Roquefort-sur-Soulzon is a small village perched on the edge of the Combalou plateau in the Aveyron, notable for a single extraordinary fact: the natural fissures and caves beneath it are the only place in the world where genuine Roquefort cheese can legally be made. The cool, humid air that circulates through the fleurines — narrow natural ventilation shafts — maintains exactly the conditions the Penicillium roqueforti mould needs to create the characteristic blue-green veins in the raw sheep's milk curd.
Several producers open their caves to visitors, including Société Roquefort, the cooperative that controls most production. The cave tours take you down into the limestone, past rows of cheeses aging on oak shelves in near-silence, and explain the process from curdling to the long maturation underground. It's genuinely interesting even if you don't particularly care about cheese — the cave system is vast and the whole operation is unlike anything else in French gastronomy.
The village above is small, but the setting on the plateau edge is dramatic. The surrounding countryside — limestone causses, deep gorges, and the upper valley of the Soulzon below — is worth exploring. The Gorges du Tarn and the Aven Armand cave are both within reach. The nearest substantial town is Millau, 25 km north, with its extraordinary viaduct.