Laurent Dubois

Picture 120 cheeses assembled into a “pyramide des saveurs”. Laurent Dubois’s business describes this as his final presentation for the Meilleur Ouvrier de France distinction. Most cheeseboards can afford to be a little less ambitious.[1]

Behind that spectacle sits the daily work of a Parisian cheesemonger and affineur: selecting cheese, guiding its maturation and helping you choose. Follow it from the producer’s dairy to the maturing room, then to the counter. You will find young goats’ cheeses arriving for further ageing, carefully selected mountain cheeses and house preparations with quince and pistachios.[7][9]

At a glance	What to know
Name	Laurent Dubois; business trading as Fromageries Laurent Dubois.[1][5]
Home base	Paris, France.[5]
The daily work	Choosing cheese, affinage, retail and helping customers choose.[7]
First shop	Rue de Lourmel, Paris, in 1996, according to the business.[1]
Distinction	Meilleur Ouvrier de France; the business dates his award to 2000.[1][4]
Shop directory, November 2026	Auteuil, Bastille, Dupleix and Maubert.[5]
Website publisher	EURL DUBOIS GOURMET, SIREN 489794446, according to its legal notice.[6]
Business status	Not established here
Ultimate ownership	Not established here

A family trade, then a counter of his own

Cheese was part of Dubois’s family story long before he opened a shop. The son and grandson of Parisian cheesemongers, he studied management before entering the business himself. Then came travels around France, learning from other practitioners, particularly about maturation.[2]

A Comté industry profile published on 21 December 2005 captures that blend of inherited experience and curiosity. Family knowledge gave him a beginning, rather than the whole education.[2]

The business dates his first shop on rue de Lourmel to 1996. Its account puts agreed requirements with producers at the heart of selection from the outset. Buying cheese and caring for its maturation belonged to the same undertaking.[1]

Four milestones give you the shape of that journey:

• 1996: first shop on rue de Lourmel, according to the business history.[1]
• 2000: Meilleur Ouvrier de France award, according to that same history.[1]
• 2005: the Comté interprofessional body reported that Dubois had joined its organisation.[2]
• 2021: a French education ministry decision appointed him vice-president of the Fromager-Fromagère examination jury.[4]

The career extends beyond what you see across the counter. These records also place Dubois within the institutions that represent the French cheese trade and assess its professional skills.[2][4]

What a pyramid of 120 cheeses had to prove

The Meilleur Ouvrier de France distinction belongs to a person, not a cheese. Its full title is Un des Meilleurs Ouvriers de France, usually shortened to MOF. Think command of a whole trade, rather than a prize for one exceptional wheel.[3]

COET-MOF, the examination organiser, describes qualifying examinations followed by a final work or professional exercise judged by specialists. Successful candidates receive a state diploma. Knowledge must stand alongside practical skill.[3]

Dubois’s business recounts his final presentation as that “pyramide des saveurs”, made from 120 cheeses. Its description of the cheese category combines theoretical knowledge of production, origins and hygiene with practical mastery of maturation, cutting, tasting and presentation.[1]

You can see how those skills depend on one another. How a cheese was made informs its care; its condition informs how you cut, taste and present it. The ministry’s 2021 jury appointment also identifies Dubois as a Meilleur Ouvrier de France in the Fromager-Fromagère class.[4]

Four Paris counters, one address to remember

If you are planning a visit, the business website’s November 2026 directory lists four Paris shops. You will find each directory address below.[5]

Shop	Where to find it
Auteuil	58 rue d’Auteuil, 75016 Paris
Bastille	97 to 99 rue Saint-Antoine, 75004 Paris
Dupleix	2 rue de Lourmel, 75015 Paris
Maubert	47 ter boulevard Saint-Germain, 75005 Paris

Dupleix takes you back to the early story. The 2005 Comté profile calls the shop at 2 rue de Lourmel “Fromages de Traditions”. Today’s Laurent Dubois directory identifies that same address as Dupleix.[2][5]

The name above the shops and the website’s legal publisher are separate details. The legal notice names EURL DUBOIS GOURMET at the Maubert address, with Laurent Dubois as publication director and legal representative.[6]

Before you set out, ask about opening arrangements and accessibility. If you have a particular cheese in mind, ask about that too.

To choose Comté, go where it matures

At least twice a year, choosing Comté took Dubois to its region, according to the interprofessional body’s 2005 profile. Those journeys included selecting cheeses at Fort Saint-Antoine and preparing for the Mont-d’Or season. Buying meant spending time within the cheese’s supply chain, rather than simply picking from a list.[2]

Back at Lourmel, the same profile describes several Comté selections. Dubois spoke of customers who preferred cheeses around 12 to 14 months old, alongside a smaller audience for those aged beyond 24 months. Age was a choice, not a competition.[2]

The point was to offer different experiences. Today, the business still puts exchange with producers at the centre of selection. It also notes that some small production cheeses cannot always be obtained regularly.[7][9]

For a current relationship with a named producer, ask the business directly. At the counter, ask which cheeses the team particularly recommends now, rather than looking only for the oldest available. The Comté guide helps you take that conversation beyond a single age figure.

Behind the counter, the patient work of affinage

Temperature, humidity, rubbing, brushing and turning: these are the working details of affinage. It means controlled maturation and care, and Laurent Dubois’s business identifies it as a core activity. Its installations allow the teams to manage those conditions and carry out that work.[7][8]

Even the maturation support, the surface on which a cheese rests, has a part in the business’s stated approach. You are looking at active care, not merely somewhere to leave cheese while time passes.[7]

Goats’ cheeses offer the clearest published example of substantial maturation after purchase. The business says they arrive very young and spend much of their life in its care. Dubois describes choosing a particular maturation approach for each type.[9]

There is a glimpse of the earlier operation, too. In 2005, the Comté profile reported three maturation chambers serving the Lourmel shop. That figure belongs to that date; the current business account focuses instead on environmental controls and the cellar team’s work.[2][8]

Selection is only the beginning of this part of the story. The producer and affineur make distinct contributions to what reaches your counter, and both deserve recognition.[7] For the manufacturing stages before maturation, see how cheese is made.

Quince, pistachios and a cheeseboard with another idea

Quince with blue cheese. Pistachios with aged Gouda. Fresh truffle with a seasonal soft cheese. In Dubois’s house preparations, cheese already made becomes the starting point for another culinary decision.[9]

Alongside cheeses in their established forms, the business website’s November 2026 repertoire included Roquefort Pâte de Coing, Nougat de Vieux Gouda aux pistaches and a seasonal preparation of Mont d’Or with fresh Périgord truffle. Each gives you a specific combination to consider, rather than a vague promise of creativity.[9]

The business presents these preparations as a personal contribution to the cheeseboard. They take its work beyond selecting and maturing cheese, adding another ingredient and another way to serve it.[9]

When you choose, ask what is available that day and what has been added. Request the ingredients and allergen information for the particular preparation you intend to take home. The website describes the repertoire; contact the individual shop for stock, especially for the seasonal preparation.[9]

A good cheeseboard starts with a conversation

Start with your meal, not a roll call of famous cheeses. Tell the team how many people are eating, whether cheese is the main event or follows dinner, and which textures or strengths you already enjoy. Even a distinguished cheese needs to fit the occasion.

That gives staff something useful to work with. The business describes advice as a foundation of its work alongside selection and affinage. It shapes assortments around customers’ preferences and needs, with seasonal boards and combinations for different occasions.[7]

Then ask four focused questions:

1. Which cheeses are at the maturity you recommend for my intended serving day?
2. Who made them, and what further maturation has the business undertaken?
3. How should each piece be wrapped, refrigerated and served?
4. What ingredients have been added to any house preparation?

Those questions bring the conversation back to the cheese you will actually serve. They also help distinguish the maker’s work from further maturation or preparation before sale.

Get care instructions for each particular cheese. Where food safety affects your choice, consult the relevant official guidance as well as asking at the counter. For broader reference, use how to store cheese at home and how to read a cheese label.

Raw milk: two questions to ask at the counter

Dubois’s business publicly supports raw milk cheese.[1] At the counter, establish both the milk treatment and the cheese type. One answer does not replace the other.

In France, Article 14 of Décret n°2007-628 defines the labelling expression lait cru using milk not heated above 40 °C or subjected to an equivalent non-thermal treatment. The decree sets specific provisions for different product categories. Under Article 15, the raw milk statement is optional for qualifying cooked pressed cheeses.[11]

These provisions form the November 2026 reference for this page. Official advice distinguishes between products and between the people eating them, so use the guidance relevant to you.[11][12][13]

Country and audience	Official advice to consult, November 2026
France, young children, pregnant women and immunocompromised people	Consult the French agriculture ministry's guidance.[12]
UK, pregnancy	Consult the NHS pregnancy guidance.[13]

Read the French ministry’s guidance or the NHS pregnancy guidance for the complete advice. Ask your healthcare professional about your circumstances. The milk treatment explainer separates raw, thermised and pasteurised milk.

Long before a piece reaches your cheeseboard

Buying, maturation and retail overlap in the French cheese trade. Maison Mons offers another documented example: its website presents cheese ageing, maturation caves and the Collonge tunnel alongside its retail activity.[10]

The useful comparison lies in how that work is organised. Dubois’s published account centres on a Paris shop network, cellar care and customer advice. Mons publicly identifies a different set of maturation facilities.[5][7][8][10]

For Dubois, the sequence runs from building relationships and selecting deliberately to caring for cheese through maturation, then explaining the choice at the counter. House preparations add another strand of culinary interpretation. By the time you choose a piece for your cheeseboard, this cheesemonger’s work has been under way for some time.[7][9]

General information only, not medical advice: follow the official guidance where you live.

The Rind Question

Questions people ask

Who is Laurent Dubois?

Laurent Dubois is a Parisian cheesemonger and affineur. The son and grandson of cheesemongers, he studied management before entering the family trade and travelling around France to learn from other practitioners.

Where are the Laurent Dubois cheese shops?

The business lists four Paris shops: Auteuil at 58 rue d’Auteuil, Bastille at 97 to 99 rue Saint-Antoine, Dupleix at 2 rue de Lourmel and Maubert at 47 ter boulevard Saint-Germain. These locations were checked in November 2026.

What is affinage, and how does Laurent Dubois practise it?

Affinage is the controlled maturation and care of cheese, using tools such as temperature, humidity, rubbing, brushing and turning. The business says its goats’ cheeses arrive very young and spend much of their life in its care, with a particular maturation approach chosen for each type.

What special cheese preparations does Laurent Dubois offer?

The website listed Roquefort with quince paste, aged Gouda with pistachios and a seasonal Mont d’Or preparation with fresh Périgord truffle in November 2026. Current availability has not been verified, so check with the individual shop.

What does Laurent Dubois’s Meilleur Ouvrier de France distinction mean?

The distinction recognises an individual’s command of a trade rather than the merits of an individual cheese. The business dates Dubois’s award to 2000, and a 2021 ministry decision identifies him as a Meilleur Ouvrier de France in the Fromager-Fromagère class.

Sources

1. Fromageries Laurent Dubois, Laurent Dubois : fromager affineur, undated business biography, retrieved November 2026. Business biography.
2. Comité interprofessionnel de gestion du Comté, Laurent Dubois, crémier-fromager à Paris, 21 December 2005. Industry-body profile. Published profile.
3. COET-MOF, Examen Un des Meilleurs Ouvriers de France (UMOF), current examination overview, retrieved November 2026. Examination overview.
4. Ministère de l’Éducation nationale, Nomination des membres du jury de certaines classes ou options de classe de l’examen conduisant au diplôme Un des meilleurs ouvriers de France, decision of 3 November 2021, Bulletin officiel No. 44, 25 November 2021, NOR MENE2133318S. Official decision.
5. Fromageries Laurent Dubois, Retrouvez les fromageries Laurent Dubois à Paris, undated shop directory, retrieved November 2026. Shop directory.
6. Fromageries Laurent Dubois, Mentions légales, undated, retrieved November 2026. Business legal notice.
7. Fromageries Laurent Dubois, Notre savoir-faire, undated, retrieved November 2026. Selection, maturation and advice.
8. Fromageries Laurent Dubois, homepage, undated, retrieved November 2026. Business overview.
9. Fromageries Laurent Dubois, Les fromages de la maison Laurent Dubois, undated, retrieved November 2026, sections on creations, goats’ cheeses and limited-production cheeses. Published selection.
10. Maison Mons, Mons Fromager, a family business dedicated to the art of cheese aging, current homepage and navigation, retrieved November 2026. Business overview.
11. République française, Décret n°2007-628 du 27 avril 2007 relatif aux fromages et spécialités fromagères, consolidated text, Articles 14 and 15, retrieved November 2026. Légifrance text.
12. Ministère de l’Agriculture, Consommation de fromages à base de lait cru : rappel des précautions à prendre, 18 February 2025, retrieved November 2026. French official guidance.
13. NHS, Foods to avoid in pregnancy, current webpage, retrieved November 2026. UK official guidance.

This desk-researched profile compares the business’s published accounts with an earlier industry profile, the examination organiser’s explanation, a ministry appointment record, French legislation and official consumer guidance.

Last checked: November 2026

Last checked November 2026.