Juraflore Comté Cellars at Fort des Rousses

Walking the vaulted galleries of an old mountain fort between floor-to-ceiling racks of Comté is one of the great sights in cheese. Fromageries Arnaud turned the Fort des Rousses into one of the largest Comté maturing cellars in Europe, and the guided visit spends about 90 minutes underground among the wheels as they age. The cellars sit at around 8°C (46°F), so bring a warm layer even in August. Places are limited and booking online is required, with visit days and times that change through the year. Seeing that many wheels at different stages of maturing is the clearest lesson anywhere in what time does to a mountain cheese.