Indeed I did! I think that in Spain I was so favorably overwhelmed with the Jamon Serrano / Iberico that the cheese took a backseat - but there were really good semi-hard and mountain cheeses there too.
In Montpellier, I visited an affineur, or cheese seller - although here they do much more than simply sell cheeses wrapped up in cellophane - it might be more proper to say that they 'finish' the cheeses here, taking them from relatively young and immature, and bringing them to the glory of full maturity carefully over the course of weeks of time at careful temperature and humidity, delicately turning and washing the rinds, and finally choosing them at just the right moment to be offered to their customers, to be taken home and enjoyed.
The local cheeses of the area are mostly Chevre - small goat's milk cheeses which are semi-soft and range from fruity to pungent. As you can see in the photos, they can take on an almost ashen coat of fungal growth as they approach maturity - this is a beautiful thing, trust me! The aroma in the shop was nearly overwhelmingly delicious - a mix of truffle-like fungal and fresher dairy / goaty aromas.
Also of interest were the farm-cured sausages on offer at the outdoor market. Too bad that I was in a hurry and leaving for Avignon in the morning - these looked amazing too - I just had to snap a photo!
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