The hills are alive

DANI VALENT discovers the abundance of produce that thrives at high altitudes, from Swiss Alps cheese and wine to Yunnan tea and coffee.

- 

THERE'S GRUYÈRE AND THEN THERE'S Gruyère d'Alpage - a cheese that's produced during Swiss summertime, at altitudes around 1200 metres above sea level.

"They take the cows up the mountain as the snowline retreats, grazing them on herbs and flowers mixed in with the grass," says Sam Hurst, owner of Savour and Grace provedore in Melbourne.

"Different feed equals different milk equals different cheese: you can definitely taste the grassiness and herbaceousness, and the air is so clean up there that it facilitates a different microflora."

Made in small chalets, the cheese is heated in copper pots over wood fires, which add smoky notes, then matured for around 12 weeks at altitude.

"It's amazing that Gruyère d'Alpage still exists," says Hurst. "It takes a certain type of person to do it. Gruyères can be restrained but this one is a bit wilder, even feral. It captures true regionality."

Cheese isn't the only food that can flourish at such heights, drawing from its vertiginous location a kind of superpower. Alpine wines are a prime example, whether it's Petite Arvine, chasselas or pinot noir from Switzerland's Valais, or the jacquère, mondeuse, altesse and persan from France's Savoie region to the south. "These higher-altitude regions often use unique grapes adapted to the climate and have great mineral expressions because of the geology," says Dorian Guillon, wine director at Melbourne's Vue Group and a Master Sommelier.

"High altitudes bring intense sunlight which tends to develop grapes with thicker skins. You could expect more intense colours, flavours and refined tannin structure for the reds. Cooler temperatures also tend to result in a good amount of acidity."