Cheeses of Roquefort-sur-Soulzon
A village built against a collapsed limestone cliff, whose caves and their cold drafts are the only place Roquefort may be aged.
Made, aged and sold here
Best time: May to September, when the sheep are out on the causses.
Roquefort-sur-Soulzon clings to the Combalou, a limestone plateau in the Aveyron whose edge collapsed long ago into a jumble of rock and caves. Fissures called fleurines carry cool, damp air through the caves all year. Sheep's milk cheese from the surrounding causses has been aged here for centuries, and by law Roquefort must still mature in these caves.
The caves
The Combalou's caves stay cool and humid in every season, with air moving through the fleurines. The mould Penicillium roqueforti, once grown on rye bread left in the caves, gives the cheese its blue-green veins. The cheese is pierced with needles to let air in and aged in the caves for weeks before it is wrapped and moved on to finish ripening. Several makers offer cave visits.
Sheep and the law
Roquefort is made only from the raw milk of Lacaune ewes, grazed on the causses and hills of the surrounding departments. In 1411 a royal charter gave the people of Roquefort the right to age the cheese, and in 1925 it became the first French cheese protected by an appellation law. The village itself is small, a single street of cellars and houses on the cliff.
A trail idea for Roquefort-sur-Soulzon
- The village street Walk the single street lined with cellar entrances.
- A cave visit Go down into the cellars where tours are offered by the makers.
- Combalou plateau See the collapsed cliff and the rock that made the caves.
- Millau Viaduct The tall bridge over the Tarn valley, a short drive away.
Written by the EveryCheese desk with AI assistance. Background: "Roquefort-sur-Soulzon" on Wikipedia. Opening hours, markets, caves and tours change; check locally before travelling. If something is wrong, tell us.
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Roquefort: Thesupermat, CC BY-SA 4.0, source