Alpage cheeses are those produced when the flocks are moved to high-mountain community pastures, when summer arrives. It’s called the summer season : l’estive.

As the snows melt, the flocks start their summer migration ; this movement is known by different names, according to the region. Transhumance in the Pyrenees, and inalpe and desalpe in the Alps, as well as other traditional old local names.

Between the end of May and the beginning of October, the animals looked after by shepherds are then free to graze the abundant fresh grass, sprinkled with high-altitude flowers. This feeding regime, rendered sublime by the rare air and “exercise” induced by walking, gives rise to a rich and creamy very high-perfumed milk : the very same which will give the cheeses a unique and complex bouquet of flavours.

Although the milk is often taken down to the valleys to be turned into cheese ; the milk is sometimes transformed on the spot, in chalets situated all along the remue which is a kind of grass pasture trail going up the Alpage. As found at Beaufortin, for example, where these chalets serve not only as cheese making places, but also as lodgings for shepherds and even as animal shelters.

Some cheeses are traditionally manufactured in this way during the summer season : Beaufort, Reblochon, Cantal, Salers, l’Abondance, Comté, Tomme des Bauges, but also and above all Swiss cheeses : Fribourg, Bagnes, Appenzell, Etivaz…

If these cheeses are the fruit of a time span and a particularly favourable space, they are also the result of a common effort ; traditionally the owners of Alpage flocks agree to mix their animals, and share shepherding chores…

Manufacturing cheeses in this way is always a source of great pride for the producers ; it is seen as a major particularity marking their cultural identity, a specific action where all the authenticity and solidarity of this sharing can be found (don’t forget that the summer season is always a commonly-shared experience) !

But all this calls for iron will on the part of the men and women who spend long months in the mountains, often in conditions far removed from our present way of living. It must not be forgotten that modernity brings its own difficulties. Restrictions due to skiing and tourist areas, natural reserves, classified sites, motorway and road construction, etc., have, for example, led to massive lorry use in the transport of flocks, this economic necessity thus replacing the traditional migration which was always done on the hoof.

In the last fifty years or so, major transhumances have virtually disappeared, mountain flock numbers have also decreased, with shepherds and cattle herders practically disappearing in the 1980s.

Yet, transhumance is still a necessity for a great number of stockbreeders, as cultivating grass and green fodder in summer remains a difficult and expensive labour-intensive activity using techniques involving excessive water-use ; this is especially so in Mediterranean regions, for example. Transhumance meanwhile, constitutes an adaptation to nature and its plant rhythms in the mountains, and provides fodder which is often abundant and relatively economical. In addition, it has been observed that it also presents a perfect solution for the necessary maintenance of spaces at altitude.

Today, after the great fashion of industrial interests, and, as was to be guessed, the emergence of new preoccupations such as sustainable development, a return to a renewal of interest in this tradition can be observed. Ancestral practices of moving flocks, which had disappeared in favour of lorry transport, are making a return. The custodianship of mountain pastures is again considered as one of the pillars of modern pastoralism, and has become the subject of a certain number of aid measures.

Furthermore, transhumance is traditionally a great festive occasion in the valleys, with surely cow combats from the Alps being the most well known.

Through these festive occasions not only the terroir but also the occupations associated with pastoralism can be appreciated. There are innumerable displays of this type across France, Switzerland, Italy and Germany to mark the end of the summer season and the shepherds’ return to their homes. They are festive signs announcing the message that winter is on its way !

Meanwhile, the cheeses will continue their long maturation in the cellars ; they will unhurriedly settle down as the weather turns cool, because it’s in the heart of winter that the period of excellence of Alpage cheeses is born, when they are at the zenith of their taste and odour potential.

These cheeses, impregnated with summery accents and the fruit of so much labour, will bring its comfort, its warmth and its generosity to our oh-so-grateful taste buds !

Maya Marin, June 2009

Sources and links :

www.transhumance.org

www.wikipedia.org

www.valleedossau-tourisme.com