Saint-Nectaire

The company describes itself as the master affineur of the brand L'Empereur, maturing and marketing Auvergne PDO (AOP) cheeses — Cantal, Salers and Saint-Nectaire — in the heart of the Parc naturel régional des Volcans d'Auvergne, in Cantal. It also indicates that it offers a range of fresh and dairy products, and operates a direct-sales shop, La Cave de Marcel.

It dates its beginnings to 1967, starting with dairy delivery rounds that evolved over the decades into maturing the region's emblematic PDO cheeses. It claims more than 12,000 m² dedicated to its operations, blending traditional maturation methods with modern facilities that meet current standards.

The company presents itself as a maker and affineur since 1911, a venture begun in 1904: its first Saint-Nectaire cheeses were matured in Clermont-Ferrand from 1911, before the manufacture of Cantal PDO (AOP) was established at its Saint-Flour dairy. It offers Auvergne cheeses (Saint-Nectaire, Cantal, Salers, Bleu d'Auvergne, Gaperon) and Pyrenean cheeses (Petit Bethmale, Tomme Prestige). A new production facility for Cantal PDO there was co-financed by the European Union under the FEADER.

The Laiterie de la Montagne cheese dairy was established in 1982 in Saillant, in the commune of Saint-Nectaire, in Puy-de-Dôme — at the time, it made only Saint-Nectaire. It belongs to the family-owned Dischamp group, whose cheese-making venture began in 1911 in Clermont-Ferrand, when Jean Dischamp took over a Saint-Nectaire maturing business; today, his descendants carry on this know-how in Sayat, Saint-Nectaire and Saint-Flour. The group's website notes that this Saint-Nectaire dairy was acquired by the Dischamp family in 2007, prior to the opening in 2022 of a cheese dairy dedicated to Cantal PDO in Saint-Flour.

Since 1988, the Saillant cheese dairy has also produced Fourme d'Ambert PDO and Bleu d'Auvergne PDO alongside Saint-Nectaire — three of the five Auvergne cheese PDOs made by the group. Its Fourme d'Ambert cheeses are sold both by the cut and in portions, under the Laiterie de la Montagne and Paul Dischamp brands.

Based in Chastreix in the Puy-de-Dôme, GAEC de la Morangie produces a PDO (AOP) Saint-Nectaire fermier matured by Les Terres d'Auvergne. This collaboration has been honoured twice at the Concours Général Agricole de Paris: with a gold medal in 2026 and a silver medal in 2025.

Franck and Cathy Moulin are based in Montgreleix, the highest commune in Cantal, at an altitude of 1,238 metres in the heart of the Cézallier. Franck took over the family farm in 2003, upon his father's early retirement; Cathy joined him as an agricultural employee on 1 January 2017. The couple manage a herd of 70 Abondance and Montbéliarde cows across 100 hectares and transform the milk, milking after milking, into Saint-Nectaire fermier PDO (AOP), with an annual output of 39 tonnes. Most of the cheese is sold 'en blanc' to two regional affineurs, Wälchli in Condat (Cantal) and Montcineyre in Issoire (Puy-de-Dôme); a portion is sold matured, directly from the farm.

Founded in 2000 in Sainte-Foy-lès-Lyon, on the outskirts of Lyon, Biodéal was born of the vision of two entrepreneurs to build an entirely organic, French cheese and dairy supply chain at a time when most organic milk consumed in France was still imported. Twenty-five years on, the company works with partner livestock farmers and maturing cellars in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and Franche-Comté, regions where more than 90% of its products are made.

Biodéal presents itself as the only producer of Gruyère France PGI (IGP) in an organic version, alongside a range that revisits great regional cheese classics under the Accord & Fromages brand — successor to R'Bio, marketed by Biodéal for twenty-five years — featuring Comté PDO (AOP), Saint-Nectaire fermier PDO, Ossau-Iraty, Brie, Fourme, and cancoillotte, all certified Agriculture Biologique. The company describes itself as the exclusive distributor of Vilactée, an organic mountain milk collected at altitudes between 600 and 1,200 metres in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and packaged within 30 km of collection, and also sells organic butter. Its products, sold in organic shops, supermarket organic aisles, and cheesemongers, are also exported to Europe, the Middle East, and the United States.

GAEC de Buffe Vent rears dairy cows at the lieu-dit of Vénèche, in the commune of La Chapelle-Marcousse in the Puy-de-Dôme. The farm processes part of its milk into Saint-Nectaire fermier, matured by Les Terres d'Auvergne in Besse-et-Saint-Anastaise.

This Saint-Nectaire fermier was awarded a silver medal at the 2026 Concours Général Agricole de Paris, as part of that year's selection of award-winning PDO (AOP) Saint-Nectaire cheeses.

In the hamlet of Aulhiat, in the commune of La Tour-d'Auvergne (Puy-de-Dôme), GAEC de l'Espérance has been registered since January 2020 and rears dairy cows there.

It turns its milk into Saint-Nectaire fermier, matured by Maison Vaissaire Papon: its cheese won 7th prize at the Concours du meilleur Saint-Nectaire in July 2025, in La Tour-d'Auvergne, for the appellation's 70th anniversary, ahead of more than 120 competing cheeses, followed by a silver medal at the Concours Général Agricole de Paris 2026.

GAEC de l'Espinassade rears its cows and makes its Saint-Nectaire fermier PDO (AOP) in Saint-Donat, a hamlet in Puy-de-Dôme set in the heart of the appellation area, on the volcanic plateau that gives the cheese its distinctive grass and hay. As with all Saint-Nectaire fermier, the farm's raw milk is processed on site, and the cheese is then sent to mature at Fromagerie Paul Dischamp before reaching the stalls.

The producer distinguished itself two years running at the Concours Général Agricole de Paris: a gold medal for Saint-Nectaire fermier PDO in 2025, then again in 2026 — a rare consistency among the forty or so farmhouse producers rewarded each year by the competition jury.

GAEC de la Combe Chave raises dairy cows in the lieu-dit of Combe Chave, in the commune of Égliseneuve-d'Entraigues in Puy-de-Dôme — an area situated at the heart of the PDO (AOP) Saint-Nectaire zone. The farm's milk produces a farmhouse Saint-Nectaire, twice honoured at the Concours Général Agricole: a gold medal in 2024, when the cheese was matured by Fromageries Occitanes, followed by a silver medal in 2026, this time matured by Maison Marcel Charrade.

As is customary for part of the appellation's farmhouse production, the cheese leaves the farm after making to be matured by an external house before being sold — two different affineurs across the award-winning vintages, a sign of production entrusted to several partners over the years.

GAEC de Pierrefite rears dairy cows at the lieu-dit of Pierrefite, in the commune of Lugarde, in the Cantal — an area within the Saint-Nectaire appellation zone. The farm processes its milk into farmhouse Saint-Nectaire PDO (AOP), which is then entrusted to Maison Marcel Charrade for maturing.

This farmhouse Saint-Nectaire won a gold medal at the 2026 Concours Général Agricole in Paris, one of the seven awarded that year to farmhouse cheeses of the Saint-Nectaire appellation.

In the hamlet of Ribeyre, in the commune of Vernines in Puy-de-Dôme, GAEC des Bourelles rears dairy cows and produces farmhouse Saint-Nectaire PDO (AOP), matured by Fromagerie Paul Dischamp. This collaboration between the farm and its affineur was awarded a gold medal at the 2026 Concours Général Agricole de Paris.