There’s ‘Gruyère,’ and Then There’s Swiss Gruyère — Here’s How to Tell the Difference

If you’re making mac and cheese or French onion soup, you might see Gruyère on the ingredient list. This aged cheese melts beautifully and adds a salty, rich flavor to all kinds of dishes. The good news: You can find excellent Gruyère at a specialty cheese counter or your local Costco, thanks to rigorous quality standards. “You always know what you’re going to get when you buy Gruyère,” says Elizabeth Chubbuck, senior vice president of sales and marketing at Murray’s Cheese.

Chubbuck isn’t talking about any wedge labeled “gruyère,” though, but Le Gruyère AOP, the raw-milk cheese from Switzerland with nearly 1,000 years of heritage. It’s not protected by geographic origin in the U.S., so generic imitators abound. Thankfully, it’s easy to find the real thing if you know what to look for.

Here’s why traditional Swiss Gruyère is worth seeking out — and how to spot it at your supermarket.

What makes Le Gruyère AOP so special?

Gruyère has been made in the region around its namesake town of Gruyères, Switzerland, since 1115. While most Gruyère is now made in modern dairies instead of traditional mountain chalets, production has remained hands-on.

“I’ve seen cheese being made across Europe in large and small operations. The thing that has always struck me with Gruyère is how ubiquitous it is in the United States and yet how small and cottage the industry [is],” says Chubbuck. 

It’s also strictly regulated by the AOP system, short for Appellation d’Origine Protégée (protected designation of origin). Raw milk from cows is delivered to cheese dairies twice a day. It goes into open copper vats, along with rennet and cultures, and the cheesemaker decides when to cut the milk into curds based on carefully honed instincts. After adding the curds and whey to molds, the cheesemaker gives each wheel a casein mark, or “passport,” with the production date and identifying number of the dairy, before it is aged by affineurs for at least five months. 

All of these factors create an artisanal product that is remarkably consistent in quality, explains Olivier Isler, director of the Interprofession du Gruyère. “The rules create consistency and authenticity, while the natural variation of the terroir and the human touch give every wheel its own character.”

Here’s what Chubbuck calls the “linchpin of the operation.” Between four and five months, each Gruyère wheel is graded on a 20-point scale by an independent commission. Any cheese that doesn’t earn at least 18 points can’t be sold as a wheel or wedge with the AOP label; those that score between 16.5 and 18 points might be repurposed for shredded cheese or a fondue blend, and those that score lower don’t make it to the market at all. 

The wheels that earn a higher grade command a higher price point for the milk producer and the cheesemaker, “so both parties are incentivized to create the best quality product that they possibly can,” Chubbuck says. 

The bottom line: While there are some variations in quality, any cheese you buy with the Le Gruyère AOP label has passed a rigorous test to make it to your retailer. 

How to tell you’re getting Swiss Gruyère

A 2023 federal appeals court ruling, which affirmed a 2021 district court decision, determined that, at least in the U.S., cheeses labeled “gruyère” don’t need to come from Switzerland or France. (French Gruyère is also a protected cheese in Europe but is uncommon in the U.S. market, says Chubbuck; unlike Swiss Gruyère, it is required to have holes.) The U.S. court reasoned that gruyère is a generic type of cheese, not a specific product. 

Producers around the world have long used the gruyère name, and the reason why comes down to money and market share, says Chubbuck. She estimates that the raw-material costs for making Le Gruyère AOP might be 25% to 30% higher than those of mass-produced domestic gruyère, making Gruyère from Switzerland considerably more expensive. But the difference in quality is apparent. 

“A real Gruyère, I would expect [to have] a good balance of salt and bouillon cube — a little bit of an oniony flavor, really savory, with a lot of flavor. Those domestic gruyères are going to have a rubbery, squishy texture, and might taste like mozzarella,” she says. 

So, how can you know you’re getting Swiss Gruyère? “For consumers in the United States, I would simply say: Don’t rely on the word Gruyère alone,” says Isler. “Look for the official Le Gruyère AOP logo. And when buying packaged cheese, check the label carefully for the Swiss origin and the AOP designation.” 

Other tips for buying Gruyère and Alpine-style cheeses

Beyond the label, there are some nice-to-haves you might consider if you’re willing to spend a little more on Gruyère. 

Chubbuck recommends buying it hand-cut from a cheese counter if you can. Gruyère is aged a minimum of five months, but Chubbuck prefers it in the 10- to 12-month range, which will offer a “bigger, more complex, nuanced flavor.” Le Gruyère AOP Réserve is aged for more than 10 months, with some wheels matured for 18 or even 24 months; it has a denser, more crystalline texture and nutty flavor that is lovely on a cheese board, though it will cost you more. 

Le Gruyère d’Alpage AOP is a small-batch, terroir-driven cheese made in traditional chalets from cows grazing on high-altitude pastures in the summer. It’s available from some specialty retailers like Murray’s during the holiday season. “They tend to have more personality,” says Chubbuck, due to the extremely artisanal production.

While Le Gruyère AOP from any dairy is going to be high-quality, some producers are especially decorated — Fromagerie la Côte-aux-Fées’ aged Gruyère was named the best cheese in the world at the 2025 Mondial du Fromage, while Bergkäserei Vorderfultigen’s Gruyère, aged for more than 18 months, took top honors at the 2025 World Cheese Awards. 

And while most “gruyère” without the AOP label is probably mass-produced, Chubbuck notes that there are Alpine-style cheeses made in the U.S. that are excellent in their own right, such as Pleasant Ridge Reserve from Uplands Cheese in Wisconsin or Alpha Tolman from Jasper Hill Farm in Vermont. These are often inspired by European cheeses like Gruyère and can be delicious in similar situations like fondue or grilled cheese. 

Still, cheesemaking traditions take years to perfect, and there’s a reason Le Gruyère AOP has remained a constant in cheese professionals’ drawers. 

Chubbuck laughs, “I think [Jasper Hill cheesemaker] Mateo Kehler likes to say that Switzerland had a thousand-year head start on the rest of us.”