Top Ten Wine and Cheese Pairings 2011

Whole Foods Galleria just announced their top ten wines, which are on sale at the store, and so our fearless leaders, Michael and Dave (the wine and cheese experts) picked out six pairings for this month’s theme.

This class worked out really well because there was a lot of variety and the pairings really stood out more so than any wine or the cheese by themselves.

We started with the lightest cheese, of course, Bucherondin, which was a creamy French goat cheese that totally coated the roof of my mouth like peanut butter.
Luckily, Dave handed out an orange blossom honey to go on top of the cheese and it was paired with a Savignon Blanc to help cut through the cream. The sweet, fruity flavors of the honey as well as a wine with higher acidity really helps.

The Manchego, Spain’s most popular cheese, was aged six months and Dave claimed that it had a “buttery” taste, but I think it was still plenty dry. This too was passed with a quince jelly to add some sweetness. This was paired with a Spanish wine (wines and cheese from similar areas go well together), but I was surprised that it was a Chardonnay. So no heavy oak or buttery taste since it’s from Europe as compared to California's version.

The next two were cheddars, which I just love due to their sharp flavor! First up was a Seaside Cheddar that was not near as sharp as the second one, a Grafton Reserve Cheddar. Dave passed around a cherry-flavored preserve but the cherry’s fruitiness was a bit too strong. Now I know cheddar is sharp but I want the full effect of that, not the fruit flavor. I preferred both cheddars by themselves, especially with their wines. The Seaside Cheddar was paired with a Pinot Grigio from Argentina and the Grafton Reserve Cheddar (aged two years and quite sharp) was paired with a very smooth Malbec. It had to be one of my favorite pairings of the night.

Next up was another excellent cheese, and one that Dave has picked out at least once or twice before because it is so tasty. P’tit Basque is a light and creamy sheep’s milk cheese, and it was paired with a very dry red wine from Italy in an effort to cut the creaminess but I let the cheese stand on its own this time.

The last pairing was a traditional Blue d’Auvergne that I only took a little bite from, of course.

The best part about class? Plenty of leftover cheese.

Spanish Cheese Class

Even though Italian cheese class was cancelled, Spanish cheese class at The Wine and Cheese Place (http://www.wineandcheeseplace.com) was a huge hit and required two tables to seat everyone. Hosted by Angie Ortman, (http://www.stlwinegirl.com), Spain is mostly known for their sheep’s milk cheeses and they tend to have a little more of a bite. All of the cheeses were paired with Spanish wines, of course.

We started with a lighter wine, a cava, or what Spain calls their sparkling wine. This was a Brut Rose so it had a pretty strawberry shade but tasted dry and the bubbles didn’t last too long for the finish. Instead of going with a light cheese, it was paired with a Roncal, a drier sheep’s milk cheese. The two made a great pairing because the sharpness of the cheese was toned down and it helped bring out more of the fruit of the Rose.

When I first smelled the Verdejo, I immediately thought Sauvignon Blanc. Turns out I was right! Once again, it’s the Spanish version of the same wine and this was paired with a goat’s cheese that was mixed with parsley and garlic. The cheese was VERY creamy and it helped to balance out the crispness of the Verdejo. This cheese was definitely my favorite and I purchased a jar of it.

My favorite pairing of the class was a Valminor Albarino white wine and Mahon. The wine was a bright yellow color, like a Chardonney, so I immediately guessed oak! Both wine and cheese had a creamy, full flavor and managed to balance out each other quite well.

We only had one red wine and the Rioja was very smooth but once again, had a fruitier taste once paired with the dry Manchego.

Last was the dessert wine, a brand of sherry, which of course was paired with a blue cheese. I could barely make it through either of them. I tried to take a few sips of the sherry since it was an expensive brand but could not handle it for long. Luckily my table neighbors helped me out with all my wine leftovers!

Here are the pairings:
Cristalino Brut Rose – Roncal
Esperanza Verdejo/Viura – Le Call Bardines
Vlaminor Albarino – Mahon
Montebuena Rioja – Rosemary encrusted Manchego
Michel Couvreur PX – Blue cheese

While there aren't any Provisions classes planned for this year, November is still a busy month. Next week is the Ernesto’s event on Monday, November 8th, and seafood class at Whole Foods on Tuesday, November 9th.

Then Thursday, November 18th is Beaujolais Nouveau and I will be at a cheese class at Whole Foods so hopefully they’ll break some out for us!

Summer Reds with Cheese

It’s been a busy week of classes with Angie Ortmann / STLwinegirl (http://www.stlwinegirl.com) and so I have a lot to write about tonight. We’ll start with the first one, and the best one, which was cheese class at The Wine and Cheese Place (http://www.wineandcheeseplace.com/) entitled “Summer Reds and Rose Wines”.

I was a little worried about attending a class full of reds but was pleasantly surprised that there were a couple of rose wines listed. I think rose wines are sweet and refreshing, perfect for summertime. Angie picked a lot of my favorite cheeses but everyone else liked them too so there weren’t too many leftovers at the end. The first rose was paired with a triple crème that looked like brie. The creaminess of the cheese helped to break through the tartness of the wine.

The second rose was a little stronger, so it was well paired with a thicker Chevre. It reminded me of peanut butter…sticking to the roof of my mouth…so it definitely needed a fuller body wine. But neither flavor was really changed by the other and I prefer a combination that is better than the individual flavors by themselves.

The first real red was Beaujolais and I was actually interested because I have gotten to take part in Beaujolais Nouveau (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beaujolais_nouveau) the last couple of years. The wine comes from the same region in France and had a very fruity bouquet but ended up tasting quite dry. Luckily, it was paired with aged cheddar, with little moisture, so it had a sharper flavor to match up to the stronger red wine.

For the first time I had an aged Manchego, which is a sheep’s milk cheese from Spain. I wasn’t sure how it would go with the Shiraz it was paired with because it had a pepper smell and burned all my nose hairs! But it did not taste spicy at all and the lower tannin flavor went well with the cheese.

Of course you gotta finish strong so the Blue Stilton was paired with a Napa Valley Cab. It had an oak smell and was high in alcohol – 14.2%! So I figured it would have some legs and walk across the table to start a fight with the stilton. I only had small samplings of both!

This means that there is only one cheese class left, beer and cheese, on September 2nd. Hopefully these cheese classes have been successful enough that Angie will have more themes in the future.

Menu:
Delice de Bourgogne Triple Crème
Schramsberg Rose

Homboldt Fog Chevre
Maiple Rose of Malbec

Vermont Clothbound Cheddar
Manior du Carra Beaujolais Villages Unfiltered

Aged Manchego
Thorn Clarke Shotfire Shiraz

Blue Stilton
Rubus Old Vine Cabernet Sauvignon 2007

Boogaloo

Thanks to a Groupon (http://www.groupon.com/stlouis/), my friends and I hit another tapas restaurant, Boogaloo (http://www.boogaloostl.com/), in downtown Maplewood - but with a Cuban flare. We definitely lived up to the FAC tradition and ordered just about every tapas item on the menu in addition to three desserts.

I actually had been to Boogaloo before but I never turn down the chance to try other things on a menu. One friend ordered what I had last time, the plantain encrusted tilapia, with sweet potato-andouille hash, orange scallion remoulade. The tilapia is so light and the cream sauce that has sweet flavor.

Another friend ordered the muffaletta sandwich, which came with a good amount of meat, but you gotta like olives! Hehe Still, I was there for tapas. While I was a little nervous about all the spicy-sounding items, it actually worked out in my favor because most of the items were not spicy at all. So it might be disappointing to you if that is what you were expecting, but the spices just brought out subtle flavors instead.

The jerk chicken wings just had a hint of spice and came with a coconut sauce but even that was not too strong of a flavor so neither one overpowered the other.

The Louisiana crawfish cakes, again, were not fishy and you mostly tasted the breading. The jalapeno tartar sauce had no kick at all either. More tangy than hot.

The Brazil nut encrusted manchego cheese was definitely my favorite by far but like my friend said, it might as well had been a giant cheese stick. I did enjoy the romesco sauce since it was lighter and sweeter than typical marinara sauce.

My second favorite was the wasabi pea encrusted tuna with mango slaw. The wasabi sauce gave the tuna a little flavor but it was not hot at all like you normally associate with wasabi anything. The tuna was perfectly cooked. I was definitely wishing for more on the plate.

Of course the ONE item that surprised me is the one that didn’t really mention spice, so of course I was totally caught off guard. The andouille sausage had quite a bit of heat to it even though the Worcestershire glaze gave it a sweet flavor at first.

The spinach and artichoke empanadas were like fried baby tacos stuffed with the cream sauce but it had a stronger spinach flavor and not the creamy-dip flavor that we were expecting. At least the fried shell made it easier to eat. Hehe

Saving one of the best for last, the island style pork ribs were very good and the meat just fell off the bone making it very easy to eat. It still had too much fat for my taste but definitely one of the best items on the menu.

For dessert, we ordered the bread pudding, the tres leche cake with caramel sauce, and I got the chocolate brownie after being peer pressured into ordering the chocolate item since that’s normally what I get. But after all those tapas and taking bites off of everyone else’s plates, I was so full!

The brownie was very disappointing because it came out hard inside and out. After taking a Facebook poll, brownies should be somewhat moist or soft in the middle at least. But my friends loved their desserts…the bread pudding was sweet but was way too heavy to eat on top of a large meal while the leche cake looked light and fluffy.

The last couple of times the FAC has gotten together for “FACing” (a new verb that was coined), we were all dying to meet up for some sushi so I have a feeling that is going to be where we end up going next. But I still haven’t forgotten about Quintessential on St. Charles Main Street.

We thought Boogaloo would be too much of a bar atmosphere but it was just casual dining and as long as you don’t sit in the bar, you won’t get any smoke odors.