Fromagerie Germain, Vaux-sous-Aubigny, France

The story of Fromagerie Germain began in 1921 when Henri Germain, accompanied by his wife, moved to the town of Chalancey (east part of France) where he set up his cheese production dairy. Backed by considerable family experience with cheese-making, he embarked on the production of soft-ripened cheeses. In 1690, Mr. Germain decided to introduce a more comprehensive quality policy: he chose to use only the milk produced by rare breeds of local cows for its excellent suitability in the production of cheese. The collected milk rose from 5,000 liters to 11,000 liters in fifteen years or so. During the same period, Mr. Germain gambled on the solution of direct partnership between his dairy and the end consumers: he invested in a small delivery truck and set off across the roads of the region. On the death of his father, Pierre Germain took over the dairy.

 

In the early seventies, he decided to start testing the production of Langres and then Epoisses cheese to grow his activity. To do so, he had to learn the old ways of making these cheeses from the few farmers’ wives who still knew the techniques. An AOC (certified origin) classification was obtained for the Langres and Epoisses cheeses that became the spearheads of Fromagerie Germain. It was the result of over ten years’ work by regional cheesemakers, including Pierre Germain. Constantly seeking quality and perfection, they embarked on the application of more advanced specifications with the aim of obtaining PDO certification. This was achieved in 1996 for Epoisses and in 2012 for Langres.

 

In 2015, the business was so successful that the decision was made to build a new dairy in Vaux-sous-Aubigny close to the original one (Chalancey). Company values, respect for tradition and quality have been the bywords of the Germain dairy for close to 100 years.

 

The quality of our high-end cheeses is recognized thanks to designations such as the Protected Designation of Origin (PDO), but also thanks to awards gained during national and international competitions.