Rustic Elegance with Mont d’Or Cheese and Vin Jaune
Enjoy a Classic French Winter Meal – Baked Mont d’Or Cheese
Are you looking for a special winter meal, one that simultaneously feels a bit decadent but is so easy to prepare? You can easily make it at home or even at a sparsely equipped rental on a winter vacation. Gooey cheese, warm out of the oven is spoonable over boiled potatoes and a nice saucisse. Dipping a hunk of baguette is required, of course. Finishing with a simple salad is just right.
Disclosure: None needed, all products purchased at retail. I just love Mont d’Or cheese and Vin Jaune!
(Click on any photo for a full size slide show)
Mont d’Or and Vacherin Mont d’Or Cheeses
Mont d’Or and Vacherin Mont d’Or take their names from Mont d’Or, a peak in the Jura mountains which straddles the border between France and Switzerland. They are winter cheeses made of milk from the same cows whose spring and summer milk produces the well known Comté. In the fall and winter, the cows have different feed and produce less milk, so Mont d’Or makes sense. The French Mont d’Or is typically made from raw milk while the Swiss Vacherin Mont d’Or uses “thermised” milk. Thermisation is gentler than pasteurization but still reduces the risks from unpasteurized milk. These are soft cheeses, wrapped in a thin piece of spruce bark and packaged in a spruce box. Don’t toss the box as it’s used in baking the cheese.
How to they taste? These are rich, aromatic (stinky), unctuous cheeses with buttery, creamy dairy flavors influenced by the spruce wood and the garlic slices. The raw milk cheese reminds one of standing in the barnyard (in a good way, of course). If you prefer your cheese more tame, choose the cheese made from thermised milk. If you want the full effect, look for “lait cru” (raw milk) on the box!
Finding Mont d’Or in the United States
Finding Mont d’Or and Vacherin Mont d’Or in the US make take a bit of detective work. Vacherin Mont d’Or is available online at Murray’s Cheese. Well stocked cheese shops may have the Vacherin as it isn’t a raw milk cheese. There may also be export versions of Mont d’Or made from thermised milk (or, gasp, pasteurized). Vacherin Fribourgeois is not the same! We have enjoyed Uplands Rush Creek Reserve in the US. It’s a similar cheese, produced only in the fall/winter, and is wrapped in spruce bark. Also Jasper Hill Winnimere would be a good choice.
What is Vin Jaune?
Vin Jaune is an utterly unique wine, featuring long aging “sous voile” under a veil of yeast. It’s made from the Savagnin white wine grape grown in the Jura region of France. For most wines aged in barrel, the barrel is filled completely and barrels are topped up regularly during aging to keep air away from the wine (ouillé in French). In Vin Jaune, the Savagnin grape juice is first fermented to dryness, then the wine goes to barrel, leaving some empty airspace in the top, (sans ouillage). The empty airspace and cellar conditions support the growth the voile. The barrel is then sealed and left untouched (sans soutirage) in a well ventilated cellar with seasonal temperature variations for a minumum of five years, with a total of 6 years in barrel required. Finally, the wine is bottled in a unique 62 cl “clavelin” bottle. Vin Jaune can be produced in a number of communities in the Jura, Château-Chalon is 100% dedicated to Vin Jaune.
What Does Vin Jaune Taste Like?
Vin Jaune isn’t for everyone, at least at first. Aging under a veil of yeast creates aromas and flavors reminiscent of Fino and Amontillado sherry though Vin Jaune is not fortified. The aromas and flavors are pronounced with bruised apples, nuts, dried herbs, and even a saline character. The wine is bone dry with lively acidity and a long finish. Vin Jaune should be served just at cellar temperature, cool but not cold.
Domaine Baud Génération 9 Château-Chalon Vin Jaune 2016 (40€ locally in France) 14% abv
Eye: medium gold
Nose: Pronounced aromas of bruised apples, walnuts, almonds, dried thyme, dried apricots, wet stones
Mouth: Bone dry, lip-smacking high acidity, full body, high alcohol, pronounced flavor intensity, long finish. Flavors follow the nose with bruised apples, walnuts, almonds with a certain “bite” from the flor derived acetaldehyde.
Observations: The Baud Génération 9 Château-Chalon is an excellent example, perfect with our gooey Mont d’Or cheese dinner.
Baked Mont d'Or
Easy to make, decadent, rustic, and elegant, all in one!
Ingredients
- Large Mont d’Or or Vacherin Mont d’Or
- 1 clove of garlic, peeled and thinly sliced
- 2 oz. of white wine
- 1 lb. skin-on potatoes
- Saucisse de Morteau, Montbéliard, or your favorite sausage or charcuterie
- Crusty baguette
- Salad greens and light dressing
Directions
- Preheat oven to 400 deg. F (200 deg C)
- Remove lid, wrap the boxed cheese with aluminum foil, then replace the lid underneath the foil wrapped cheese
- Insert garlic slices, pour white wine onto the cheese.
- Bake the cheese until the top is brown and the cheese has liquefied, typically around 40 minutes.
- Meanwhile, prepare the saucisse and boil the potatoes
- Serve from the oven with the saucisse, potatoes and baguette
Links to more information
• Montagnes du Jura site with info on Comté and Mont d’Or cheeses
• Swiss Vacherin Mont-d’Or cheese
• David Lebovitz’ excellent article on Mont d’Or cheese
• Classic recipe for baking Mont d’Or
• Wink Lorch, Jura wine expert, wrote this excellent summary of Vin Jaune
Photos from a cottage somewhere in the Doubs region of France in March 2025
foodwineclick 
This might be a dumb question, but did you use the vin jaune to bake the cheese? I am assuming you did but just wanted to know for sure since it has such an intense flavor profile.