Pairing wine and cheese with Max McCalman

An archive post from a fascinating tasting with maître fromager, educator and author Max McCalman, one of the US's foremost cheese experts, back in 2009.

"It might seem odd to go to New York City to taste cheese but it’s home some of the most exciting stores and tasting programmes in the cheese world. One of the key figures is Max McCalman of Artisanal Cheese, author of several excellent cheese books including Mastering Cheese: lessons for connoisseurship from a Maitre Fromager.

I was lucky enough to have a private tasting with him yesterday which produced some excellent combinations. We tried six cheeses, a number of which were new on me and two wines, a crisp, citrussy 2007 Fillaboa Albariño from Rias Baixas and a soft, damsony Portuguese red - a Vidigal Reserva 2005 from Estremadura. Here are my tasting notes and Max’s observations."

*** an outstanding match **a good match *Fine, no clashes. No stars: best avoided.

Laurier
A pasteurized goats' milk cheese from the Vermont Butter and Cheese Creamery. A surprisingly full-flavour for a pasteurized cheese - almost more cow-like than goat but with a lovely citrussy freshness. Predictably great with the Albariño which acquired some lovely crisp green apple notes ***. Rubbed along fine with the Vidigal Reserva*

Ibores
A tangy semi hard goats cheese from Extremadura in Spain, rubbed with pimenton which gave it a spicy edge (and a stand-out colour on a cheeseboard). Although Max and I agreed that geographical proximity doesn’t always make for great matches (Epoisses and red burgundy being a classic example) we both thought the Estremadura from over the border in Portugal was a good match ** The Albariño worked fine too**

Evora
This Portuguese unpasteurized sheep's cheese which is set the traditional way with cardoon rather than animal-based rennet was a new one on me and one of the stand-out cheeses of the tasting. It had a lovely clean fresh citrussy taste and crumbly texture that was terrific with the Albariño *** and worked well with the Estemadura too **

Robiola Rochetta
A luxuriant fresh Italian cheese made from mixed milks (cow, sheep and goat. Max is of the opinion that mixed milk cheeses often give you the best of all worlds - the creaminess of cow with the balancing acidity of goats cheese and tanginess of sheep cheese) It was a touch creamy for the Albariño* and the Estremadura red was fine ** but there’s probably a better pairing out there

Sbrinz
A crystalline parmesan-style cheese from Switzerland made from whole rather than semi-skimmed milk which gives it a fuller taste than parmesan. Very good with the Estremadura red***, fair with the Albariño* (Interestingly the tasting note on the Artisanal website recommends champagne as a pairing which I can imagine would be delicious)

Bleu d’Auvergne
A particularly fine example of this lesser known French blue - creamy, salty with a slightly crystalline finish. Really did no favours to the Albariño (no stars) though eating it with a slice of sourdough just about kicked it into touch with the Estremadura (*)

All in all there was a lot to be learned from this beautifully balanced and unusual cheeseboard which - note - avoided pungent washed rind cheeses and concentrated more on hard and semi-hard cheeses with a clean finish. (Soft cheeses like bloomy-rinded and semi-soft washed-rind cheeses have a mouthcoating quality that often set the palate up for a wine-clash though the bright primary fruit of New World reds can sometimes power through).

 

Wine for turkey: the difference between a Thanksgiving turkey and a British Christmas turkey

Looking at the recipes online for Thanksgiving turkeys, stuffings and sides they’re very much sweeter (and more imaginative) than the typical UK Christmas turkey. They’re often brined, glazed or spiced (or all three), sometimes deep-fried and often accompanied by cornbread-based stuffings and sweet-tasting vegetables like sweet potatoes and squash.

The American taste in wine is also different from that in the UK - big chardonnays - actually very good with turkey - are much more popular than they are in the UK. There appears to be a preference for Cabernet over Rhone varietals such as Syrah, Grenache and Mourvèdre. And Pinot Noirs are typically much sweeter.

We Brits, although enamoured of the vibrant fruit flavours of new world wine, often revert to more traditional choices at Christmas: such as Rioja, Bordeaux and robust Rhone and southern French reds. Our stuffings and gravy may be rich but are not generally that sweet - our preferred side of sprouts actually has a touch of bitterness. Only our fondness for cranberry sauce (an American import, of course) introduces an US-style note of sweetness.

So what would my choices be? If I were cooking a Thanksgiving turkey this Thursday I would go for a lush fruity red - a Pinot, Merlot or a Zinfandel, possibly even a Grenache. I might even choose an Aussie-style sparkling red though I think that’s better suited to a southern hemisphere Christmas than a European one. I would pick a full-bodied Chardonnay (for good value I might look to Chile) or Viognier for those who wanted a white.. A fruity rosé would also work well.

For a British Christmas I’d be more inclined to abide by the findings of the Decanter tasting I ran last year where our high powered panel of chefs, sommeliers and wine writers surprisingly voted a seven year old Chassagne Montrachet (Jean-Noel Gagnard’s Les Chenevottes 1er Cru, Chassagne-Montrachet 2004) their top pick. (It proved an incredibly refreshing contrast to the richness of the bird and chestnut stuffing.)

The two most popular reds were an 11 year old Bordeaux, a Château Branaire-Ducru, St-Julien 2000 and a four year old Chateauneuf-du-Pape, the Bosquet des Papes, Chante le Merle 2007, both rich and generous but not too tannic.

Of course these were quality wines that still had a good deal of life in them - I wouldn’t necessarily recommend drinking 10 year old wines of a more modest provenance but it does suggest that the more restrained, classic style of cooking a British turkey may be the one to go for if you want to pull out that special wine. And hold that cranberry sauce . . .

Photo ©Bochkarev Photography at shutterstock.com

Pairing Errazuriz wines at Pollen Street Social

New world wines are sometimes criticised (usually by the French!) for overwhelming subtle Michelin-starred food but award-winning blogger Jeanne Horak-Druiff of Cooksister found much to admire when she attended an Errazuriz food, wine and photography evening at Pollen Street Social.

"We kicked off with three amuse-bouches on which to practise our smartphone photography" Jeanne reports: "soft cooked Italian egg with tomato fondant, mushroom purée, potato foam and bacon powder, venison terrine crostini and a spoonful of lobster, apple, fennel and avocado which went particularly well with the Errázuriz Aconcagua Costa single vineyard Sauvignon Blanc we’d been handed on arrival - the food brought out a pronounced gooseberry flavour in the wine which was quite delicious.

This was followed by another round of amuse-bouches consisting of puffed pork skin with seaweed salt, parmesan biscuits with smoked tomato chutney and fennel seed crackers with ricotta - with the intensely flavoured biscuits and smoky chutney being my runaway favourite.

With our delicately beautiful starter of Colchester crab salad rolls with coriander pineapple, shiso leaf, compressed fennel and espelette pepper we sampled the 2013 Aconcagua Costa Sauvignon Blanc again (13% alc, RRP £12.49) - a clear pale yellow with a hint of green; a rich nose of gooseberries, cut grass and green tomato; and a palate of tropical fruit (guavas, passion fruit) but well balanced by good structure and acidity and

Aconcagua Costa single vineyard wild fermented Chardonnay 2011 (13.5% alc, RRP £15.99). This wine spent 10 months in oak and it certainly shows in the rich golden colour! I loved the opulent nose of apricot and creamy vanilla scents and the rich mouthfeel. Nevertheless, the palate is not over-oaked nor as overwhelmingly creamy as the nose might suggest but rather balanced and elegant with notes of citrus and minerality to match the ripeness.

The Chardonnay was definitely my favourite match with the crab rolls, having enough complexity to stand up to the more strident flavours of the dish without overwhelming the more subtle ones.

For our main course we had perfectly pink Lake District rack of lamb, a fritter of braised lamb shoulder, fregola pasta in basil, olive powder, artichokes and more of that fabulous smoked tomato chutney. To match this, we tried two of the estate's reds:

· Aconcagua Costa wild fermented Pinot Noir 2011 (13.5% alc, RRP £24.00). An odd, slightly foxy or wild nose, but with good colour for a Pinot Noir, the wine was less full-bodied than I had expected, with a subtle spiciness soft tannins. It made a good match for the lamb though, emphasising the subtle gamey notes in the meat.

· Aconcagua Costa Single Vineyard Syrah 2011 (14% alc. RRP £19.99) This was by far my favourite red wine of the night with its deep inky purple colour and rich dark berry nose reminiscent of Ribena for grown-ups. The palate was equally lush and appealing, full of the autumnal flavours of ripe blackberries and blackcurrants, but with soft vanilla notes and hints of Christmas spices with a long finish. For me, though, this was a sipping wine rather than a food wine as food took the edge off the lush fruitiness and made the finish seem shorter.

With our cheese course of three cheeses (a Camembert-style cheese, a hard cheese along the lines of a Comté, and a third creamy soft cheese) together with crackers and homemade chutney we were served two of the estate's premium red blends:

· Don Maximiano Founder's Reserve 2008 - 82% Cabernet Sauvignon, 6% Petit Verdot, 6% Cabernet Franc 6% Syrah (14.5% alc. RRP £50). This was in total contrast to the heavy, perfumed Syrah - a far lighter colour and palate full of ripe red berries as opposed to dark berries, with peppery notes and lovely balanced tannins. It seemed a lighter wine than the Syrah, despite its higher alcohol and although I liked it, I did not think it was a great match for the cheese, which seemed to emphasise the wine's acidity.

· Kai Carmenère 2010 - 96% Carmenère, 4% Petit Verdot (14.5% alc. RRP £90) This had a deep, velvety purple colour and a nose with vegetal hints but also dark red fruits and fig preserve. On the palate, there were grippy tannins and good structure with restrained fruit and flavours of Christmas cake. I found this to be an outstanding match for the cheese which seemed to bring out lovely fresh fig and peaty whisky flavours in the wine. Lovely as it was, I do have to wonder who this wine is aimed at, with a price tag of nearly one hundred pounds?

As we sat around finishing the last of the wine, we were served a wonderfully light and refreshing dessert of mandarin sorbet topped with yoghurt cream and kafir lime shavings; and those of us who had the shortest journey home and could afford to linger the longest were also rewarded with glorious little warm financiers with a centre of raspberry jam, fresh from the oven."

To read about the food photography element of the evening with photographer Paul Winch-Furness read the second part of Jeanne’s report here.

DISCLOSURE: Jeanne attended this event as a guest of Errázuriz Estate and R&R Teamwork. All opinions are her own.

Food pairings for Apothic and other sweet red wines

Heavily promoted Apothic is just one of a range of sweeter red wines that have been launched on the market recently. Not having much of a sweet tooth, I must confess it’s not particularly to my taste but I can see that it would greatly appeal to wine drinkers who find drier reds unappealing.

It also, I think, has interesting food pairing possibilities. You could treat it much like a port, say, and match it with chocolate or blue cheese. IF you like blue cheese that is. Food and wine pairings are all about combining things you enjoy.

So let’s look at possible food matches depending whether you like sweet reds or not.

If you like ‘em

You’ll probably want to match it with your favourite foods. It could handle a level of sweetness in a sauce or marinade that might make drier reds taste thin and weedy. So barbequed ribs or chicken wings in a sweet sticky marinade should be bang on. As should hamburgers, steak, lamb and meat-topped pizzas. No reason why you shouldn’t pair them with the Thanksgiving turkey and I reckon they would go well with Chinese meat dishes such as Peking duck.

You might also want to drink them with chocolate cake - one similar red was referred to as Cupcake Red - or chocolate desserts. And they should work well with a cheeseboard.

If you generally like drier reds

Try Apothic with blue cheeses like Stilton and a plum compote or roast figs or with dark chocolate desserts, cakes or brownies.