Match of the week

Tunworth cheese and Hubert Lignier Charmes Chambertin

Posted by Fiona Beckett (Google+) on January 14 2013 at 07:54

Whenever I see a producer is about to pair their best wine with cheese my heart sinks, particularly if the cheese is ripe and the wine red. But on this occasion - a tasting and lunch at the Quality Chop House - it worked.

The wine was a sublime 2007 Charmes-Chambertin grand cru from Hubert Lignier that had all the qualities you want from a great burgundy - beautiful pure fruit, a silky (actually more velvety in this case) texture and a long luxuriant finish.

Amazingly it retained all those qualities when partnered with a gooey Tunworth (left of picture) a Camembert-style cows’ cheese from Hampshire - though not quite as well with a Sainte Maure goats’ cheese (right).

How come? Well, although the Tunworth had the mushroomy flavour of a fine Camembert - or Brie for that matter - it didn’t have its pungency. It was more creamy than buttery. And the wine was very intense. I’ve paired ripe pinots before with Brie in particular and they’ve worked - and lighter burgundies which haven’t. I wouldn’t have wanted it with the Burgundians' favourite Epoisses though.

For interest, the courses which preceded it were a very good house terrine and a Barnsley chop with buttery mash, both good simple foils for a lovely selection of Lignier’s Morey-Saint-Denis and Gevrey-Chambertin.

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