Last night, Sunday, I led a cheese class entitled Think Local : New York State Cheeses, Wines, and One Beer. The class was meant to be a fun, lowkey, laid back exploration of the excellent bounty that hails from New York State. Getting people familiar with all of the delish produce we have at our fingertips and hopefully encouraging them to think local and patronize New York state's farmers, winemakers, and beer crafters.
Here's a brief recap of what we tasted and talked about and don't worry pictures will be coming within the next few days!! I had prepared four different pairings, feel free to try these out at home! I hope you all enjoy!
Pairing #1 : SALMON RUN RIESLING, 2008 (HAMMONDSPORT, NY) & SALVATORE BROOKLYN RICOTTA CHEESE (BROOKLYN, NY) - The wine is a classic Finger Lakes Riesling, not overly sweet, but with a decent amount of residual sugar making it light in body and not too overwhelming on the palate. This was paired with a crostini made with Salvatore Brooklyn's ricotta cheese. The brainchild of Betsy Devine and Rachel Mark, this is the best ricotta out there if you ask me -- creamy, lactic, salty and the perfect melt in your mouth sort of feel! It is most certainly as far from the plastic containers of ricotta you grew up with. Both the cheese and the wine have a slight bit of residual sugar and together they create such a fantastic combo, you can't go wrong. Perfect for a rooftop summer cocktail hour!
Pairing #2: CHANNING DAUGHTERS ROSATI DI MERLOT, 2009 (BRIDGEHAMPTON, NY) & NETTLE MEADOW FARM’S KUNIK (THURMAN, NY) This is a very light rose from one of my favorite Long Island wineries, Channing Daughters, full of red fruit on the nose with a crisp grassyness as well, clean and delish! This is paired with a truly unusual cheese, Nettle Meadow's Kunik. Why is it unusual you might ask? Well that's because it is a goat based triple cream and those are very few and far between. By that I mean, it has that tangy, grassy, lightness of goat's milk cheeses but with the weight of a cow's milk cheese. That is because of the fact that it is 25% Jersey Cow's Milk and 75% goat's milk. Buttery, bloomy, unctous with an excellent mouth feel!
Pairing #3: WOLFFER CABERNET FRANC 2006 (SAGAPONACK, NY) & TONJES FARM COW HILL (CALLICOON, NY) A great example of how Long Island does Cabernet Franc so well, the Wolffer Cab Franc from 2006 is everything a cool climate cab should be. Lighter in taste but not without some body, but not too heavy that you feel that you should be eating meat or heavy pasta dishes. A good summer red! This was paired with Tonjes Farm's Cow Hill, a three month aged raw cow's milk cheese that is a bit piquant, crumbly, barnyardy and delish. A great companion to the cab franc.
Pairing #4: OMMEGANG ABBEY ALE (COOPERSTOWN, NY) & OLD CHATHAM SHEEPHEARDING COMPANY’S SHAKER BLUE (OLD CHATHAM, NY) Ommegang hails from the first Belgian brewery on New York land, opened in 1997. Made in the traditional Belgian style, with their own yeasts and hops, this beer has a redish hue and is full of fruit and spice and everything nice. A dubbel style meaning that it was double fermented and has 8.5%, easy dynamic drinking! This was paired, to finish the evening off with Old Chatham's Shaker Blue -- salty, pungent, piquant, creamy and fantastic, all the things you want in a medium bodied blue cheese. A great pairing and a fun change up to the more common blue cheese and dessert wine pairing, I recommend trying it out!
That wraps up what we tasted last night, I encourage you to try these on your own time or if you are interested in having a private tasting, please write me!
Stay tuned for details of my next class -- Summer in the City: Warm Weather Cheeses and Cooling Wines.
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