Add one last indulgence to 2009: a small, hand-wrapped wheel of Fleurmier. Serve with a crisp sauvignon blanc or even some bubbly, and let the simple combination of wine and cheese become your New Year's resolution as the answer to fast food. This brie-style cheese from Quebec's Laiterie Charlevoix - the expert cheese makers who also bring us Hercule de Charlevoix and Le 1608 - was created in 2000.
The name Le Fleurmier is a combination of the French words for flower (fleur) and farmer (fermier). The Labbé family, which owns Laiterie Charlevoix, comes from a farming background, and the cheese has a subtle floral scent, a result of the bacteria used to develop the bloomy rind. Its paste is snow-white, and also smells of mushrooms and earth. When ripe and left to come to room temperature (give this one longer than just an hour - it's worth the wait), the creamy paste holds its shape long enough to melt in your mouth. Its texture is smooth and luxurious. The flavour is mildly salty, deeply buttery, and develops a nip of bitterness from the rind as it ages.
Laiterie Charlevoix started distributing milk in 1948, when it was still being sold in glass bottles. The company used surplus milk from its main distribution business to make cheddar. After four generations, it has reversed gears. The family no longer runs the dairy, focusing solely on cheese. Cheddar is still a staple: It has about 10,000 kilograms aging from one to five years; its three-year-old is the most popular. The company first entered the fine-cheese market when it was approached at the end of the 1990s by affineur Maurice Dufour. He wanted to collaborate on a new cheese, which eventually became the well-loved Migneron de Charlevoix. The Labbé family makes the cheese at its factory and sells it to Mr. Dufour, who does the aging.
To complement their cheese business, the Labbés also run a fine-food arm of their company called Le Finisse, through which they sell homemade compotes, jams, vinaigrettes, oils, mustards and ketchups. This variety of artisanal food is typical of Charlevoix, which could officially become a foodie destination - the area boasts local foods, such as organic sausages and veal pâtés; a local emu farm; a rabbit farm; duck products that include confit and pâté; and even handmade ice cream. The Labbés have also partnered with a local baker to create a much-anticipated cheesecake from their mouth-watering Le 1608 cheese.
As for that Fleurmier, heat your wheel, and top it with some warm honey and slivered almonds. Serve that to your old acquaintances at New Year's, and they will not forget you. I promise.
Sue Riedl studied at the Cordon Bleu in London.
On the block
Cheese Le Fleurmier
Origin Charlevoix, Que.
Producer Laiterie Charlevoix
Cheese makers Dominique and Simon Labbé
Milk pasteurized cow
Type soft, bloomy rind; exterior ripened
Shape 250-gram wheel or 1.2-kilogram wheel
Distributor Provincial Fine Foods and Fromagerie Atwater
Availability
Vancouver: Jackson's Meat and Deli, Mount Pleasant Cheese
Victoria: Charelli's (mid-January)
Edmonton: Paddy's International Cheese Market
Winnipeg: La Grotta
Montreal: Boulangeries Au Pain Doré
Knowlton, Que.: L'Echo des Saveurs
Saskatoon: Bulk Cheese Warehouse
Toronto: Thin Blue Line, Taste of Quebec, Pusateri's, McEwan Fine Foods, Fiesta Farms, Art of Cheese
Newmarket, Ont.: Nature's Emporium
Ottawa: Il Negozio Nicastro, select Loblaws stores
