Already produced in the 17th century, Tome des Bauges cheese is the product of a long-standing tradition and know-how. Breeders from the Bauges massif set up a Société d'intérêt collectif agricole (agricultural collective interest society) and registered the "Tome des Bauges" trademark with INPI (the French national institute for industrial property) in 1972.

Typical of the northern Hautes-Alpes region, Bleu du Queyras is working towards its PDO status. With a blue-speckled paste, its softness, mellowness and creaminess are unlike any other, according to Alexandre Lagier, president of the Bleu du Queyras interprofessional association and breeder of 53 Tarine cows (GAEC de la petite Tarine - Saint André d'Embrun (05)).

"The GAEC exists thanks to the work of 5 generations of dairy farmers since the beginning in the 1960s, and the production of cheese in summer pastures. My grandparents milked cows of the Brune and Montbéliarde breeds, joined in the 90s by my mother, Gisèle. In 2003, they decided to stop dairy farming and switch exclusively to veal calf rearing. When I set up in 2011, we created a GAEC and built up a dairy herd, a barn and a cheese dairy. In 2016, my brother David joined the GAEC, bringing with him a herd of Gasconne suckler cows (the local breed here!).