Our mountain refining cellars, in the very heart of the Ossau Valley, have been set up on a former railway line of the ‘Compagnie des Chemins de Fer du Midi’, dating back to 1882.
The former stone railway tunnel can hold 17,000 cheeses. We also have underground cellars in a trench leading to the tunnel that can hold 40,000 cheeses.
We especially arranged this site to make it an expectional refining place for Pyrenean Cheese.
Thanks to the local climate of the valley ans the thermal qualities of the tunnel and of our underground cellars, with a permanent 10° C temperature and 96 percent hygrometry all the year round, we can give our cheeses this quality which makes them unique and exceptional.
We apply the traditional Bearn method :
The day after salting, after cheese has started losing its water content, it begins a long refining process in the heart of our stone tunnel, to reach slowly a summit of quality.
Lying on wooden fir tree planks with few resin, it is rubbed by hand with a brush and a cloth imbibed with water and salt. Turned over twice a week until it has reached the end of the first cycle of fermentation, when salt penetrates into the heart of the dough, finalising the drying up stage so that the first traces of a crust appear.
Each cheese is then rubbed with a dry cloth, twice a week, to wipe it and turn it over util the end of the second cycle of fermentation. During this process, the crust builds up and the aromas develop. Then it will be alternatively turned, brushed, or rubbed with salt and water.
The very slow refining process, following the rhythm of nature, will give each of them all its mellowness and delicacy. The alchemy between nature, the refining cellars and our know-how will produce a top-ranking cheese.
The cheese rind is totally natural, its colour ranges from yellowish orange to brown or grey.
Each cheese is unique !