In the past month since Cheddarchat has been up and running, I have been so thankful for the overwhelming enthusiasm my friends and family have shown. I was so pleasantly surprised by the number of thoughtful comments and suggestions of cheeses and shops to try! Some of our friends even invited us over for a wine and cheese tasting in support of my latest venture. Every eight weeks or so, us and two other couples get together to share some delicious food and conversation, and we were thrilled by this invitation, not only because we would get to try some new wines and cheeses, but also because Juliette is a fabulous cook. Our friend Kristen is the baker of the group and makes amazing deserts that we all look forward to as well, so needless to say we were really looking forward to this evening. They even agreed to bring the party to us so that we wouldn’t need to get a babysitter!
This past weekend was also full of uncanny coincidences. First of all, the night before our little party, I received a wonderful cheese slate as a gift from our friend and fellow wine and cheese lover, Nicole, who had no idea about this cheese-related get-together. It is made from reclaimed slate from old schoolhouses in Wisconsin, and rests on reclaimed wine corks. Since it is slate, we can write on it with chalk to label the cheese we are trying. I just love it and could hardly wait to use it at our tasting the next night. Also, only hours before our tasting, I published my Homemade vs. Professional post, which included the video showing the making of the Jasper Hill Harbison. What cheese did Juliette bring, but the Harbison, and she hadn’t even read my post. We were most definitely on the same wavelength that day!
I must say that I made two huge mistakes this time. I forgot to take a picture of Kristen’s beautiful chocolate cake, and I did not take any notes while tasting, so if my comments seem a bit limited, that’s why. Oops! Live and learn, I guess.
So, Juliette and Michael brought three cheeses and wines to pair with them. In the above photo you can see the cheeses, wines and crackers they brought along with Juliette’s notes and my new cheese slate. The first pairing we tried was a triple cream brie from Coach Farm in New York along with the 2010 Soucherie Anjou Blanc. This was my favorite pairing of the three. I have always loved brie, but this particular pairing was awesome. The brie was extremely creamy, but had a dense texture that you could really sink your teeth into. I also should add that this is a goat’s milk brie, which I have never had before (Coach Farm raises goats exclusively). Juliette’s notes were, “creamy with a hint of sweet grassiness”, and I don’t think I could have said it any better. The wine was crisp, fruity and quite dry, and must have really brought out the flavor of the brie because I’m not sure I have ever had brie with such complex character.
The second cheese we tried was the Rupert from Consider Bardwell Farm in Vermont. It is an aged cheese made from raw Jersey cows’ milk in the style of Comte and Gruyere and is named for a nearby town in Vermont. It was paired with the 2010 Pinot Noir from Underwood Cellars. The first thing that struck me about both the cheese and the wine was their color. The cheese was a beautiful golden color with a thin, greyish-brown rind and looked like the quintessential picture of artisan cheese that I have always had in my mind (I’m sure as I try more cheese and learn, this picture will not longer exist for long). It was served on a rosemary cracker, which I wasn’t too sure about at first, but turned out to be terrific, as the cheese had some sweetness to it that was balanced out by the fragrant aroma of the rosemary. The wine was beautiful as well, having a translucent light red color that looked lovely in the glass. At first taste, I wasn’t all that impressed with it, but it was awesome when paired with the cheese. I think that the wine was enhancing the flavor of the cheese, and I don’t recall much of an impression of the wine itself. To be fair, I have always been a fan of really bold red wines, perhaps because that is the type of wine my in-laws make and that I have the most experience with. Hopefully after some more tasting experience, my palate will become a bit more sensitive and sophisticated.
The last cheese we tried was the Harbison by Jasper Hill Farms, located in Greensboro, VT . It is a cow’s milk cheese wrapped in bark of trees from the woodlands surrounding the farm. It is named for Anne Harbison, who Jasper Hill’s website describes as the grandmother of Greensboro. I was psyched to try it, and it did not disappoint. The texture was soft enough to be spooned onto the cracker, and had a delicious buttery flavor. It was paired with the 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon from Mettler Family Vinyards. This was my kind of wine! It was very dark in color and was incredibly earthy and smokey. It was my favorite wine of the night, but again, I tend to like these kinds of wines.
I must also comment on the delicious ice wine that Kristen and Brian brought to serve with her chocolate cake. The 2007 Jackson-Trigg Icewine was the first ice wine I have tasted, and its sweetness and viscous texture was almost like liquid candy. It went perfectly with the chocolate cake that Kristen described as “not too sweet”. I really wish I had taken a photo of the cake! What I liked most about it was the very fact that it wasn’t too sweet and that I didn’t feel like I was eating a child’s birthday cake (nothing wrong with kids’ cake, but it wasn’t what I wanted for desert after an evening of wine and cheese tasting).
I should also mention that Juliette’s wild mushroom risotto and tossed salad were also fantastic! I have always been a bit intimidated by risotto, and have never attempted to make it, but she really made it seem easy, as she started making it as I headed upstairs to put my son to bed, and it was done right as I came back down. The dressing on the salad was Juliette’s favorite, and I can’t remember what it was, so if you are reading this and you have a moment, do let us know!
Here is the damage:
Thanks again to Juliette, Michael, Kristen and Brian for a wonderful evening! I think we will be making this an annual occasion!
