Join one of our FOUR tours to France!

As we enter our 10th year, I’m thrilled to present the crème de la crème of Cheese Journeys – our 2024 French Tours. Ten years ago, we started with a single tour to France, and now we’re up to four. We launched our Brie & Bubbly Around Paris tour last spring, and we’ve just finished building our Grand Cru tour to Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. Both tours were snapped up this year by two longstanding cheese & wine shop partners and are almost full. Don’t worry, we’ll be running those tours again in Spring 2025 – it’s never too early to get on a waiting list!
 
This summer and fall, we’re also running our most popular French tour – based around the Savoie region and the Alps – twice, during different seasons. You can join our July French tour that was highlighted in Condé Nast Traveler, featuring a visit to high-mountain cheesemakers in the Alps (who still make cheese over an open fire) and visit Marcel Petite's Fort St. Antoine Comté aging caves. Over 100,000 90-lb wheels of luscious Comté! Or roll into autumn on our September French tour, which includes a special new 4-day jaunt to Gruyère and Bernese Oberland in Switzerland to meet up with award-winning Gourmino cheesemakers and affineurs in order to witness cheesemaking and the end-of-grazing-season festival, known as the village cow parade. Details about all four of our French tours are at the bottom of this letter. 
 
First though, why travel with us to France?

Exclusive Access to Fromageries: Cheese Journeys is your passport to private encounters with passionate cheesemakers. We’ve spent 25 years building close relationships with small-batch cheesemakers, like Blaise Chablaix who only makes one or two wheels of L’Etivaz per day in his mountain chalet. Our tours will give you insights into the craftsmanship that goes into creating the finest French cheeses, from creamy Bries around Paris to the most rustic tommes of the Savoie. Engage with artisans, learn the secrets of their trade, and savor their best selections.

Enjoy the Beauty of the French Countryside: Our tours always include a rural stay at a private chateau or villa. What’s better than having the elaborate gardens of Domaine de Courances all to yourself for evening stroll? Or wandering down a dirt road to discover a family winery in the Savoie, where they sell honey from different altitudes and share local lore in their wood-lined tasting room? You’ll smell roses, hear birds, and see poppies blooming along the backroads as we head off to a morning market – it’s all part of the French experience.

Wine & Cheese Pairing Extravaganzas: No French Cheese Journey is complete without sumptuous cheese and wine pairings, which is why we’ve cultivated our own team of educators for each tour. You’ll taste exquisite Jura whites alongside different ages of Comté and sip splendid reds from the private reserve of our host in Burgundy. You’ll learn how to recreate these pairings, along with beautiful boards, at home. You’ll also take home tips on how to photograph beautiful boards and table settings – yes, we offer a food photography workshop, developed by our own Madame Fromage. 

Culinary Highlights Beyond Cheese: Our French chef, Sylvain Jamois, travels with us to curate and cook special menus from each region, using fresh ingredients from local markets. Prepare to taste the quiche of your dreams on the lawn of a French chateau, and enjoy real Trout Almondine during one of our candlelit dinners. You may even receive a lesson in deboning a whole fish – Chef Sylvain loves to give table-side demonstrations, and he always welcomes guests into the kitchen for private lessons (over a glass of wine, of course). Market tours? Of course! Who doesn't want to take home a French tablecloth?

CHEESE JOURNEYS CONNECTIONS

  • IG Live with Jen Greco, January 18 at Noon EST: We’re continuing our monthly IG Live conversations into 2024! Join us for a chat about French cheese with Paris-based cheese expert Jennifer Greco, one of the educators on our upcoming Paris tour. Jen has been chronicling fromage on her blog Chez Loulou for more than a decade, and she leads private tastings in wine caves around Paris. To jump on our IG Live, please give us a follow on Insta @cheesejourneys.

  • Virtual Cheese Class with Anna Juhl & The Academy of Cheese, Feb. 1: Want to level-up your cheese knowledge and connect with some likeminded cheese lovers across the pond? Sign up for our cheese class on February 1 with The Academy of Cheese in London. You’ll also meet one of our educators, Patrick McGuigan -- a British writer and cheese expert who teaches regularly for the Academy. Ticket link: The Grand Cheese Tour with Cheese Journeys & Patrick McGuigan

  • New Book by Jane Bertch of La Cuisine Paris: Curious about expat life in Paris, or what it’s like to run a cooking school on the banks of the Seine? We can’t wait to read the forthcoming memoir of our friend Jane Bertch, owner of La Cuisine Paris. Jane is one of our best Paris contacts – our travelers love her baking classes – and she’s got an interesting story to tell about leaving her life behind in Chicago to follow her dream. Pre-order a copy of The French Ingredient here.

Peruse Our Four French Itineraries


Check out photos and itineraries of our upcoming tours using the links below -- they make for great armchair travel. 

 
If you have questions or would like to a book a tour, please don't hesitate to email me at anna@cheesejourneys.com. In addition to our upcoming tours, we also curate special journeys for private groups. Wishing you a wonderful spring and many happy travels ahead!

Anna Juhl