Tome des Bauges

Tome des Bauges is a pressed, uncooked cheese made from raw cow's milk, produced and matured within the Massif des Bauges across designated municipalities in Savoie and Haute-Savoie. The specification requires milk from herds of abondance, tarine, or montbéliarde breeds, prohibits silage-based fodder, and mandates a grey surface-mould rind with a minimum maturation period counted from the date of renneting.

About this designation

Registered as a PDO on 18 September 2002 under file number PDO-FR-0254 (eAmbrosia identifier EUGI00000013557), Tome des Bauges is a cylindrical, pressed, salted cheese with surface mould made from raw cow's milk. The matured cheese measures 18 to 20 cm in diameter, 3 to 5 cm in height, and weighs between 1.1 and 1.4 kg. Its rind is 2 to 3 mm thick, grey in colour, and may carry yellow to brown patches of naturally-developing mould. The paste is pale yellow and may contain small eyes. The specification requires a minimum of 45 g of fat per 100 g of cheese after total desiccation, and dry matter of no less than 50 g per 100 g of cheese. Milk must come from herds of abondance, tarine, or montbéliarde breeds, with abondance and tarine specimens together constituting at least 50 % of the herd. Average milk yield must not exceed 5 500 kg per lactating cow per year. Fodder preserved by silaging, wrapping, or fermentation is not authorised. Production takes place in an open copper vat with a maximum capacity of 3 000 litres. Cheeses are pressed by stacking for a minimum of 7 hours and matured for at least five weeks from the date of renneting. Milk must be collected from within 15 km of the production site. The inspection bodies are the Institut National des Appellations d'Origine (I.N.A.O.) and the D.G.C.C.R.F. Each cheese bears an identification mark whose shape and colour are set out in the product specification, and all labels must carry the INAO logo and the name of the PDO in letters at least two-thirds the size of the largest letters on the label.

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

Distinctive facts

• Registered as a PDO on 18 September 2002 under file number PDO-FR-0254, eAmbrosia identifier EUGI00000013557.
• Abondance and tarine breeds together must constitute at least 50 % of the milking herd; montbéliarde is also permitted.
• Fodder preserved by silaging, wrapping, or any fermentation process is not authorised under the specification.
• Cheeses are pressed by stacking for a minimum of 7 hours and matured for at least five weeks from the date of renneting.

Tasting notes

Savoie cow's milk pressed uncooked cheese from Massif des Bauges, aged 90+ days. Greyish-brown natural rind, ivory paste, supple semi-firm texture, mild milky flavor with characteristic cellar-mushroom and alpine-grass notes — gentler than Beaufort or Abondance.

HoReCa use

Tome des Bauges is used in Savoyard cheese-board selections and in tartiflette variations, and is traditionally paired with wines such as Apremont and Roussette de Savoie.

Packaging

• wheel-full-1.2kg
• wheel-half-vacuum-600g
• wedge-vacuum-300g