The glass
cases in the shop are loaded with every type of local goat cheese imaginable,
aged comté from the mountains, fragrant blue cheeses.
This is the domain
of cheesemaker Claudine Vigier-Barthélemy, voted best cheese maker in all of
France, 2009.
“The heart
of my métier is to select the cheese, age it and transform it,” she says, her
broad smile winning me over immediately.
Beneath the
tiny shop is a 50m cellar where she ages her cheese. (There is also a 30m
cellar for the special wines she sells). There she washes a nutty Beaufort mountain
cheese with a mix of water and salt, enhanced by aromatic herbs; she ages a blue-veined
Fourme des Dentelles de Montmirail with Muscat wine from nearby Baume de
Venise; in winter she inserts slivers of black truffles, tuber melanosporum, from nearby Mont Ventoux, into a woody and
resiny Vacherin de Mont d’Or.
Locals and
visitors from afar come to taste the special cheeses she ages from around the country
as well as the goat cheeses chosen from just around the corner.
“We really
have a signature on our cheese!” she says.
Vigier
claims she was destined to be a cheesemaker.
“It wasn’t
me who chose my vocation, I’m just naturally called towards milk and the making
of cheese,” she explains.
Her
grandparents were cheesemakers and she recalls helping out by filling pails of
milk. She found the transformation to cheese mysterious and enticing.
Her father
was also a passionate cheesemaker and the young Claudine enjoyed spending
Sundays with him. Whenever he offered her a taste and saw her smile, it gave
him great pleasure. It was about sharing, eating well and good times.
“I keep that
memory of him, it’s brilliant!” she says.
Vigier also
shares a touching story about her mother, who was born near Mont Ventoux, very prematurely,
during the war. She was so tiny, she was placed in a shoebox filled with
cotton, placed near their three goats, for warmth. And because she was so
premature she was fed goat’s milk. Miraculously, she survived.
“One could
say my mother was saved by the goat,” she says. “Then I was born to dedicate my
life to say thank-you for that. It was thanks to the goat milk that we are all
here – my mother, me, voila!
“I pay
homage emblematically every day to milk,” she says.
Vigier also
insists that the Vaucluse has absolutely the best terroir in all of France for making goat cheese, fromage de chèvre. Herds of goats roam
in the garrigue, that scrubby landscape
full of wild herbs, where they feast on a huge variety of plants, giving the
cheese its complexity. Cheese is made traditionally, following the natural
cycle of the animals and of the seasons. The animals are given no hormones and
they let nature take its course.
Her boutique
displays goat cheeses in all stages of ripeness, some absolutely fresh, some
oozing unctuously, some coated in herbs or ash, some hard and crusty, good for
grating on salads.
Vigier
remains dedicated to her base in Carpentras.
“These are
my origins, my culture. When I was young I came to the market in Carpentras. I
grew up with the rhythm of the seasons, the rhythm of the harvest.”
Just like
the goats.
During her
brief “holidays” she enjoys spending time with colleagues making cheese, such
as gruyère,
digging her hands in, meeting the people, being in contact with the animals,
understanding the magic of the cheese she sells.
“It’s made
by people who have such passion, who reinforce my passion.
“I’ve really
dedicated my life to cheese. When I touch the cheese I feel something that
fulfills me.”
And like her
father, for Vigier, it’s all a part of sharing, eating well and good times.
La Fromagerie du Comtat, 23 place de la Marie, Carpentras, open Tuesday to Saturday
*This article originally appeared in Languedoc & Provence Sun, 2016.
