> there's no cheese market large enough and rich enough to pay them what their top cheese is worth

That sounds like the market expressing the collective opinion that their cheese is not miles better than what other people make.

On a related note, the best seems to be considered Emmentaler AOC, and it does not seem especially difficult to purchase outside of Switzerland.

eru 4 days ago | parent [-]

Emmentaler is a fairly common cheese. I would expect the 'best' to be some obscure cheese that neither you nor me have heard of.

I'm quite fond of the Belper Knolle, but even that ain't particularly obscure.

	▲	JumpCrisscross 4 days ago \| parent \| next [-]
		> would expect the 'best' to be some obscure cheese that neither you nor me have heard of …why? Gruyère and Appenzeller are delicious. They’re also well known. My favorite blue in the world is Point Reyes. Controversial when I’m in France. But not some secret undiscovered jewel.
	▲	rootusrootus 4 days ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		If obscurity is an important factor, there are going to be as many 'best' cheeses as there are people. For this discussion to make any sense we need something of a consensus opinion, for which Emmentaler gets nominated often enough.