Awarded ‘‘Best cheese of the World’’ and regularly distinguished

Market, trends and consumers 

• Consumers want real artisanal terroir cheeses with an origin story. 
• They’re increasingly paying more attention to the source of raw materials.

Point of difference 

• Ossau-Iraty is the only PDO cheese of the Basque region in France (South West, Pyrenean area).Esquirrou was awarded Best Cheese of the World at the Championship Cheese Contest (March 2018, USA) for its melt-in-your mouth texture, with a typical sheep milk taste and a hint of hazelnut flavor.

Reason to believe 

• Basque Origin: milk collected locally (Pays Basque & Béarn), within a 80 km radius around the cheese dairy, situated at Mauléon.
• Specific know-how (cheese rubbing, turning manually…), at least 6 months ripening (instead of the minimum 3 months required by PDO). 
• Limited production to meet high level of standards.

Our tribute to nature and social responsibility 

• To maintain territorial dynamics, tradition and identity: only work with milk producers and staff from the region. 
• Local sheep breeds. 
• The cheese dairy was set up in a former espadrilles (a traditional Basque shoe) workshop reusing the existing building.

A very unique real artisan cheese