Rivoire Jacquemin

Rivoire Jacquemin

Comte Affineur

Jura Mountain Range, France
It was in 1860 that Alix Jacquemin founded his cheese business. Breaking away from the traditional ripening in barrel he invented the actual ripening method in cellar. In 1886 his daughter married Louis Rivoire. Five generations later, the Rivoire family, along with 400 milk producers, 25 fruitieres, 3 head cellarmen successfully produced 110,000 Comté wheels for worldwide distribution every year.

Rivoire-Jacquemin ever growing business is based on their expertise through quality selection. They know the exact origin of each cheese, the farmer, the maker and the micro-terroir. A first rate master ripener supervises each and every wheels as tradition demands with constant care: salting, rubbing, turning over, checking aging and holes. Only Rivoire Jacquemin rubs Comté with Guérande sea salt.

In the 38 cellars only Spruce planks from Jura are used for the shelving. State of the art air conditioning technology allows cellar managers to fine tune temperature and humidity to optimize ripening. A thorough grading is done. Some cheeses, destined for a promising future stay in the shadowy light of the cellars to be refined for up to 30 months. These sumptuous cheeses are then bought at great prices by true Comté lovers.

Time is key to success. Rivoire Jacquemin prefer using the slower traditional method, requiring a great know-how rather than favoring a larger productivity which leads to a standardized product with no personality. This creed, to make the best Comté cheese in the world, has been rewarded by the French for decades at the CGA.