What is the secret of the delicious cheeses that make their way to his shop? In brief: “We have absolutely top goods in an absolutely top cellar, which is managed by top people.”
His tour begins at the start of July. This is when Thomas Breckle pedals his mountain bike up to the fragrant meadows of the Alps together with his business partner Martin Rößle. He’s on a cheese hunt. But not for any old cheese. He’s only interested in hand-crafted young cheese from particular horned breeds of cow that have not been fed any concentrate. Around 14 alpine dairies meet his strict criteria. The selection of the young cheese is the most difficult part of the work. “Then it’s a case of tapping, testing, tasting. It’s difficult to say whether a cheese will be really good in three years’ time, because such a young cheese doesn’t have much flavour yet. But we’ve got 20 years of experience and very good taste buds.”