The older a cheese gets, the more water it loses. However, a totally dehydrated cheese would not taste of anything. One of the challenges when maturing longlived cheeses like Mimolette is to ensure that it retains enough water to be edible, since the process is irreversible.

The cheese grader’s skill is to be able to predict how the characteristics of a cheese will develop in the coming six months to a year. One of France’s finest cheese graders is Roland Barthelemy, who describes himself as a “cheese sommelier” and runs the Fromagerie Barthelemy in rue de Grenelle, Paris.

As well as supplying cheese to the Elysée presidential palace, one of Roland’s many claims to fame is his extended ripening of Isigny Sainte-Mère’s Mimolette cheeses.Whereas a standard mature Mimolette would be a year old or maybe more, in the hands of the prévôt of the French cheesemakers’ guild, these hand picked balls of cheese reach the ripe old age of two years and even improve with the keeping.

Nor do you have to wait until you next dine at the Elysée to sample Barthelemy’s cheeses. The Fromagerie Barthélémy is at 51, rue de Grenelle in the seventh arrondissement. You can even visit the ‘cheese somellier’ online.