Roquefort

Roquefort is a blue cheese made from raw sheep's milk, ripened and aged exclusively in the natural caves of Roquefort-sur-Soulzon within the Combalou mountain scree in Aveyron. The specification requires the use of Penicillium roqueforti culture and mandates that all ripening, ageing, cutting, conditioning, and packing take place solely within the municipality of Roquefort-sur-Soulzon.

About this designation

Registered as a PDO under file number PDO-FR-0131, with eAmbrosia identifier EUGI00000012914, and granted EU protection on 21 June 1996, Roquefort is produced from the milk of sheep of the Lacaune breed and black sheep bred from animals of the Lacaune breed standard. Milk may be collected only within the area called the "rayon", comprising 560 municipalities or parts thereof across six departments in the southern Massif Central and surrounding zones. Renneting is carried out at a temperature of between 28 °C and 34 °C. Penicillium roqueforti culture is added either in liquid form at the renneting stage or in powder form when the curd is placed in the mould. Draining is done without pressing. Pricking and delivery to the ripening cave must take place within two days, or four under certain conditions. The cheese is ripened and aged for at least 90 days from the date of manufacture. Exposure in the caves of Roquefort-sur-Soulzon, located in the scree of the Combalou mountain, must not be a period of less than two weeks. Protective wrapping takes place only in the caves. Ageing, storage, cutting, conditioning, pre-packing, and packing are carried out exclusively in the municipality of Roquefort-sur-Soulzon. Dairy raw materials, curd, and fresh cheese may not be conserved by keeping them at below zero centigrade during the production process, and fresh cheese and cheese undergoing the maturing process may not be conserved under a modified atmosphere. The inspection body is the Institut National de l'Origine et de la Qualité (INAO). Labels must bear the INAO logo, the wording "Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée", the name of the designation, and the shared trademark known as the "Brebis Rouge", created in 1930. No qualifying words may be added to the name "Roquefort" except the Brebis Rouge trademark and other specified marks.

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-0131; eAmbrosia identifier EUGI00000012914.
• All ageing, cutting, conditioning, pre-packing, and packing must take place exclusively in the municipality of Roquefort-sur-Soulzon; no other location is permitted.
• The cheese must be ripened and aged for at least 90 days from the date of manufacture, with cave exposure of not less than two weeks.
• France's designation of origin for Roquefort was legally recognised in 1925 under the Law of 26 July 1925, making it the first cheese to receive such legal recognition in France.

Tasting notes

Aveyron raw sheep's milk blue cheese aged in caves of Combalou near Roquefort-sur-Soulzon, minimum 90 days, often 5-9 months. Ivory paste richly veined with assertive blue-green Penicillium roqueforti, semi-soft moist crumbly texture, intensely savory flavor with saltiness, sharp blue tang, and complex sweet-buttery sheep-milk base — France's oldest documented cheese, AOP since 1925 (the first ever).

HoReCa use

**The plateau de fromages climax** — placed last, eaten last; **Roquefort sauce** for steak; crumbled in salade aux noix; with poire belle and walnut bread; **mandatory pairing with Sauternes** (canonical Roquefort-Sauternes association); also Banyuls, Maury, late-harvest sweet wines.

Packaging

• wheel-full-2.5-3kg
• wheel-half-vacuum-1.5kg
• wedge-vacuum-300g
• wedge-vacuum-150g
• wedge-vacuum-100g
• crumbled-pre-pack-100g