Véronique Rivoire, the woman behind our Comte

As the head of Rivoire Jacquemin, Véronique has a hugely influential role in what is traditionally a masculine field: Comte production, affinage and promotion.  Her great grandfather Alix Jacquemin established the company and indeed was one of a few individuals to create the role of Comte maturer in 1880.  Previously Comte, referred to at the time as Gruyere de Comte and considered inferior to Swiss Gruyere, was usually eaten young.  As it began to become apparent the depth of flavour Comte could achieve when matured, its popularity grew and it became known as a cheese in its own right. 

The company passed in 1888 to Louis Rivoire who had married Alix’s daughter Eugenie then in 1973 to Véronique’s father Jean-Louis Rivoire.  As a child, Véronique used to accompany her father on his visits to the cooperatives that Rivoire Jacquemin worked with, fascinated with the relationships he built with them.  It was the loyalty she observed him create that she credits with helping her find her feet when she took the decision to leave her law career and take over the company following her father’s sudden death in 1991.

Her role in the company is to steer and to protect the future quality of Comte, working with the AOC and agricultural syndicates.  The popularity of Comte has exploded in the past 20 years and almost every cooperative and affineur is producing as much as they can within the current quality structure.  It is at this point that the urge to loosen some of the standards that maintain the quality of Comte begins to show.  Should the breed of animal only be Montbeliarde cows when there are other higher yielding breeds for example?  Veronique’s role is to maintain the quality of the cheese whose potential her great grandfather revealed by affinage. 

Despite this responsibility however she is also committed to involving more women in what has traditionally been a masculine world.  Alpine cheeses of this size were traditionally made by the men of the household with the women remaining in the villages while their husbands, brothers & fathers made the journey to the chalets at altitude.  As production began to operate on a cooperative level rather than the chalets, it remained a masculine world.  Even recently the chef des caves (chief maturer) at Rivoire Jacquemin was a man. This role requires great skill, meticulous attention to detail and librarian style knowledge of the different batches of cheese and their locations.  In order to help rind development in their caves, they have developed a system of mixing old batches with new so that, during rind washing, rind cultures pass from older to younger cheeses.  This means the cheeses aren't in strict batch order and can jump about all over the age profile. The chef des caves needs to be able to find their way to each and every batch.  In most houses of affinage this role would still be filled by a man, but when their chef retired, under the authority of Véronique, Rivoire Jacquemin recognised that the best candidate for the job was in fact a 26 year old woman.

Véronique not only sets an example to other women in cheese by her own role in a male dominated environment, she also furthers the careers of other talented women in this field.

Photograph of Veronique Rivoire from Le Progres 

https://www.leprogres.fr/economie/2021/08/08/veronique-rivoire-lorsque-l-entreprise-est-familiale-on-y-met-plus-de-coeur-d-affect