Highland Fine Cheeses is bringing playful indulgence to the seasonal cheeseboard with the launch of Ooh La La, a vibrant lactic cow’s milk cheese influenced by the traditional French Saint-Félicien style.
Second-generation cheesemaker Rory Stone spent more than two years developing the new cheese at Highland Fine Cheeses’ Tain creamery. Made with an additional measure of cream, Ooh La La has been created to deliver a texture famously described as being “silkier than French knickers.”
The vegetarian cheese is produced through a gentle lactic process involving slow coagulation. Its curds are carefully hand-ladled into moulds in fine layers, helping to retain moisture and build the soft, delicate structure that becomes richly spoonable during maturation. A fine natural geotrichum rind completes its luxurious presentation.
Ooh La La combines fresh cream and cultured butter with an aromatic yeast character developed in the maturation rooms. Its rind contributes restrained mushroom and cellar notes, while flavours of banana and pear drops lead into a crisp, refined lactic finish.
The cheese secured Best Scottish Cheese and Best Soft White Rind Cheese at the 2026 British & Irish Cheese Awards, where it also received a Gold medal, ahead of its formal market launch. After a further six months of development, Ooh La La is now prepared for UK-wide distribution in time for the Christmas trading period.
A light-hearted interpretation of a French favourite
Explaining the seasonal launch, head cheesemaker Rory Stone said: “We are very excited to be releasing a new cheese for Christmas, but the truth is that all I have ever done is plagiarise. Ooh La La is an entire rip off of the French delicacy, Saint-Félicien – one of those heavenly gooey, unctuous styles that some would say provide the casomorphins that make cheese addictive.”
Stone also highlighted the demanding nature of the production method, which depends on careful hand-ladling and tightly managed environmental conditions. He described the process as “not one for automation,” while explaining that the product name reflects a deliberately comic and nostalgic influence:
“The name is derived quite simply from my infantile humour, it’s a little Inspector Clouseau with some ‘Allo ‘Allo! thrown in, rounding off my unoriginal concept with a previous century’s slapstick.”
With its approachable flavour becoming deeper and more layered at peak maturity, Ooh La La is positioned as a distinctive festive centrepiece for retailers, foodservice operators and Christmas cheeseboards throughout the UK.
The launch also reflects wider food and beverage industry trends, including food manufacturing trends focused on craft production, food processing technology balanced with hands-on expertise, and food distribution trends supporting nationwide seasonal availability. Its development aligns with food and drink industry innovation and food and drink consumer trends favouring premium speciality products, while its presentation offers opportunities across food and drink packaging and food and drink marketing. As food and drink sustainability and food and drink regulations continue to influence purchasing decisions, Highland Fine Cheeses is placing provenance, vegetarian production and controlled maturation at the centre of its proposition.
