Cheesy Christmas 18: Estival

How is it possible that we are one week out from Christmas already. I’m sure I don’t know where the time went.

Today’s cheese is going to put us head-to-head with Day 22 from last year where we tasted Estival for the first time. Yet another day where we’re tasting a repeat cheese.

The pressure’s on… will it impress more than last year? …be a disappointment? (we’ve had a couple of those so far)… Let’s find out!

Another (this time little) catch-up

A reminder from yesterday, that we ate cheeses 17 and 18 together, after having missed a day (what is WITH us this year?). Here they are together,

Day #18: Estival

Name: Estival
In French, ‘Estival’ is an adjective that can be used to describe anything ‘summer’. Where we’d say ‘a nice summer day’, the French would say ‘une belle journée estivale’. The name makes sense when you take into consideration that this cheese is only made with milk harvested during the summer months.
Region: Savoie
Specifically, the milk for l’Estival comes from the high prairies of the Chartreuse Mountains, part of the pre-Alps. In English, of course, we associate the word chartreuse with the colour green, and with good cause, the summer pastures of this region are of a lush green, perfect for grazing.
Milk: Cow’s milk
L’Estival is from the Savoie, just beneath la Haute Savoie (see map). Specifically, the milk for l’Estival comes from the high prairies of the Chartreuse Mountains, part of the pre-Alps. In English, of course, we associate the word chartreuse with the colour green, and with good cause, the summer pastures of this region are of a lush green, perfect for grazing.
Our Score: 4.67/5
Estival seems to have struck a definite chord of consistency. Last year, we gave this cheese a score of 4.66/5, and this year we gave it a 4.67. I’d say that’s just about as close as you can get to giving it an identical score in a completely random fashion. Once again we loved the mild, almost sweet taste of this cheese… perhaps it’s the sweetness of the summer grasses native to the Savoie region!