Frédéric Rosat - Châteuau-d'Oex - Switzerland

L'Etivaz AOP is produced exclusively in mountain pastures from May to October, using raw milk from cows grazed at altitudes between 1,000 and 2,000 metres. Working in the mountains is hard work, but the Rosat family does it with passion. Frédéric, the cheesemaker, together with his wife Marina and their four children, practise vertical transhumance: depending on the availability of grass, the whole family moves from their farm in Château-d'Oex to three different chalets up to the Frassins and Atheines pastures at an altitude of 1,550 metres. In total, they move nine times in one season. The whole family works together, from managing the cows, about 50 Swiss Flex Brune, to making cheese, which is still done in copper boilers heated by a fire fueled with wood cut in the forests around the chalet. Even the children have their own small tasks and can participate in alpine life with their family, thanks to Swiss policies on the preservation of alpine pastures that allow children to continue their education even from home. In this way, one of the children usually falls in love with the work and carries on the tradition. The wheels produced by the family remain in the chalets for a maximum of 6 days and are then taken to the maturing rooms of the Cooperative de l'Etivaz AOP where they complete their maturation and, in the case of Valsana, are then delivered to Gourmino for distribution.