Kiku hails from Goat's Leap Farm in Napa Valley, more specifically St. Helena, California. In the early 1970s, the Backus family traded the hussle and bussle of Los Angeles life for the slower country pace and in the early 1990s began producing and experimenting with goat's milk cheeses. Now in 2011, their cheeses are well respected and well known nationwide. So what is Kiku? A 4 ounce cylinder of goat's milk cheese wrapped in a fig leaf that has been bathed in Sauvignon Blanc aged for at least three weeks. This cheese is only available when the fig trees are in bloom meaning the summer months. Tropical, citrusy, and fruity from the Sauvignon Blanc bath with a rustic vegetal bent from the fig leaf and a crisp, milky, grassy lactic interior. A multi-dimensional delight on the tongue and the senses from one of the country's best winemaking regions. So what to drink with it? How about a nice medium bodied, fruit forward Viognier?
Image courtesy of http://goatsleap.com/
And what of its Spanish counterpart? How about the Sycamore leaf wrapped blue cheese Valdeon hailing from the Castille Leon region of Spain. A six pound mixed goat and cow's milk cheese aged for at least three months in its sycamore leaf covering. It's got the full round mouth feel of a great cow's milk blue with the light, citrusy, grassy, fanciful notes of a goat's milk blue. Less biting, spicing and piquant than its infamous cousin, Cabrales. The sycamore leaf imparts a smoky herbaceous and vegetal quality to the larger than life creamy yet lactic and light blue. I'd suggest a dessert wine as its beverage companion.
Image courtesy of http://www.artisanalcheese.com/
No comments:
Post a Comment