Maison D’Affinage Maurice Dufour

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Maison D’Affinage Maurice Dufour is a fromagerie in the Charlevoix region, along La Route des Saveurs de Charlevoix. Back in the early spring when we were busy at work and tired of the frosty winter, we dreamed of our next vacation. Our original inspiration for this foodie adventure was actually a cheese-eating tour of Quebec. Luckily, we found plenty of cheese here and here along the way, but this one may have been the best of the trip.

The Maison D’Affinage Maurice Dufour is located up a short drive off the highway 138. After getting out of the car, we heard a field of sheep – the very sheep that are milked to make some of Maurice Dufour’s famous cheese!

We spotted what looks like a paraglider, soaring the skies above Charlevoix.

Ahh, the tasting table! In the main area of the shop, a table of cheeses was set out for sampling. There were seven types of cheeses available to taste, including the famous Migneron de Charlevoix, the almost liquid Secret de Maurice, and the blue Ciel de Charlevoix. Tomiko and I each bought two different types of cheese from those on display. Any good fromagerie should offer samples so that discerning customers can compare the types of cheeses available. Here are some descriptions of the four cheeses we purchased:

Le Ciel de Charlevoix

Le Ciel de Charlevoix, which translates to the Charlevoix Sky, is a semi-soft, blue-veined cheese made from cow’s milk. It is a milder blue cheese that isn’t as strong or salty as some others that we’ve had in the past, which makes it excellent to eat on its own. It was also the 2009 Canadian Cheese Grand Prix Champion, blue-veined cheese category.

La Tomme d’Elles

La Tomme d’Elles is a firm, surface-ripened, washed rind cheese made from a blend of sheep and cow milk. The fromagerie recommends pairing this nutty cheese with floral aromas with something sweet like quince jelly or mango chutney. La Tomme d’Elles is also an award-winning cheese, having won the Sélection Caseus 2011 Mixed Milk Cheese Category and the American Cheese Society 2011 Open Category made from sheep’s milk or mixed milk.

Le Secret de Maurice

This soft, surface-ripened cheese is made from sheep’s milk and has a mouldy rind that conceals a velvety, runny interior. We ate it by cutting off the upper part of the rind, the cap, and dipping pieces of bread into the liquid cheese. It is a brie-style cheese that is only aged for 21 days. We recommend eating the whole thing in one sitting (rind included), but don’t worry, it will go quickly. Our family descended on it with a crusty baguette and a bottle of Shiraz– it was devoured after a few minutes.

Le Mignernon de Charlevoix

This is a semi-soft, surface-ripened, washed-rind cheese made from cow’s milk. It is slightly nutty with flavours of hazelnut and butter and aromas of cream and yogurt, and has ripened for a minimum of 50 days. Although I ate it with bread at room temperature, the fromagerie suggests using it in stuffing and sauces. Le Mignernon has won awards including the Canadien Cheese Grand Prix Washed Rind Category and the Grand Champion in 2002.

The fromagerie also makes and sells Tomme de Brebis de Charlevoix and Le Bleu Brebis de Charlevoix, but unfortunately we didn’t have enough room in our cooler for those.

The cooler full of cheese available for purchase also had a recipe for fondue posted on the front. Here it is, in English:

A window looking onto the cheese factory gave us a glimpse of the many ageing wheels.

I couldn’t get enough of the adorable (and loud) sheep!

Visit Maison d’Affinage Maurice Dufour:

Boulevard Mgr de Laval, Baie-Saint-Paul, QC G3Z 2X6
(418) 435-5692