Fromagerie La Moutonnière is a pioneer in Québec when it comes to cheese made with ewe milk. At the beginning of the 90’s, Lucille Giroux, owner of Bergerie de la Moutonnière since 1977, decided to go into the cheesemaking business. Mrs. Giroux imported 33 dairy ewes from Sweden and, in 1995, introduced her feta, Québec’s first ewe milk cheese.

In 2000, the cheesemaker partnered with Alastair MacKenzie, a sheep production specialist from New Zealand. Around the same time the farm established an underground maturing cellar. However, some cheeses continued to be ripened… in the owner’s basement!

Since 2009, all La Moutonnière cheeses are made at the new cheese plant, located in the former rectory, in the heart of the village of Sainte-Hélène-de-Chester.

La Moutonnière’s artisanal cheeses are made with milk from the farm’s 200 ewes and from milk from neighbouring sheep farms. Each is always made with the milk from a single herd in order to ensure consistency of taste for the various products.

Today La Moutonnière produces several dairy products and some ten fine and fresh cheeses.

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