Vacherin Fribourgeois is a raw cow's milk Alpine cheese from the canton of Fribourg in Switzerland, brushed and washed through aging until the rind turns tacky and pungent. It is one of the foundational cheeses of Swiss fondue, going back nearly a thousand years.

The paste is semi-soft and supple, deep cream in color, dotted with the occasional small "eyes" and breaking into soft slabs under the knife. This is not a quiet cheese. The washed rind drives a strong, aromatic character, cellar and roasted onion off the nose, that carries straight into the paste. On the palate it leads with a robust savory pull, toasted hazelnut and brown butter through the middle, and a meaty, faintly funky depth from the rind that holds long past the swallow.

It melts beautifully, which is why it anchors a moitié-moitié fondue and sits at the center of so many Swiss melted-cheese dishes, but it earns its spot on a board on its own. A real mountain cheese, made the old way, by only a handful of producers left.