THE MONT VULLY CHEESE BY FROMAGERIE SCHAFER, Cressier

Ewald Schafe is the proud owner of the Fromagerie Schafer. After graduating from engineering school, he decided to pursue his first passion, "cheese".

When the opportunity arose in 1993, Ewald and his wife Beatrice took over a dairy in a small village in Cressier – situated between Morat and Fribourg. Together with their four children they worked in this dairy and made a home above their shop.

At this time, the dairy was producing mainly Emmental Cheese (known as "Swiss Cheese" in North America). The local community eventually remarked that Emmental cheese should be made in the Emmental department and not in Cressier/Fribourg. Hence with great enthusiasm and optimism, they created a new type of cheese called "Mont Vully".

The first Mont Vully produced in 1994 quickly gained popularity with cheese lovers, and people started asking for it more and more in larger quantities. As a result, they have been able to steadily increase production. Over time, the demand for Mont Vully far exceeded those of Emmental. Within a span of four years, Emmental production stopped and Vully production escalated.

Mont Vully wheels are aged in the cellar, with each wheel washed several times a week using Pinot Noir coming from the slopes of the surrounding mountains, therefore determining their territory.

Vully’s popularity has evolved considerably thanks to the word of mouth from cheese lovers and experts around the world. But its success did not end there. In 2003, two siblings joined and expanded on the Classique Mont Vully range, to include: Mont Vully Bio and Mont Vully Réserve. All their cheese have been awarded since.

The maturation process for Mont Vully requires the cheesemaker to manually flip the wheels regularly.

When production reached maximum capacity in 2013, a new cellar was built on the edge of Cressier village, equipped with an automatic cheese turner. The use of this machine ensured efficiency in producing larger quantities.

Mont Vully Cheese Dairy has been established for almost 30 years and by producing the Mont Vully they have created a good representation of what a "terroir product" should be.