The village that gave the world blue cheese — ancient caves, fleurines, and Société roquefort
Roquefort-sur-Soulzon is a village of barely 700 people perched under the Combalou plateau in Aveyron — but its name is world famous as the birthplace of Roquefort cheese. The natural caves beneath the collapsed Combalou cliff provide the unique combination of cool, humid air and the wild Penicillium roqueforti mold that gives Roquefort its distinctive blue veining and complex flavor. Only cheese aged in these caves can legally be called Roquefort — one of France's first protected appellations, established in 1925. The Société, Papillon, and Gabriel Coulet caves all offer tours showing the en…
Legend places the discovery of Roquefort cheese with a lovesick shepherd who left his lunch (bread and ewe's milk curd) in a cave while pursuing a beautiful girl, returning weeks later to find the curd transformed into veined blue cheese. The first documented reference to Roquefort dates from 1070 in a Conques abbey charter. Charlemagne reportedly tasted it and ordered two wheels sent to Aix-la-Chapelle annually. The Paris Parlement granted Roquefort a monopoly on aging cheese in its caves as early as 1411. Roquefort's AOC (Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée) status was one of the first awarded…