My wine and cheese pairing happened at the Blacksburg Wine Lab on January 25th, 2023. Not only was this an educational experience, but I also spent the time catching up with my friend Laura (who's also taken the class) who I hadn't seen for a few months. I chose to do the Old World wine flight, and we paired it with a small charcuterie board and an extra side of Bang Bang Brussel Sprouts.
The Bonus Side: Bang Bang Brussel Sprouts
- XO sauce, lime, herbs, and chili crisp
- Bonus notes of shellfish and pork
The Cheese: Valdeon Blue (Valdeon)
- Cow and Goat Milk
- Sweet, spicy, earthy, and soft
- Spain
The Cheese: Psychedillic (Psyc)
- Goat Milk
- Dill pollen, creamy, smooth, tart, bright
- California
The Cheese: Saint-Andre (St Andre)
- Cow Milk
- Bloomy rind, creamy texture, buttery, lush
- France
The Wine: Sauvion Muscadet-Sevre et Maine
- Grape Variety - Melon
- Country of Origin - France
- Region of Origin - Loire Valley
- Vintage Year - 2020
- Price - $16 for a sample of three glasses
"This soft, lightly textured wine is bright and fruity. It has good acidity, a lively lemon-zest character, and a clean, perfumed aftertaste. Drink now." (Roger Voss)
Wine Folly Reference (129):
The grape is known for its lean, minerally white wines that pair famously with seafood. The wine features hints of line, seashell, green apple, green pear, and bread dough.
My Review:
The wine was really nice and light to drink. Its sweet and buttery complex was pleasant with notes of peach and lemon. The wine was drier and less sweet than I thought which was an unexpected surprise, which made the wine easier to drink. The extra lemon kick as the lasting note was also a nice finish.
Pairing Notes:
I chose not to pair the wine with the Valdeon because I knew right away that with the lighter flavors of the wine, the punchier cheese would immediately blow out the wine. The bread I tried with the wine and Psyc wasn't my favorite because the chunkier grains brought out more of the bitterness of the wine in an unpleasant way. However, the cheese paired really well with the wine. The butteriness of both the wine and the cheese was enhanced in a delicious way that made me want to have more of this combination. St Andre worked really well with the wine, almost to the point that they conflicted. I think this may have to be because the two elements were so similar that there wasn't as much enhancement of new flavors, especially the butter element of the wine/cheese.
The Wine: Time Waits for No One Monastrell
- Grape Variety - Monastrell
- Country of Origin - Spain
- Region of Origin - Jumilla
- Vintage Year - 2017
- Price - $16 for a sample of three glasses
"Deep garnet with violet rim. Powerful and intense ripe fruit aroma with hints of wood. Reminiscence of spicy and smokey notes that are perfectly balanced with lightly toasted aromas. A long finish with a juicy acidity is working together harmoniously."
Wine Folly Reference (133 - 134):
An intensely bold, smokey red wine found in abundance in Central Spain. It's known as Mourvedre in Southern France, where it's an important grape in the Rhone/GSM blend. Key notes of the wine include blackberry, black pepper, cocoa, tobacco, and roasted meat. Additionally, the warm dry climate produces wines with bold fruit flavors and even tar, black olive, black raisin, mocha, and smoke.
My Review:
This wine was much richer, with notes of cherry and raspberry. The sweetness of the wine came through really well and enhanced the natural spice of the wine (along with the Brussel spouts too that I had before trying the wine). The mellow, tannins come out at the end in a lighter way (surprising for a red wine), making me want another glass.
Pairing Notes:
St Andres and cracker combination with the wine was super satisfying. The fats and butter in the cheese really enhanced the complexity of the wine in all aspects of the taste. The fruit notes of the initial tasting were intensified, and the notes became darker cherry and blackberry. With the Valdeon and bread, the nuttiness of the cheese and grains were enhanced by the wine. However, the saltiness of the cheese easily overpowers the more delicate fruit notes of the wine - making the combination not as enjoyable. The Psyc and cracker combo with the wine was probably an in-between combination compared to the other two pairings. There was a bit of overwhelming of the wine's sweeter flavors since there's still a fair amount of salt in the cheese, but there were still times when the butteriness of the cheese came through quite nicely and enhanced the wine.
** NOTE: I couldn't take a picture of the wine because it was poured via tap and not a bottle - which sounds like a pretty cool idea! It would be interesting to compare the taste of wine if it was poured via bottle and tap, though I'm not sure there's a significant difference. I wish I could have taken a picture of the label though because it looks pretty dang cool:
The Wine: Domaine de Fontbonau Cotes du Rhone
- Grape Variety - Shiraz/Syrah
- Country of Origin - France
- Region of Origin - Cotes du Rhone
- Vintage Year - 2012
- Price - $16 for a sample of three glasses
"Medium garnet-purple colored, the nose is of warm berries, black cherry compote, and dried Provence herb aromas with hints of cumin seed, cardamom, and violets. Full, opulent, and seductive on the palate, it is superbly structured with a nice acid backbone and a medium to firm level of very finely grained tanning, finishing long and spicy."
Wine Folly Reference (172 - 173):
The wine is rich, powerful, and sometimes meaty originating from the Rhone Valley in France. Notes include blueberry, plum, milk chocolate, tobacco, green peppercorn, bacon fat, and graphite.
My Review:
Right off the bat, this wine smelled and tasted more prominent (albeit after a bite of the Brussels sprouts) than any of the other three wines. It's a sweeter and fruiter taste, with notes of blueberry, blackberry, raspberry, and black cherry, and physically feels richer on the tongue - mostly because of the heavier tannin taste.
Pairing Notes:
The pairing with the Psyc and cracker was my least favorite - it easily outpunched the cheese, so much so that you couldn't tell there was cheese mixed in. The Valdeon was a more pleasant combination, especially with the cracker. There was more of a fruity taste brought out by the cheese, and this was by far the best balance pairing with the fruity and tannic elements of the wine and the buttery and salty bites of the cheese. Finally, the St Andre was a really great pairing, especially because of the butteriness of the cheese but without the extra salt like in the Valdeon. Overall, the combination brought out a more mellow part of the wine, which helped round out the wine.
I really liked this exercise, and the ability to play around with the different wines and cheese combinations was fun and helped me learn more about the wines and cheeses. It was challenging at times because there was so much tasting going on and it was sometimes a challenge to keep all the flavors straight in my head and on my tongue. After this tasting, my two favorite pairings were the Psycadillic with the Sauvignon Muscadet and Saint Andre with the Time Waits for No One Monastrell. I built some bigger bites to have with the wine after my tastings of the different meats and jams on the board, which all worked really well together to build different flavor complexes.
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