. . from botique producers are doing very well against European imports tastewise, but tend to be significantly more expensive than the imports.

High quality cheeses can be made anywhere that has an appropriate climate and the right milkable critters, but most important of all it has to have a market willing to pay for the additional care needed.

I understand only about 10% of the cheese consumed in France is the high quality botique product, the rest is factory made like everywhere else.

Hmmmm . . I wonder if Kraft produces any [link|http://www.kraftfoods.com/velveeta/main.aspx?s=&m=clean_plate&brand=velveeta|Velveeta] in France. That would be just so humiliating, wouldn't it - but Kraft's international site doesn't mention making cheese in France.