Cheese and Wine Tasting in Paris

For the last 18 years I've explored French food, culture, wine and cheese through this blog. Now heading in an exciting and natural new direction, as of spring 2023, I will be offering an in-person experience devoted to tasting and appreciating French cheese.

My goal is to share my deep passion for the subject and to demystify the delicious, often aromatic, sometimes intimidating world of fromage!

The tasting includes:

• A comfortably seated, 2½-3 hour cheese and wine workshop in a wine shop

• 10-12 French cheeses paired with 3 wines (and/or possible other drinks)

• A fun, sensory and educational experience

You will go away with:

• A deeper understanding of cheese

• Confidence in purchasing, serving and slicing

• Cheese and wine pairing insight and know-how

• A new love for cheese, including their varied flavors, aromas and textures

The small group format, maximum 8 people, which includes all the cheese, bread, accompaniments and drinks, is €130 per person (please see note).

They will be offered most Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at noon. Sunday is sometimes also available.

To book a tasting, or for any questions you may have, please contact me at louloufrance@gmail.com

This experience can be customized for private groups, just ask!

Note: Please send an email to discuss a private tasting if you would like to include children under 14 years old

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5 Things

 1) Goat cheese season!

 

2) Frilly tulips

    

3) Une baguette française

      

 4) Organic

     

5) Île Saint-Louis

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My French Cheese Workshops Are Now Online!

If you've read this blog for any time now, you know how much I love cheese! And after weeks of working out a new (for me) way to share this great passion with you, I've finally done it.

Three virtual workshops, which I've entitled, French Cheese Fundamentals, are online and available on Eventbrite. They've been up for a few days, but I've haven't had the chance to share them here yet.

Part One is the Basics, a Cheese 101 that covers history, terminology, the French cheese families, seasonality - it's a lot of practical, nerdy information.

Part Two is all about creating Cheese Boards. You'll learn about tasting, serving, slicing, shopping and building beautiful boards.

Part Three is about Pairing cheese with wine, other beverages and food. Even though there are no hard and fast rules, there is plenty of information to learn about creating delicious flavor marriages. 

I'm keeping the numbers limited to just 15 screens for a more personal experience, however I will continue to add the workshops to the calendar on a rotating basis, so if you miss one, it will be offered again in a few weeks time. 

The Basics has already sold out for December (yay!), but there is another one being offered in mid-January, and there is still space available on Cheese Boards this month. Pairing Cheese is being offered for the first time in early January. 

I hope to see you there and if you have any questions, please contact me at: louloufrance@gmail.com

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Coming Soon - My Virtual French Cheese Workshops

As I mentioned in September, I teamed up with Context Conversations and presented an online French cheese tasting seminar that was offered a few more times over the last few months. And more dates have been added in December and January.

I was also invited by La Cuisine Paris to do a live French fromage workshop in November, with another one coming up in mid-December.

All of this got me thinking that it would be fun to create some more comprehensive online workshops of my own, so that's exactly what I did!

For the moment I've got three finished that I'm going to launch shortly (all of the calendar app stuff and payment app stuff is a bit of a learning curve), so watch this space and I hope to share all of my French cheese knowledge and passion with you very soon.

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5 Things

1) Autumn stroll along the quay

2) Getting the cheese board all set up for a virtual workshop hosted by la Cuisine Paris. If you missed it, there's another one happening in December!

3) One of my favorite things

4) Enjoying some much needed fresh air during the second lockdown in Paris

5) Nutella crêpe? Yes, please!

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Some Exciting Cheese News!

I resisted. Boy did I resist!

The idea of going virtual with cheese "tastings," both during and after the lockdown in France, was completely overwhelming to me and I just didn't know how to make that transition. Several friends offered advice, but I was stubbornly closed to the idea.

Then something changed. 

Part of it was the positive reaction from the guest post I wrote listing my Top Ten French Cheeses for David Lebovitz's fabulous blog. Additionally, Context Travel, who I was about to start doing tours with back in March, asked if I would join them as their online cheese connoisseur.

So, I'll be going live on September 27 with a deep dive into all things cheese-y at From Camembert to Chèvre: An Exploration of French Cheese. Hope to see you there!

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5 (Covid Confinement) Things

1) We have a great fromagerie around the corner, so we're still able to enjoy French cheese. Phew!




2) The nuns at the Catholic maternity clinic across from our apartment have been coming out on their roof terrace to join the 8pm applause for the health care workers, and then staying on to sing a couple of songs for the neighborhood. Complete with tambourines




3) Zonked out




4) Sunday is now pizza day! This one from last week was sautéed red onions, red peppers and Spanish chorizo




5) There were flour, egg and sugar shortages at the beginning of the lockdown, so when I walked into our local G20 grocery store and spotted this, I felt like I'd won the lottery



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La Journée Mondiale du Fromage

It's World Cheese Day! My favorite day!




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Fromagerie Marie-Anne Cantin

One of my favorite cheese shops in Paris. And her selection of Comté is incredible!

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Camembert de Normandie Fermier

One of only two remaining, farm produced Camembert de Normandie is made by La Fromagerie Durand. It is worth the extra €2!

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Le Brin d'Amour

A Corsican ewe's milk cheese sprinkled with aromatic Mediterranean herbs and sold in a perfect state of affinage. Heaven!


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Happy New Year!

We kicked it off with a long walk through the quiet streets of Paris and ended it with the holy trinity - cheese, wine and bread. A good start to the new year!

Wishing you all a very happy 2020!


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Can I Eat That Moldy Cheese?

Cheese + Mold. Is it safe to eat? This is a question I get asked a lot!

This article on the Bon Appetit website came across my radar the other day (even though it was written in 2018!) and after I read the following paragraph, I knew I had to share it.

"The first thing you’ve got to understand is that, by and large, microorganisms like mold are what makes cheese, well, cheese. “In a lot of ways, cheese is mold,” explains Morillo. With the notable exception of fresh cheeses that are meant to be consumed shortly after they are made (mozzarella, ricotta, queso fresco, etc.), most cheeses owe their distinct deliciousness and texture to the microbiological alchemy that occurs when mold, bacteria, and other microorganisms feast on the proteins and sugars present in milk, transforming them into a wide range of flavorful compounds. (Science is cool!)"

Yes, science is cool! And mold, when it comes to cheese, can definitely be our friend.

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Today's Cheese

The minute I started to unwrap this one, I was in heaven! SO lusciously smelly, oozing and sticky. We haven't tasted it yet, but I expect wonderful things.

Oh, and for those of you who are curious, it's an ewe's milk, washed rind cheese from Corsica. I can't wait to try it!


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Life In France Includes A Lot Of Cheese!

Shopping at Laurent Dubois for one of my favorite Alpine cheeses, Tomme de Chartreuse.



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5 Things

1) Our neighborhood

2) Enzo really needs to learn to chill out

3) Drinks on the terrace at Treize au Jardin


4) Evening light in Saint-Germain-des-Prés

5) Goat cheese - ash covered and sprinkled with sarriette


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Off The Beaten Path In Paris: La Ferme d'Alexandre

Located just a block away from La Grande Épicerie in Saint Germain, la Ferme d'Alexandre doesn't feel "off the beaten path," but I wanted to share it with you anyway. I've come to love this place, not only for their fabulous cheese selection, but for the kindness and knowledge of  the owner Alex, and the entire staff.

I shop here every week to  buy fromage for the French cheese workshop we offer at Paris by Mouth, so I've gotten to know them and what they offer very well. And if you follow me on Instagram, you've most likely seen many of their cheeses and their beautiful blue and gold tile floor!



They always have some interesting sheep milk cheeses from the Pyrénées and right now their goat cheese section is amazing! You can also find the last raw milk farmer produced Époisses in France here, as well as a handful of delicious Italian cheeses.
And in addition to cheese, there is a good selection of charcuterie, unpasteurized butter, cream straight from farms in Normandy, honey, small producer wine and jam, and bread on the weekends.
If you find yourself near either of Alex's fromageries, they are definitely worth a visit!



La Ferme d'Alexandre
19 rue Saint-Placide
75006 Paris

and

21 rue Mouton Duvernet
75014 Paris

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Off The Beaten Path: Cheese Shops In Paris

Last week France feted its National Day of Cheese, a day I love to celebrate. (yeah...who am I kidding...I celebrate French cheese pretty much every day!)

But it got me thinking about the fromageries here in Paris. There are a handful of famous fromagères and fromagers in the city who are lauded over and over, but what about the minor players? What about the small, off the beaten path cheese shops? What about the passionate cheesemongers with only a few staff members who take precious time off from their already busy schedules to visit farms and find small producers so they can offer new and interesting cheese and dairy to their customers? Let's talk about them. And let's support them!

And there is a lot to talk about!

I've met classical musicians, bankers and accountants who left their careers to become cheesemongers and to open up their own cheese shops, and there's even an actual dairy in Paris now. I see more and more young people buying up and breathing new life into outdated fromageries.

One of these places is La Ferme du Hameau.

I first visited this little place when we moved into the neighborhood over 3 years ago. There was a nice young man running it, however the atmosphere felt a bit triste and the cheese selection wasn't that great so I only shopped there a couple of times.

Then in late December I read some exciting news. Pierre Brisson, the lovely owner of Paroles de Fromagers in the 10ème arrondissement, had purchased La Ferme du Hameau. I've known this guy for several years and he is a gem. And he knows his cheese!

He's slowly renovating the space and expanding his selection of cheese, jam, honey, wine and craft beers. His cheeses include the usual suspects, in addition to a good number of farmer and small producer offerings. It's rare for me to discover a cheese that I haven't already tried, but his boutiques often have something new for me to take home.

Yes I know, le 15ème is a bit off the beaten path for most Parisians, but sometimes it's worth making a trip out to "the country" (as my friends in the Marais like to jokingly call it) for special little places. N'est ce pas?

La Ferme du Hameau
223 rue de la Croix Nivert
75015 Paris

Pierre is also an affineur and offers workshops on cheese making at his shop in the 10ème.

Paroles de Fromagers
41 rue du Faubourg du Temple
75010 Paris






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Sweet Dreams Are Made Of Cheese

March 27 is la Journée Nationale du Fromage, or National Cheese Day, here in France. Today we will be honoring rare, small production, farmer produced, raw milk cheeses.

You can be sure that I'll be celebrating!





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