Epoisses

At the Abbaye de Citeaux in Burgundy, the monks created an intense, wonderfully complex soft cheese that Napoleon loved to eat with a glass or two of Chambertin.

Of all the great food regions in France, the French themselves generally point to Burgundy as the best. It takes enormous skill to make one of the great red wines from the area, and even the simplest regional dishes are executed with uncommon dexterity.

Epoisses, a complicated, top-shelf cheese, is true to the Burgundian reputation for culinary craftsmanship.

Napoleon wasn’t alone in his fondness for the style. The gourmand Brillat-Savarin loudly sang its praises, and later foodies joined in the chorus. Nevertheless, Epoisses all but died out between the world wars, until 1946, when two local producers revived it.

Thank goodness for them. The cheese is bold and lush, with a refined, creamy texture. Its taste is a heady, swirling mix of salt and sweet, and the thickest cream you can imagine. During the ripening process, the rind is frequently washed in wine, which adds yet another layer of complexity to it all.

This is a cheese-lover’s cheese; it smells like a barnyard, but a really nice, manicured one. Cheese writers tend to praise it effusively. Words like “majestic,” and “memorable” appear in almost any description of it, and deservedly so.

PAIRINGS: Epoisses goes well with red Burgundy, Chateauneuf du Pape, and oaky Chardonnay. But the cheese is so special, you might want to serve it on its own, to show it off. You get the picture: Epoisses is a masterly display of the cheesemaker’s art.

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