Last night I taught a cheese class called Summer in the City: Warm Weather Cheeses and Cooling Wines and since not all of my loyal Fromagical readers were able to make it to last night's class, I thought I'd fill those of you in who couldn't make it.
The first pairing we sampled was Wolffer Estate's Big Apple Wine from Bridgehampton, NY paired with Beltane Farm's Fresh Chevre from Lebanon, CT. Apple wines are hard to come by, however when you do, definitely scoop up this fantastic homage to the state fruit of NY. I am sure you are wondering what makes an apple wine different from an apple cider. The answer to that my friends is simple, apple wines are composed of apple juice made from a nice blend of different apple types. The juice is then cold settled for one week and then is inoculated with Cote de Blanc yeasts allowing a fermentation process to begin. And what you get is a light, fruity, and delish summery wine. Great for serving on hot days like today! This wine was paired with a fresh chevre from Beltane Farms. The summertime is all about having fresh cheese that was made within the previous month, fresh, delish, grassy, young, and creamy. A perfect pairing for a rooftop cocktail party.
The second pairing we sampled was Millbrook Winery's Tocai Friulano from Millbrook, NY and Ardith Mae's Doolan from PA. Tocai Friulano is a quintessential Italian white wine grape but when transplanted to American soil, this grape gets more lively, if you ask me! Clean, medium bodied, full of citrus notes, a great example of the "New World" doing the "Old World" right! We sampled this with Ardith Mae's Doolan, a soft ripened goat cheese from the fantastic husband and wife team who run this creamery. This cheese has been aged and hand taken care of for at least a month in their cheese caves and trust me, what you get is something fantastic. Tangy, creamy, yet more developed flavors than the fresh chevre, this is a cheese that is the full monty. The nice thing about this pairing is that the minerality of the cheese plays perfectly into the minerality of the wine and I guarantee that this is a pair that can easily go hand in hand.
The third pairing we did was McCall Winery's Marjorie Rose from Cuchoague, NY and Woodcook Farm's Summer Snow from Weston, VT. McCall winery is definitely a winery to keep on your radar, it is the only purely wind powered winery on the North Fork of Long Island and is really just beginning to grow, it currently produces five different wines, four reds and this rose. This rose is made from one hundred percent Pinot Noir grapes and is an excellent example of a perfect summer wine. It's made in the saignee or bleeding the vats style of making rose. By that, I mean that this rose is a by-product of the red wine production. When a winemaker wants to impart more tannins or color to their wine, some of juice from the must is removed and therefore the red wine that remains is intensified because there is some juice removed. That juice that is removed can be made into rose wines like this lovely one we had tonight. It is paired with Woodcook Farms' Summer snow -- a bloomy rind sheep's milk cheese only produced in the summer months when the milk utilized for the cheese is totally perfect. You will see that the crisp juiciness of the wine complements the creaminess of the cheese perfectly and creates an aha moment!
The fourth pairing we did was Coney Island Brewing Company's Albino Python brewed in Saratoga Springs, NY and Tonjes Farm's Daryl from Callicoon, NY. Albino Python is a wit beer in lager form with some added spices -- ginger, crushed fennel, and sweet orange peel. When you smell this beer it is a symphony of aromas on your palate, certainly not straightforward beer choice. Delish on the nose and on the tongue, this is a hard to find beer that tops my beer lists! It is paired with an eighteen month aged cheese by the name of Daryl from Tonjes Farm. This cheese is only released for two weeks out of the year and is intense for all the right reasons. Daryl is Tonjes' aged Rambler, a gloucester style cheese, by that I mean Rambler is originally made utilizing a cheddaring method where after the whey is heated and drained, the cheese curds are cut into cubes and then stacked and turned over and over for a few hours. This drains excess whey and also acidifies the cheese for the right reasons!
Please go out and buy some of these cheeses for your sampling pleasures! Thank you to everyone who attended and who helped make the class possible.
Check back later today for our weekly GCF!
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