Grand Vatel

What is Grand Vatel Cheese?

The cheese carries the Brillat-Savarin collective mark, a trade name rather than an old country appellation. The Dubuc family created the cheese in 1890 near Forges-les-Eaux, in Seine-Maritime, and sold it as Excelsior. In the 1930s a Paris cheesemonger and affineur, Henri Androuet, renamed it after the magistrate and gastronome Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, who wrote Physiologie du goût in 1826. The European Commission registered the name as a protected geographical indication on 19 January 2017.

Production runs across 879 communes in Seine-et-Marne, the Yonne, the Aube, the Côte-d'Or and Saône-et-Loire, with Burgundy doing most of the work. It is made from whole cow's milk, raw or pasteurized, collected within two days and never frozen. Cream comes from skimming whole cow's milk; whey cream is banned, and so is freezing the cream. Animal rennet, lactic ferments, calcium chloride, salt and the ripening ferments Penicillium candidum and Geotrichum round out the recipe.

It is a soft cheese with a bloomy rind, holding at least 72% fat on dry matter in the finished product, and less than 2% salt. Small wheels weigh 100 to 250 g and measure 6 to 10 cm across and 3 to 6 cm thick. Large ones start at 500 g, 11 to 14 cm across and 4 to 7 cm thick. The aged version wears a white to ivory rind covered in surface flora and develops smells of mushroom and forest floor.

The paste is fine and homogeneous, and the texture melts. Fresh cream and butter dominate the taste, with a light acidity and a touch of salt. April through October is the best stretch for eating it. Truffled versions are made, and around 30% of output travels to Germany, Belgium, England and North America.