News From The Cheese Caves

At almost opposite sides of the country of Italy – Sardinia to the west and the Alto Adige of the northeast – the pairing of these two:
Pecorino Sardo and Pinot Grigio might be expected to be unlikely partners. The terroir couldn’t be more different between these two areas. The sheep fare better in the warmer climate of Sardinia and the Pinot Grigio expresses itself rather elegantly in the cooler climate of the Alto Adige.

Pinot Grigio has a lightness that may not stand up to the bolder cheeses very well. Take a delicious Pecorino Sardo that is not particularly overbearing and you will likely find those wines meld equitably. A great pairing for a picnic too: a chilled Pinot Grigio and a nutty Pecorino Sardo.

Being a sheep milk cheese has its advantages with a broad range of wine types. Those cheeses tend to be more forgiving than goat or cow cheeses; they rarely clash. Add to that their keeping qualities of the Pecorino Sardo especially; leftovers can be stashed for later. And the Pinot Grigios hold up well themselves of recorked and kept cool.

There are some gorgeous Robiola Rocchettas in our caves right now; they are always a welcome site. One of the many appealing qualities these cheeses have is their versatility in the matching with many many wines.

A varietal that we may not expect to yield as much tolerance for many cheeses is Dolcetto d’Alba. These wines are rarely if ever crafted to be especially “fruit-forward” as is the case with many new styles.
However, I have noted quite a few successes pairing cheeses with this grape.

The first thing we may want to check for good matches are the cheeses and wines that are produced closest to one another. The Piemonte in northwest Italy is also home to a diverse range of formaggi, all milk types, even a few water buffalo cheeses. The combination of all three of the major milk types: goat, sheep and cow, give the Robiola Rocchetta many more successes than conflicts with wines.

Part of the successes of the Dolcetto d’Albas is their softness; they are less astringent than many other reds. Lovely drinking wines. The buttery creamy Robiola Rocchettas at room temperature dissolve gracefully into this smooth red, preferably served slightly cooler.

The first time I tasted Paula Lambert’s Hoja Santa was so long ago that I cannot recall exactly where it occurred. It was definitely at an American Cheese Society conference somewhere in the northeast. What I do recall about the experience was the cheese, as well as the lovely countenance of the lady who served me – Ms. Paula Lambert herself.

I have become a good friend of Paula’s; we just run into each other too infrequently. I have also become a fan of her Hoja Santa. It might seem to be a rather simple cheese at first. Instead I think of it as a more “primordial” type.

Long before there was paper to wrap cheese, our cheese-making ancestors would wrap their cheeses in leaves. The goat milk cheeses lend themselves to leaf-wrapping especially well. These cheeses are usually consumed young, meaning that they have more moisture and are a tad softer than most sheep or cow cheeses. The leaves also contributed their own flavors, along with protection to the young cheeses within.

In developing her new cheese (within the city limits of big “D”) Paula chose the Hoja Santa plant’s leaves to wrap her young cheese, a plant that is indigenous to southern Texas and to northern Mexico. The leaves impart a little sassafras flavor; that flavor becoming more pronounced with a little aging. One thing that challenges Paula in keeping up with the growing demand for her cheese is the availability of the leaves.

Pale ale might seem to be an unlikely partner for the Hoja Santa. I had the opportunity to assess that pairing recently. What a delightful marriage! The effervescence of ales gives them a leg-up with cheeses; offering the quality that enables ales to lift up the butterfats and acids that cheeses can leave behind.

What seals the deal between pairings (and I hope that the current issue of the Wine Spectator got this right) is in the aromatics – the “finish” where the esters in the food and beverage co mingle well or clash badly. The root beer note in the Hoja Santa meets the light bitter notes of good pale ale evenly.

There are not nearly as many cow milk cheeses in Spain than there are sheep or goat milk types. This is mainly due to the warm dry climate that dominates most of the peninsula. Of the cow cheeses that are produced, most of them are made in the northern part of the country, from Galicia all the way over to Catalunya, with a few others scattered around other greener parts of the country, including the Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean.

The province of Asturias boasts the broadest variety of types, not only cow milk cheeses but a few goat, sheep, and a number of mixed milk cheeses. One of the more unusual cheeses from the region is the Beyos. The cheese has a dense clay texture that becomes chalkier with age. When you first take a bite of the Beyos it may remind you of a goat cheese – that clay chalky texture most often found in those cheeses. I have tasted a goat version of Beyos as well as a mixed cow/goat version, but I much prefer the better-known 100% cow Beyos.

The dry paste may be a little surprising at first; it is so unusual, yet it melts into a buttery finish, mouth-wateringly delicious. During the most recent Master Intensive Series we tasted the Beyos in the cheese and wine session. It was included as one of the cow cheeses that is pressed but not cooked, a little bit like cheddar. One of the wines that we tasted with the cheeses was a Prieto Picudo from Castilla-León in northwest central Spain. It is a Rosé (Rosado) that has a raspberry flavor, similar to what you find in Grenache (Garnacha).

This was one of the best matches we had in the session; the assessments were unanimous. One person was reminded of a raspberry tart.

One word of caution about the Beyos, for all of you that like to eat the rinds of their cheeses: this rind can develop a little mold growth that, though it is beneficial to the flavor and the texture of the cheese within, is not particularly tasty itself. Enjoy the buttery inside, and try it with the relatively inexpensive Prieto Picudo.

From the tiny village of Azeitão (Ah-zhey-TONE) just south of Lisbon, the eponymous cheese is one that I have admired for years. Its soft unctuous texture and its nutty olive oil flavor makes for an inviting gateway to the diversity of thistle-renneted cheeses of Iberia. Azeitão appeared in my first book – The Cheese Plate – in the all-sheep plate. The ode that I wrote to it in my latest book – Mastering Cheese – had to be edited down; the tribute I wrote to it was just short of “X” rated.

Azeitão is a particularly sexy cheese, being made with sheep milk helps. Because it is produced in a relatively small format makes it a perfect cheese for sharing with your significant other, though as I mention in that ode, you can enjoy it all by yourself. Likely you can’t quite finish it in one setting however, not even two persons, it is so full of great nutrients: protein and amino acids, good butterfats and conjugated linoleic acid, vitamins and minerals.

Just last night we had this cheese in a Cheese & Wine 101 class here at the Center. We tasted it against a Muscadet, a Prieto Picudo and a Primitivo. I enjoyed the cheese with all three of the wines, but the clear favorite for most everyone was the Primitivo. The Azeitão has way of taming the medium tannins in many red wines, the more rustic types and the more elegant styles. In my second book – Cheese, a Connoisseur’s Guide to the World’s Best – the Azeitão is highlighted and several varietals are recommended as good pairing partners, Zinfandel (a descendant of Primitivo) is listed.

(a.k.a. Krümmenswiler Försterkäse, a.k.a. Bergfichte)

We’ve seen a cheese on the market that goes by this name – Försterkäse. It is a nice cheese but it is not a great cheese. The Bergfichte we carry is the one that counts. It is absolutely spectacular, chock full of umami, and voluptuous. Some people can’t get past the aroma but to me it is an endearing one.

One problem that fans of these softer wash-rind cheeses have with their favorite red wines is the limited pairing successes they seem to have. This can especially true for the Pinot Noir fans. They may crave those soft stinky cheeses but whether or not their Pinot will pair well with those cheeses is a bit iffy. These wines generally do better with natural-rind cow or sheep milk cheeses, pressed but not cooked types, rarely the goats or the blues.

Years ago when I was looking for the most-likely-to-succeed varietals for the cheeses that are featured in my second book – Cheese, a Connoisseur’s Guide to the World’s Best – I hesitated to try Pinot Noirs with the Krümmenswiler Försterkäse (as it was then known). I recalled how often these types of cheeses can destroy that noble grape. To my amazement, not only did the wine and cheese complement each other, they elevated one another! Layers and layers of flavors came through, out of the cheese as well as the wine.

Granted, not all Pinot Noirs are the same. So what might happen with another?

Fortunately, I had the same great successes with just about every Pinot that I tried. Again, not everyone cares for the type of funky aroma that the Bergfichte exudes. Yet if you are looking for one of those drop-dead gorgeous matches between cheeses and wines, I recommend that you try this one.

Because the name Försterkäse (meaning “forest cheese”) is a little easier to pronounce than its original full name, and because many people began to abbreviate the name without the Krümmenswiler in front, we continue to call the cheese Försterkäse, even though the new name for the cheese is actually Bergfichte, that is if you want to get the great one.

We often fret about pairing our wines appropriately with our foods. Not so sure that we should fret about it but there is something to be said for finding those “marriages-made-in-heaven” between your favorite wines and foods. Fortunately for cheeses, those good matches for wines pop up more often than with other foods. Cheese enjoys a leg-up compared to other foods, actually several leg-ups.

Cheese is, after all, a “near-perfect” and near-complete food with a stellar track record for food safety. Wine enjoys a similar track record as a beverage, certainly with regard to safety. When you are in a place where the water may be questionable, the wine is always a safer bet.

The fruit in a wine balances the savory qualities in a cheese. The acids in wine help to break down the good butterfats into nutritionally important fatty acids, and those acids helps to break down the proteins into amino acids; all this helps to make the cheese more easily digested. The acid in wine complements the flavor profile in cheese aesthetically too. In matching cheeses with wines we find that this more a relationship of harmony than the one of balance between the fruit in the wine and the savory in the cheese.

Because cheese is a fairly complex food it can present challenges to wine partners. This is one reason why it is helpful to find balance in the sizes of the overall flavor profiles among cheeses and wines. This is the basis of Artisanal’s CheeseClock. The bigger the cheese is, the bigger the wine should usually be. Not that a big cheese can’t find successful pairing with a lighter wine, the wine can however be overwhelmed by a cheese with bigger flavors.

What seals the deal between successful cheese and wine pairings is detected in the aromatics of the cheese and those of the wine, and how they get along at the finish. Everything can be working just fine between a cheese and wine, then at the “finish” they seem to go in separate directions, or they may even clash. A delightful surprising finish or a lesser one is indicated by the aromatic esters in the wine and in those of the cheese. The cheese may be a salty one that is pairing nicely with a fruitier or sweeter type of wine, the acids are complementing one another well, the size of the two may be in balance, yet in the finish something seems to go wrong. This poor finish may not be noticed until the cheese and wine are consumed, but when it surfaces you wish that you had chosen a different wine, or a different cheese.

This is one reason why I recommend having at least two types of wine when you are seeking those good matches with cheeses. If one wine does not work so well, maybe the second one will be a better one. More often than not, each of the wines will find some synergy with a cheese, either good or great.

One consideration that is often applied to predicting good matching of cheeses and wines is to follow the terroir application: that if it is a cheese and wine that are produced in the same region that they will naturally work. There is so much that goes into wine making and as much or more that goes into the production of cheeses, that to rely on the provenance factor is a little short-sighted. Some of the best pairings we’ve experienced have come from opposite sides of the planet. It is, of course, a good starting point for selecting good cheese and wine partners, and it can provide a thematic element to the occasion as well.

The best-known cheese from Portugal is Queijo Serra d’Estrela; we call it Serra. As I note in Mastering Cheese, Lessons for Connoisseurship this is the quintessential Portuguese cheese and a great party cheese. Serra is to Portugal as Manchego is to Spain, as Comté is to France, and Gouda is to Holland. Its popularity and reputation is well deserved; this cheese makes a frequent appearance in our Great Iberian Peninsula events. The aged firmer varieties of Serra provided an efficient source of nutrition for Portuguese sailors centuries ago. On the younger side (which is what we see most often) the Serra is unctuous and buttery, with nutty deep olive oil flavors.

The flavors for the Serras require depth in their wine partners to find the best balance. The cheese happens to be produced near where Portugal’s best known wines are produced – the Portos – most of those being fairly deep wines themselves. The ports and Serras can harmonize rather well but one of the best matches that I have found for this cheese is found in wines that are either 100% Syrah (or Shiraz) or are wines in which that varietal is dominant.

The older Portuguese people appear to prefer their Serras on the more aged side when the cheeses become firmer and more intensely flavored as well as a little saltier. At this age the Serra pairs a little better with the Port wines. Again, we see the Serras arrive here on the younger side so you might look to the Syrah wines for the better match. The Syrahs are known for the jammy qualities and the Serras having their nutty flavors may remind you of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, a classic and familiar matching, only better.