Abondance

Abondance is a pressed, semi-cooked cheese made from raw whole cow's milk, produced within a defined area of Haute-Savoie. It takes the form of a flat cylindrical millstone with a concave heel, a smear-ripened rind ranging from golden yellow to brown, and a soft, ivory to pale yellow paste. It is ripened for at least 100 days.

About this designation

Registered as a PDO under file number PDO-FR-0105, with EU protection dating from 21 June 1996 and eAmbrosia identifier EUGI00000012979, Abondance is produced exclusively from raw whole milk drawn from cows of the Abondance, Tarentaise, or Montbéliarde breeds. At least 45 % of the animals in any covered herd must be of the Abondance breed. The geographical area is defined by a specific list of communes within the Department of Haute-Savoie, centred on the Chablais region and the Abondance Valley. Milk must be produced and the cheese manufactured and ripened within that area. The specification prohibits silage products, fermented fodder, tied bales, and transgenic crops on all farms supplying milk. The share of feed sourced from outside the geographical area may not exceed 35 % (dry weight) of the dry matter consumed by the herd annually. The cheese weighs between 6 and 12 kg, stands 7 to 8 cm high, and must contain a minimum of 48 g of fat per 100 g of cheese after total desiccation, with dry matter not less than 58 g per 100 g. Each whole cheese carries an individual identification plate affixed to the heel during pressing: square and red for dairy-made cheeses, oval and green for farm cheeses, the latter also bearing the word 'fermier'. The plate must carry at least the identification code of the production workshop.

Source: The register document this entry was written from · retrieved August 26, 2026

Distinctive facts

• Registered as a PDO on 21 June 1996 under file number PDO-FR-0105; eAmbrosia identifier EUGI00000012979.
• At least 45 % of animals in each covered herd must be of the Abondance breed; no other breeds are permitted beyond Abondance, Tarentaise, and Montbéliarde.
• The specification prohibits silage, fermented fodder, tied bales, and all transgenic crops on supplying farms.
• Farm cheeses carry a green oval casein plate marked 'fermier'; dairy cheeses carry a red square plate — the shape and colour are mandated by the specification.

Tasting notes

Savoyard alpine cow's milk pressed cheese from Abondance breed, aged 90+ days. Pale ivory paste with small "saumâtre" eyes, firm fudgy texture, fruity hazelnut flavor with characteristic alpine flora notes; concave heel from traditional cerclage de bois.

HoReCa use

Centerpiece of Savoyard cheese boards; melted in tartiflette and Berthoud (the iconic Abondance preparation — half-wheel hollowed, doused in white wine and garlic, oven-fired); paired with Apremont and Roussette de Savoie wines.

Packaging

• wheel-full-7-12kg
• wheel-half-vacuum-3-5kg
• wedge-vacuum-500g
• wedge-vacuum-200g