{"id":41737,"date":"2022-05-10T15:39:08","date_gmt":"2022-05-10T19:39:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/?p=41737"},"modified":"2022-05-10T15:39:08","modified_gmt":"2022-05-10T19:39:08","slug":"the-winding-road-to-gold-at-mondial-du-fromage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/the-winding-road-to-gold-at-mondial-du-fromage\/","title":{"rendered":"The Winding Road to Gold at Mondial Du Fromage"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

World\u2019s Best Cheesemonger Virginie Dubois-Dhorne traded academia for affinage<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Photographed by Hans Westbeek<\/em><\/p>\r\n

Dedicating her life to curds was the last thing Virginie Dubois-Dhorne had in mind when her husband asked her to help out at his cheese shop. In fact, when she married Jean-Fran\u00e7ois\u2014a political science graduate turned cheesemonger and affineur\u2014she was in the second year of writing her PhD thesis in German literature and swore she would never go into the business of fromage. That was his calling, not hers. But fate dictated otherwise.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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La Finarde’s historic ripening cellars in Arras<\/figcaption>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Pregnant with their first child and following doctor\u2019s orders to stay off her feet, Virginie decided to put her studies on hold. At the time, Jean-Fran\u00e7ois needed help at his first cheese shop in the coastal French town of Le Touquet, so she agreed to sit at the cash register, with every intention of returning to academia after the birth of their daughter. Three more pregnancies quickly followed, and a few years later Jean-Fran\u00e7ois jumped at the opportunity to take over La Finarde<\/a>, the cheese business his family had established in northern France in 1966. Though it wasn\u2019t an easy choice, Virginie gave up her dreams of becoming a professor to work with her husband and raise their four children.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Little by little, not only did she develop an interest in cheese, but she began to fall in love with the product, even taking on the role of affineur alongside Jean-Fran\u00e7ois. In 2012, when Arras\u2019s 17th-century citadel became demilitarized, the couple set up La Finarde\u2019s headquarters in one of the buildings and purchased the historic cellars (where gunpowder was once stored) to age a selection of their finest cheeses.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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Entrance to the former gunpowder storage, now a cheese-aging cellar, at Arras’ 17th century citadel<\/figcaption>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Witnessing the dedication of artisanal cheesemakers and the enthusiasm of faithful clients opened a whole new world for Virginie\u2014one where textures, flavors and aromas lead to endless creative possibilities. With the same level of culinary artistry as a Michelin-starred chef, Virginie uses La Finarde\u2019s cheeses (more than 300 varieties) to create sumptuous platters that attest to her expertise and are a visual feast to behold.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

It wasn\u2019t until 2016, however, when she won first place at the Lyre d\u2019Or competition (in which French cheesemongers vie to arrange the most impressive cheese platter) that she started to earn recognition for her talents. Eager to continue proving herself, she entered the prestigious Mondial du Fromage et des Produits Laitiers<\/a> three years later. The biannual contest held in Tours since 2013 showcases the know-how and excellence of cheese professionals from every corner of the globe. Virginie missed gold by 0.002 points, but was determined to compete again in 2021 and started preparing six months before being selected to enter.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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Virginie with her trophy in front of her winning cheese display | Benjamin Debuis photo<\/p><\/div>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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\"\"<\/a>

A detail from Virginie’s cheese display | Benjamin Debuis photo<\/p><\/div>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

On September 13, 2021, Virginie was up against 10 contestants from eight different countries. The rigorous competition included everything from blind tastings and defending a cheese of choice in front of an international jury (in Virginie\u2019s case, Mimolette, a cheese native to northern France and one of La Finarde\u2019s specialties) to creating cheese sculptures and putting together spectacular platters based on a specific cheese or an assigned theme. Her intensive training and sleepless nights spent developing her tasting skills certainly paid off when Virginie was crowned the world\u2019s best cheesemonger and the first woman in France to be granted this honor. She was the third woman to win gold after Miyuki Murase from Japan in 2013 and Nathalie Vanhaver from Belgium in 2017. \u201cI felt like I could burst with joy,\u201d she said.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Despite this distinguished title, Virginie has remained humble and loyal to her craft. Whether it\u2019s carefully aging her beloved cheeses at La Finarde\u2019s cellars, creating elaborate platters or serving customers at the many markets she visits with her cheese vans in northern France, it\u2019s evident that the vocation she once dismissed has been the one that brought her the most fulfillment.<\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

World\u2019s Best Cheesemonger Virginie Dubois-Dhorne traded academia for affinage Photographed by Hans Westbeek Dedicating her life to curds was the last thing Virginie Dubois-Dhorne had in mind when her husband asked her to help out at his cheese shop. In fact, when she married Jean-Fran\u00e7ois\u2014a political science graduate turned cheesemonger and affineur\u2014she was in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":106,"featured_media":41738,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"wprm-recipe-roundup-name":"","wprm-recipe-roundup-description":"","cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[27800,10],"tags":[25257,20263,1179,28030,28029],"coauthors":[27810],"class_list":["post-41737","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-awards","category-blog","tag-affineurs","tag-cheesemongering","tag-french-cheese","tag-la-finarde","tag-mondial-du-fromage"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe Winding Road to Gold at Mondial Du Fromage - culture: the word on cheese<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/the-winding-road-to-gold-at-mondial-du-fromage\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Winding Road to Gold at Mondial Du Fromage\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"World\u2019s Best Cheesemonger Virginie Dubois-Dhorne traded academia for affinage Photographed by Hans Westbeek Dedicating her life to curds was the last thing Virginie Dubois-Dhorne had in mind when her husband asked her to help out at his cheese shop. 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