My dream job—and maybe yours, too—would be traveling the backroads of Europe as a Cheese Explorer, hunting for undiscovered cheeses at local farmers’ markets and in off-the-beaten-path bistros. I don’t get to do this but, fortunately, others do. That’s how American distributors keep receiving exquisite, unusual wheels from Europe that are hardly known there. This goat’s milk beauty comes from a scenic part of western France called Venise Verte (“Green Venice”). Did you even know this lush, canal-laced region existed? I didn’t, but I intend to go at the first opportunity. Maybe I’ll stumble on more goat cheeses as fabulous as this one. 

Tomme de la Châtaigneraie (tome de la sha-ten-yer-eye) is a 10-pound wheel made by a producer on the western edge of the Pays de la Loire, a marshy area on the Atlantic Coast. Tourists cruise the picturesque canals on small paddleboats. The goats are on firmer ground, however, grazing in a chestnut forest (chataigneraie), which is thought to give their milk distinctive flavor. Knowing that the best Spanish ham comes from pigs that eat acorns, I’m inclined to give the chestnuts some credit. 

Expert affineur Hervé Mons purchases the cheese young and matures in the Mons cellars for about three months, until a thick, crusty rind forms. This rind is a microbiologist’s dream, a canvas of colorful fungi with tongue-twisting names like Chrysosporium sulfureum and Sporendonema casei. These organisms sound scary and some cheesemakers fear them , but they probably play a role in the tomme’s superb flavor. Experts don’t fully understand the contribution, but most French cheesemakers are happy to see the yellow fluff of C. sulfureum or the orange splotches of S. casei on their cave-aged products. Both fungi are found only on cheese rinds. 

Under the rind is a semisoft ivory interior, super-creamy and supple, with subtle aromas of damp cave and mushroom. The flavor is gentle and mellow, almost sweet, and not remotely goaty. I wouldn’t hesitate to serve Tomme de la Châtaigneraie to someone who claimed not to like goat cheese, and I bet it would change their mind. This cheese is a pleaser. 

Pair Tomme de la Châtaigneraie with a white wine from the Loire Valley or California Sauvignon Blanc, dry cider or wheat beer. Distribution is limited but here are a few retail sources.