is delivered, and he cannot skip a single day.

The final pieces in each of the Comte cooperatives are the "caves d'affinage," the maturing cellars. We visited Fort St. Antoine, once a military fort that found new life as a cold repository for aging Comte cheese. Here hundreds of wheels are placed on spruce boards — only that kind of wood will do — brushed with salt, turned over every day and allowed to age for four months to two years.

"We've been using spruce board for 1,000 years," Philippe Goux, sales manager for Fort St. Antoine, told us. "We've tried others and they don't work."

He pointed out that the taste of Comte cheese can vary, albeit slightly, depending on the grasses and flowers any given herd of cows has enjoyed. Goux described various Comte cheeses using terms often heard about wines.

"This one has a good balance; it's fruity, tastes very round," he said about a year-old cheese. "It has a special aroma like melted butter, a green note like hazelnut and a hint of onion and garlic."

One of the best places to begin your own exploration of this cheese experience is the Maison du Comte in Poligny (www.maison-du-comte.com), where you can find out which farms, cheese dairies and cheese caves are open for touring. The Jura Mountains are also home to the Route du Vins du Jura (www.laroutedesvinsdujura.com), a regional wine trail, with wines that pair very well with cheese.

And since the Jura Mountains are a destination for hikers — especially for its waterfalls — as well as cross-country skiers, the splendid natural trails are a good place to work off the cheese and wine.

Our favorite wine stop was the Chateau d'Arlay (www.arlay.com), a genuine castle and vineyard in the picturesque village of Arlay; the vineyard is known for Pinot Noir and Chardonnay varietals, which can be tasted every day but Sunday. This historic home is also open for occasional tours and is the ancestral country home of the Chalon-Arlay family, the first noblemen of the southern Franche-Comte since the 800s. The illustrious family history includes a countess who was beheaded during the French Revolution in 1794; Robert-Jean de Vogue, known as Bob, a bon vivant of the 1950s who was then chairman of Moet et Chandon and a friend of Alfred Hitchcock's; and the Prince Auguste d'Arenberg who managed the building of the Suez Canal. The current count, Alain de Laguiche, continues his family's tradition.

"We have never stopped producing wines here since the 11th century," he told us.

We wandered the narrow streets of the charming village of Arbois in search of Hirsinger (www.chocolat-hirsinger.com), a chocolate shop considered to be one of the best in France, operated by its fourth generation chocolatier, Edouard Hirsinger. An artisan and Slow Food devotee, Edouard wears a coveted "Meilleurs Ouvriers de France" (master worker) medal for his inventive chocolates.

"I'm trying to do what others don't," he told us while we tasted dark ganache filled with herbs or spices or fruits.

We made our way to Salins-les-Bains (www.salins-les-bains.com), another historic village that's home to a UNESCO world heritage site of an ancient salt works.

We missed Baume-Les-Messieurs, a village surrounded by cliffs that is officially among the "most beautiful villages of France," but we ended up in Dole, a lovely town that was the birthplace of Louis Pasteur and is still home to a lively farmers market, where the Comte cheese was a big seller.

IF YOU GO

For information on exploring the Route du Comte: www.lesroutesducomte.com. Click on the British flag icon for English translation.

For general information about the Franche-Comte region: www.franche-comte.org.

For information about touring the Jura Mountain region: www.jura-tourism.com and www.montagnes-du-jura.fr.

Getting there: Fly into Geneva, Switzerland, and rent a car. Or fly into Paris and take the train to either Dole or Besancon, both in the Franche-Comte region, and rent a car from there.

For information on train travel: www.raileurope.com. For three days of travel during one month (you could do a round-trip this way), a first-class Eurail pass is $291 ($266 for seniors 60-plus) or $248 second class.

You will need a car to explore this pastoral, rural area of France. One rental company is Europcar: www.europcar.com (about $350 for six days).

Staying there: The three delightful inns where we stayed are all known for their restaurants that serve meals paired with local Jura wines. At the Bon Accueil in Malbuisson (www.le-bon-accueil.fr), rates range from about $88-$134; add about $40 for meals for one.

At Domaine du Revermont in Passenans (www.domaine-du-revermont.fr), rates range from about $107-$133, or about $196-$222 for two people including dinners and breakfasts. At the Michelin-starred La Chaumiere in Dole (www.la-chaumiere.info/fr), rooms rates range from about $83-$146, with dinner ranging from $38-$92 per person.

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