In accordance with the regulations associated with AOP Roquefort, this Roquefort is made with 100% raw sheep's milk collected within a 100 km radius of the village of Roquefort-Sur-Soulzon and refined in our natural cellars in the same village.
‘Roquefort’ is a blue-veined cheese prepared and produced exclusively from raw, whole sheep's milk in accordance with fair and traditional local practices. Before it is pressed, the raw cheese, cultured with spores of Penicillium roqueforti, fermented and salted and with a moist rind, contains a minimum of 52 g of fat per 100 g of dry matter and a minimum of 55 g of fat per 100 g of ripened cheese. It is cylindrical, with a diameter of 19-20 cm and a height of 8,5-11,5 cm, and weighs 2,5-3 kg.The paste is smooth and compact, with even green-blue veins, a very distinctive aroma, a slight scent of mould and a fine, robust taste. The cheese is ripened and matured for at least 90 days from the date of its manufacture.
The milk used comes from flocks of dairy sheep of the Lacaune breed. The sheep are reared in a traditional manner with a diet based on grass, fodder and cereals, of which at least three quarters by dry matter per year should come from the geographical production area. Whatever its origin, feed purchased from outside the farm, excluding straw and custom-milled feed or equivalent but including fodder, cereal and supplementary feed, intended for the sheep and replacement lambs must not exceed, per flock and per year, an average of 200 kg of dry matter per dairy sheep present on the farm. All of the feed, in particular the supplementary feed, does not necessarily come from the geographical area, because there is little land suitable for crops, and the climatic conditions, with frequent summer droughts, limit their production. When grass is available, daily grazing is mandatory as soon as the weather allows. During the stabling period, the individual daily ration comprises at least one kilogram of dry matter of hay on average across the flock.
All the steps, from milk production to cheese maturation, take place in the geographical area. The cheese is ripened in the caves located in the scree of the Combalou mountain (municipality of Roquefort-sur-Soulzon), as defined by the judgment of Millau Regional Court of 12 July 1961. After ripening, maturing takes place exclusively in the municipality of Roquefort-sur-Soulzon.