Désalpes et le Gruyère d’Alpage Chenau!
by Austin Coe Butler
Last weekend, one of the most singular and exciting events in the world happened in the Alps—a celebration known as Désaples in Switzerland. After a grueling summer of labor and isolation, shepherds descended with their cows from the mountains to the safety of the valleys in the time honored tradition of pastoral transhumance. Pastoral transhumance is the seasonal, rotational grazing of animals, and shepherds around the world from the Basque Country to Mongolia and even Wisconsin follow this ancient practice. But in the Alps, there is a heightened drama and revelry brought to the event. Farmers march their animals into the remote heart of Alps like Hannibal to make cheese for the summer. On their descent, they are fêted by entire towns and villages.
Dèsalpes is not just a gastronomic celebration where cheese is a gustatory pleasure, but a communal event where cheese is at the heart of culture, society, and economy. The shepherds and townspeople are dressed in Tracht, traditional clothing like Dirndl and Lederhosen, while the cows are crowned with plumes of feather grasses, antlers made of fir branches streamed with ribbons, and wreaths of bright, brilliant marigolds bearing massive, clangorous bells. The bells sound less like cowbells and more like the belfries of a town all ringing out in celebration. Cows that have produced the most milk are honored with the largest bells and most magnificent crowns. Cows are also adorned with religious iconography, consecrating milk as a primordial liquid like so many other religions and civilizations. The crowds cheer and applaud the farmers and cows like returning seafarers, and this last moment of the summer becomes a celebration of food and drink, community and tradition, which by night turns raucous with dancing and carousing. I’ve written before of the time I watched this procession in Piedmont (known in Italian as the Tranzhumanza), but I am often reminded of the German woman standing next to me who whispered in wonderment, “Unglaublich, unglaublich…. Incredible, unbelievable…”
Our current wheel of Gruyère Alpage comes from Chenau. Alpage, which refers both to the high altitude pastures and the diversity of grasses and wildflowers the animals graze on, signifies that this Gruyère was made during the summer months at a high altitude from the milk of cows who ate wild forage. Chenau overlooks the Col de Lys, and Guedères, where last year’s Gruyère Alpage was made, is just one valley over, a few miles away as the crow flies. Father and son, Pierre and Christian Boschung move to five different chalets throughout the summer, ascending to a peak elevation of 5,500 feet(!) elevation before descending at the beginning of autumn. These chalets are spartan in their amenities. High above the cloud line, they are removed from the world, like Thomas Mann’s The Magic Mountain. There is no cell service, no electricity, so a small generator is lugged up the mountain for essential tasks like milking. Pierre and Christian conduct the grueling work of making Gruyère by hand in a cauldron over wood fire like the old gruyiers of the 13th century as their aprons, smudged with soot from leaning into the cauldron to stir and cut, attest. The wheels are brought to Fromage Gruyère S.A., the only remaining affineur of Gruyere in Fribourg, where Gruyère was born..
Whereas the Guedères Alpage was marked by a fruity, alpine strawberry aroma, the Chenau Alpage has more savory, cured meat notes like sugar cured bacon with a subtle smokiness. At times it is reminiscent of Parmigiano Reggiano with its tyrosine crunch and brothy savoriness.
Come celebrate Désalpes and the fruits of the summer at the shop with us and a hearty wedge of Gruyère Alpage from Chenau this weekend!