2002 Chambertins

1 Sep 2018:

The dinner described earlier also consisted of a pair of magnums of red Bourgogne wines:
2002 Chambertin, Trapet versus 2002 Chambertin Clos de Bèze, Bruno Clair


2002 Chambertin Clos de Bèze, Bruno Clair
Medium garnet. Mushroom, forest floor, violet, dried blossoms, dried raspberry. Balanced. Silky texture, suave, elegant, with forest floor note on finish. Drinking very well now and over next 5-6 years. 17.5/20


2002 Chambertin, Trapet
Less evolved on nose. Forest berries, sous bois, firmly structured with velvety texture and bold tannins that have mellowed. Lovely acidity, very youthful still. Ready to drink now, but will further develop over next 8-10 years. 18/20


2010 Puligny Montrachet Clos de La Mouchère, Henri Boillot

Pale lemon. Citrus, pear, nutty, smokey notes. Bright acidity, fresh and long finish. A very classy wine. (Note that not every bottle in this case was like this.) 17.5/20

I did not taste the other bottles in this photo - so no notes from me on them!!

Savoyard Fare

1 Sep 2018: Last night we hosted our first dinner at home since returning from France earlier this week. I had just completed a two-week internship at a cheese shop in Annecy (La Crèmerie du Lac), the flagship store of the group Alain Michel - Artisan Fromager. Annecy is a picturesque lake-side town, located in the Haute Savoie region, and only about 40 minutes by car from Geneva. The Alpine region, with the dramatic landscape of "cols" and "combes", is a haven for keen cyclists, hikers and mountain climbers. Recently, paragliding has become a new favourite sport with locals and tourists. The pastures that adorn the clay/limestone soils of these mountain ranges nourish herds of cattle (mainly cows, but also sheep and goats) that produce the nutrient-rich milk that is turned into fabulous cheeses.

 

Alain very generously gave me a present of cheeses and a bottle of Roussette de Savoie from the region to bring home. I am proud (and relieved) to report that the cheeses survived two train journeys and two flights including a long haul of 12 hours. Last night's dinner was a great occasion to spread the love of cheese with our gourmet friends.

Thank you Alain for the lovely present!

I know very little about the Savoyard viticultural region. The region covers 2,200 hectares of vineyards, and is made up of 3 appellations and 20 crus. The three appellations are: Savoie, Roussette de Savoie and Seyssel. Within each appellation, delimited areas with recognised characters have been designated "crus" and they are, with their permitted varieties in brackets:


AOC Seyssel: Seyssel (Altesse)
AOC Roussette de Savoie: Frangy, Marestel, Monthoux, Monterminod (all crus based on Altesse)
AOC Savoie: Ripaille (Chasselas), Marin (Chasselas), Marignan (Chasselas), Crépy (Chasselas), Ayze (Gringet), Chautagne (Gamay), Jongieux (Gamay and Jacquère), St Jean de la Porte (Mondeuse), St Jeoire Prieuré (Jacquère), Chignin (Jacquère), Chignin Bergeron (Roussanne), Cruet (Jacquère), Arbin (Mondeuse), Montmélian, Apremont (Jacquère), Les Abymes (Jacquère)


The wine we had was 2015 Roussette de Savoie, Domaine Louis Magnin. The domaine has been certified organic since 2012. They believe in minimal intervention, hence no summer pruning nor green harvest. The Altesse grapes come from two parcels planted in the Arbin commune, one parcel around 40 years and the other around 15 years. The training method is Cordon de Royat, and the pruning method is single Guyot. Vinification including malolactic fermentation partially in 500-litre barrels and the rest in stainless steel vats. During the 11-month ageing on fine lees, some batonnage is practised. This wine is a small production for the domaine, which focuses more on Mondeuse (55% of plantings) and Roussanne (30% of plantings).

How did it taste? The wine has a pale golden robe. An aromatic bouquet of almond, marzipan, citrus, honey, nougat, butterscotch, shortbread, with smokey and toast notes. Dry, fresh acidity, medium body with a mineral core. Smoky and nutty notes persist with the long aftertaste. Balanced, elegantly structured and complex. 17/20


There are some classic local wine-cheese pairings. For example, Chignin Bergeron is meant to give an excellent pairing with Beaufort, and likewise wood-aged Mondeuse with Tome des Bauges. They are definitely worth a try.


Alain's Savoyard cheese selection includes:
Reblochon de Savoie, Tomme d'Hérens, Le Florion des Moines, Beaufort Fermier Châlet d'Alpage and a Persillé de Chèvre

 

Clockwise from bottom left: Beaufort Chalet d'Alpage, Tomme d'Herens, Persille de Chevre, Le Florion des Moines, Reblochon de Savoie

The non-cooked pressed cow's milk washed rind cheese Reblochon de Savoie is a firm favourite for its creamy richness, that coats the palate. The thin pale orange rind adds a savoury note to the taste and a firmness to the texture of the cheese. It is made with unpasteurised milk. The Le Michel version is selected by Alain Michel and is from a single farm (hence fermier, indicated by the green casein label on the rind).


Tomme d'Hérens is a Tomme made with the milk from a herd of the Hérens cows (horned mountain cows with short legs). The taste is very delicately fruity, with a slight lactic acidic aftertaste.


Le Florion des Moines is a cheese created between Alain's father Raymond Michel and a farmer at Col de La Forclaz in Talloires-Montmin. This cheese was created this year to celebrate the 1,000th year of existence of the Abbaye de Talloires which is now a hotel-restaurant. This non-cooked pressed cow's milk cheese is made with the unpasteurised milk of a herd of Abondance and Montbéliarde cows. Research into 17th Century archives resulted in a recipe for this special creation, which could be best described as in between a Tomme and a Tamié, another monastery cheese. Monsieur Michel contacted the farm at Col de La Forclaz to experiment this together. Together they took months to refine the recipe of production and affinage. The cheese is ripened for a total of 70 days, in the cave d'affinage of Alain Michel. The resultant cheese weighing about 1.3 kg has a thick orange rind with brown spots (thicker than the Reblochon rind) and an ivory coloured supple paste. For the aromas and flavours, there is a harmonious marriage of fruity notes with Alpine grassy and savoury notes, with a touch of animal nuance at the rind. It is rich and unctuous, but well-balanced and complex. A unique cheese made by a single farm and nurtured by a single affineur. A beautiful souvenir of my internship. (A tip for potential visitors. Col de La Forclaz is also where people come for paragliding. After some mountain hiking or paragliding, you will work up an appetite for the restaurant La Ferme's famous beignets de pomme de terre! During my visit to the farm, I also tasted a very refreshing local aperitif called rosé-pêche: a drop of sirop de pêche (peach syrup) in a glass of rosé! A bit like a Kir, I guess!)


Beaufort Fermier Châlet d'Alpage is a cooked pressed cheese. This is the cheese made by a single herd of a farm, at the summer châlet at 1,500 metres altitude. It tastes both floral and fruity, with the complexity from animal and roasted nutty notes. A wheel of Beaufort is about 40 kg and it has a distinct concave vertical edge. A true "Prince des Gruyères".  Here Gruyères refers to the family of cooked pressed cheeses.


Finally, the Persillé de Chèvre, a beautifully matured Persillé, with a grainy texture paste and a thick rugged grey/brown rind. The paste tastes acidic lactic, with just the faintest caprine nuance under the refreshing citrus and sweet straw notes. A persistent mineral finish. Beautifully made and ripened.


And of course, we started with some saucisson Savoyard! This one is infused with génépi, a local alcohol.

Taking the cheese path to Norfolk and Suffolk

August 2018: Before setting off for the West Country (see earlier blog), we briefly visited the seaside town of Southwold in Suffolk. We knew little about this town or county, except that Adnams (est 1872) is a dominant player in the drinks and hospitality industry here: from beers and ales to wines to gins/vodkas as well as running pubs, hotels and Adnams stores selling beverages and groceries that come in handy with a bottle or glass in hand, such as artisanal beer nuts, and those chutneys and sauces for your barbecue. A family-run enterprise with a strong commitment to environmental preservation and sustainable development, Adnams has reduced the weight of its beer bottles and invested in energy-efficient breweries to make carbon neutral beers. I even tried their recently launched Ghost Ship Alcohol Free (0.5% abv), which retained all the flavours and aromas of the original version at 4.5% abv.


Southwold is a very charming seaside town, with colourful beach huts and a grey sandy/pebbly beach. Even in the blazing sun, the wind chill factor of the North Sea wind still managed to knock a few degrees off the daytime temperature, bitterly felt by the uninitiated as we hastened our footsteps to wind-sheltered spots downtown.

Southwold Pier with its eccentric shops and charming restaurants

 

Southwold beachfront

The visit did allow us to pick up a couple of cheeses from the area for the long journey southwest. For practical reasons, I had to stay with hard or semi-hard cheeses. I picked these two from a cheese specialist called Slate:


Suffolk Gold: A pasteurised Guernsey cow milk cheese, made with vegetarian rennet, produced by Suffolk Farmhouse Cheeses at Whitegate Farm, St Mary, Suffolk. A family-run business started in 2004 by Jason and Katherine Salisbury. Not only do they make cheese, they also make other dairy products and rear pork and beef. A dry natural, grey/brown downy rind, showing white and grey spots. The paste was a bright pale gold-yellow colour, firm but supple. The nose consisted of rich notes of butter, pineapple, peach, nutty (hazelnut), sweet-smelling caramel, with almost a hint of honeycomb. The rind displayed notes of mushroom and damp cellar. It was rich, unctuous, claggy and intensely flavoured, with buttery and caramel flavours, complete with a mild hint of zesty tang at the finish. A mouthful with the rind would add to the complexity with mushroom and cellar notes. A very fine cheese...with more than a passing resemblance to Saint Nectaire, but with more richness and buttery flavours, less pronounced cellar aromas, less salt and less trigeminal sensation.

 

Suffolk Gold

Norfolk Tawny: An unpasteurised cow milk cheese, made using traditional method by Ferndale Cheeses. The milk is sourced from nearby Abbey Farm in Binham. This is a cheese washed weekly with a strong Norfolk ale. The rind was a pale orange colour, with grey/white spots, with a thick grey halo underneath, while the heterogeneous paste contrasted with a pale cream colour, and a chalky/granular texture, with some openings. It felt firm and unyielding. The rind smelt of yeast, earth with an intense umami character, while the paste had aromas of lactic tang like yoghurt, citrus and some earthy character. It had a crumbly texture, but slowly melted in the mouth, allowing the layers of flavours to linger on the palate. There was a well-balanced saltiness to the citrus tang, finishing with a clean tangy and mineral aftertaste.

 

Norfolk Tawny

When we got back to London, I was so excited to find Baron Bigod at The Fine Cheese Company. I had wanted to try this cheese at Southwold but it would have been a disaster in the heat of the car journey. It was well worth the wait. Made by Fen Farm Dairy at Bungay, Suffolk, using milk from the farm's own herd of Montbeliarde cows, this is the only unpasteurised soft-ripened bloomy rind (Brie de Meaux-style) cheese made in the UK. A superbly balanced soft-ripened bloomy rind, showing orange/amber spots in the rind, with a cream-coloured (almost pale gold) paste. After 30 minutes at room temperature, its rich and velvety irresistible deliciousness was oozing out. The aromas were the familiar mushroom, earthy, farmyard, complemented with fruity and buttery notes. Only moderately salty, it was well balanced with a nice citrus tang. A beautifully made cheese in a very good place now.

 

Baron Bigod

There is only one conclusion after these tastings - the UK cheese industry is at a very exciting place now! 

Delicious Cheeses from the West Country: much more to offer than its world-famous Cheddars

August 2018: Last week, we managed to squeeze in a quick visit to the West Country (UK) to our summer holidays. This has been a hot and dry summer in the UK, with occasional heatwave spikes. The West Country is an area located in the southwest of England, comprising typically the counties of Dorset, Somerset, Devon and Cornwall (as delimited in the PDO rules for West Country Farmhouse Cheddar), but sometimes including Wiltshire, Gloucestershire and Bristol. To say we 'visited' was perhaps an exaggeration, but we did cover a few kilometres in the counties of Dorset and Somerset, driving through the unusually dry landscape of rolling hills and cows in search of the sparsely distributed green spots. With relatively modest altitudes of the hills, cooling influence from the English Channel was a welcoming feature.

It was at dinner at Little Barwick House where we were able to try a few fine examples of this area's cheese offerings. For this evening's cheese selection, the restaurant featured the following cow milk cheeses: Mrs. Montgomery's Cheddar, Wedmore, Cornish Yarg, Tunworth, Sharpham Brie, Isle of Wight Blue, Bath Blue and two goat milk cheeses: Little Wallop and Driftwood.

Clockwise from far left: Mrs Montgomery's Cheddar, Wedmore, Cornish Yarg, Tunworth, Driftwood, Isle of Wight Blue (hidden behind the Bath Blue), Bath Blue, Sharpham Brie, No. 1 Little Wallop in the middle

I was keen to try those that were new to me - so I selected the following:

Clockwise from far left: Bath Blue, Isle of Wight Blue, Sharpham Brie, Driftwood, No. 1 Little Wallop, and Wedmore (front centre)

Wedmore: this is a cheese made with pasteurised cow's milk (Holstein-Friesian) and vegetarian rennet, produced by Westcombe Dairy near Shepton Mallet in Somerset. It was a cheese originally developed by the Duckett family, being an adaptation from the recipe for Caerphilly, inspired by the lush country landscape. The resulting cheese balances the rich crumbly flavours with a refreshing lactic tang spiced with the piquant and herbal character of chives. Dry natural tan-coloured thin rind with some white/grey mould spots. A pale cream paste with a thin olive-green band of chives in the middle. The texture is firm but supple and slightly crumbly to taste. Citrus tang adding to the mildly salty, lactic creamy notes, with just a hint of smoke overlaying the piquant vegetal flavours. Zesty finish with a mineral aftertaste. Perfect picnic cheese. Apparently very good melted on toast too!


Sharpham Brie: This soft-ripened bloomy rind cheese from Sharpham Dairy, Devon is made with unpasteurised Jersey cow's milk and vegetarian rennet. The example I tried had a nice maturity and was already showing orange spots through the white rind. The paste was a creamy yellow colour, more densely packed and firmer than a Brie, more like a Coulommiers. Mildly salty, with just a faint hint of mushroom and earthy notes over the buttery flavours. Finishes with a distinctive bitter aftertaste. The version we had was a 300g square but it can be available in 500g and 1.2kg rounds.


Isle of Wight Blue: Despite the fact the the Isle of Wight is not part of the West Country (it lies in the English Channel, off the coast of Hampshire, but part of it shares the chalky soils dominating the Dorset hills), the restaurant manager and co-owner of the Little Barwick House told us that she allowed this deviation as this cheese was too good to be excluded. It was an excellent recommendation! Ash-covered blue cheese made with pasteurised Guernsey milk from the Arreton Valley, produced by the Isle of Wight Cheese Company. Sold between 3-5 weeks of age. This was first developed in 2006. The natural rind was covered with green, grey, blue and white moulds, and the ivory paste was rich and creamy with an even distribution of blue mould. The taste was buttery and mineral, with the piquancy of blue mould and complemented with a nice dose of salt. It is a tiny cheese about 200-230g in weight, perfect as the centre-piece of the cheese board.


Bath Blue: A blue-veined cheese made by the Bath Soft Cheese Company at Park Farm, near Bath using organic pasteurised cow's milk (Holstein-Friesian) and following the Stilton recipe, aged for 8-10 weeks. It has a dry natural rind, with some white/grey moulds, and a matt yellow paste with evenly spread blue mould. The mineral and piquant flavours from the blue mould are entirely harmonious with the buttery flavours, complemented with a citrus tang. It finishes with a fermented tangy and clean aftertaste. This superb cheese won the World Cheese Champion at the 2014 World Cheese Awards.


No. 1 Little Wallop: Another great centre-piece for the cheese board. A small (140g) goat milk cheese, made with pasteurised milk and vegetarian rennet. The cheese, a collaboration between Alex James and White Lake Cheeses at Bagborough Farm, Somerset, is washed with Somerset cider brandy to heighten its pungency and distinct fermented tang. Covering with vine leaves also helps the cheese retain moisture, giving the creamy cheese an urgency to ooze out after opening. This example was very mature and started to show notes of ammonia, amidst the distinct caprine aromas. A strong cheese.


Driftwood: Another fabulous cheese from White Lake. A log-shaped ash-covered goat cheese made with thermised milk and vegetarian rennet. There was a blue/grey downy rind, and an ivory coloured silky smooth paste that turns to creamy and runny at room temperature. The aromas were reminiscent of hay, meadows, with a sharp citrus tang at the finish.


This was a very indulgent way to end a delicious meal at the Little Barwick House, a restaurant with rooms in Somerset, run by husband Tim (chef) and wife Emma (restaurant manager) team who took over in 2000. Every dish was a harmonious and beautifully presented assembly of flavours. The style of cuisine was classic, with contemporary delicate touches. The tables were well-spaced and there was a lovely refreshing breeze that drifted in from the opened windows. It was not our intention to overhear other people's conversations but we could not help picking up the flow of compliments offered to the chef and team by fellow diners. Richard particularly enjoyed his aperitif selected from the wine by the glass list - a Reid Wines Blanc de Blancs supplied by his favourite merchant in the West Country - another great local touch to this charming restaurant. We look forward to returning for a proper stay (www.littlebarwick.co.uk) .


After returning to London, we visited a couple of cheese specialist shops and managed to try some more fine cheeses from the West Country:

Rachel: an award-winning cheese from White Lake. A washed rind cheese (with brine), made with thermised goat milk and vegetarian rennet. It has a thin orange-coloured rind, with occasional spots of red/orange, with a pale ivory paste. The taste is very faintly lanolin, with nutty, floral, sweet hay notes. The finish is clean and mineral. This is a 2kg cheese. I tried this at The Fine Cheese Company, London.


Katherine: This is the raw milk version of Rachel, made with unpasteurised goat milk and animal rennet, washed with Somerset cider brandy. It has a more distinctive orange coloured rind, with spots of grey and orange on the dry rind. The paste is a cream colour, firm but supple and densely packed. It has a slight granular texture. Initial attack is a trigeminal piquancy, then the palate is filled with umami flavours, overlaid with sweet ripe apple and tropical (pineapple) notes, finetuned with the sweetness of hay. Only a very faint hint of goat character is detected. The finish is persistent with a piquancy that refreshes the palate. This is available in 250g and 2kg. We tried this at La Fromagerie, Marylebone, London.

This was my selection: Washbourne (sheep), Single Gloucester (cow), Katherine (goat), Bosworth Ash (goat).

I will follow with a separate blog on Suffolk/Norfolk cheeses.

But I wanted to add two more cheeses that we also tried and are worth recommending:

Bosworth Ash: Ash-covered log-shaped goat cheese made with unpasteurised milk and animal rennet, from Innes Cheese at Highfields Farm Dairy, Staffordshire. The natural rind showed blue/grey mould, under the rind was a tan-coloured halo, around the silky white paste. The cheese on the cheese platter was nicely matured and the paste was firm and had a granular/chalky texture that melted in the mouth, hanging onto the palate like fudge. The flavours were a mix of sweet vanilla balancing the light saltiness, turning to pineapple and grassy, before hitting the almond and marzipan notes, with a hint of citrus tang lingering on the clean finish. We tried this at La Fromagerie, Marylebone, London.


Beauvale: A softer, milder, creamier take on Stilton produced by the Cropwell Bishop Dairy in Nottinghamshire. The cheese takes its name from the Vale of Belvoir. It has a cream coloured paste with evenly distributed blue mould and a thin natural rind. It has a rich velvety texture, combining the delicate piquancy of the blue mould with a decadent rich buttery flavour. The closet description would be Gorgonzola Dolce. A remarkably rich, creamy and indulgent blue cheese and best with a glass of chilled 20-year Tawny!

This was Richard's selection: it's obvious he loves washed rind....Maida Vale, Limburger and Stinking Bishop all on the same platter!

A mini vertical of Rousseau Chambertin across 4 decades

19 Jul 2018:
On a torrential rainy evening in Hong Kong, we organised a mini vertical tasting of Rousseau Chambertin.

The line-up

 ​
1981 Krug
Amber/gold robe, with nuances of butterscotch, gingerbread, cinnamon, pear, apple compote and nougat. Delicate mousse and lively acidity greeted the palate, with the flavours unfolding and culminating in a long candied apple finish. 18/20 (Thank you, John!)

1995 Bonneau du Martray Corton Charlemagne
A pale gold colour. Almond, marzipan, with some bruised apple notes. Although showing oxidative notes, I did not find them unpleasant at all. The structure of the wine was still intact. I kept some back for the cheese course, it was actually not a bad complement at all. 16/20

2005 Rousseau Chambertin
Notes of plum, prune, nutmeg, sous bois and coffee. The vibrant acidity balanced the fleshy and succulent texture of the ripe tannins and the structure was impeccable. Great concentratation. It was an outstanding wine, powerful, structured, and a veritable benchmark for Chambertin. 20/20

1989 Rousseau Chambertin
The bouquet showed dried shiitake, wet leaves, forest floor, prune and leather. The silky texture was nicely balanced with fresh acidity. Finish was long if slightly drying. 19/20

1978 Rousseau Chambertin
Some VA had begun to creep into this delicate wine. An aromatic mature bouquet, if slightly marred by the acetaldehydes. The palate had a nice lift for the same reason, but for me, this bottle was past its peak. 16.5/20

1964 Rousseau Chambertin
Beautiful aromatics, with layers of leather, cardamom, cinnamon, truffle, earth and coffee. Harmonious, with a silky texture and bright acidity and a persistent finish that was almost mesmerising. A truly seductive wine. 20/20

The levels of the bottles

I took votes of everyone's best and second best wines of the evening. The 1964 had everyone's unanimous vote as best wine of the evening, followed by the 2005 as the second best for most, and a couple of us had the 1989 as their second best.

The staff at the Long Room of the Hong Kong Cricket Club did an amazing job with the wine and food service. Look forward to returning for another dinner.

Heaven made in Cheese

29 Jul 2018:

Champagne and Langres - heaven made in cheese!

It was the perfect occasion to share a beautifully aged Langres, with a few good friends and a bottle of 1996 Dom Pérignon. (Well, we actually needed two bottles so that we could have spare some for pouring into the cheese!)

Langres is a soft washed rind full-fat cow's milk cheese, with a wrinkly golden yellow to orange rind, sometimes covered with white down and an ivory paste. The 18th century cheese owes its name to the town of Langres, a historic fortified town in the Haute-Marne region of Champagne that boasts 3.5 km of remparts offering strategic views of the Marne Valley and beyond to the Vosges Mountains, as well as 12 towers and 7 gates. The Langres cheese is easily recognised by a concave hollow, known as the "fountain" (or "la fontaine"), reminiscent of the fortified remparts of its namesake town. This concave feature which becomes more pronounced with age, is due to the flattened cone-shaped terracotta moulds (called "fromottes") used in the making of the cheese and the fact that the cheese is not turned during its ageing process. Once turned out, the cheese is dried on platane leaves in wicker cages. The ageing process usually lasts a minimum of 3-4 weeks (usually longer, and total time depending on the size). Langres comes in 3 sizes: small (150-250 g), medium (280-350g) and large (800-1300g). The colour is due to the washing with brine and the natural annatto giving the cheese its distinctive colour. Marc de Champagne is sometimes added to the washing process to intensify the flavours.

The rind is sticky to the touch, with a brilliant sheen to its coat. It has an intense pungency on the nose, and on the palate, the dense texture passes from firm and chalky/grainy to a velvety soft creaminess that melts in your mouth, with extended ageing. The mildly salted umami-accented flavours remind one of fermented soya beans, dried citrus peel, and a farmyard note. The finish is long. It is no surprise that it is often referred to as the cousin of Epoisses.

The hearty gourmands would pour Marc de Champagne into the hollow. In my version last night, I made a cross in the top of the cheese, poured our champagne into the hollow until it overflows. I then left it to let the cheese soak up the champagne for almost an hour and a half before I served it. I dug a well into the cheese prior to serving, mixed around the cheese and champagne into a creamy, if slightly messy-looking mixture and served. The result was stunning - the champagne characters of mushroom, hazelnuts and caramelised apple notes complemented the complexity, and lent just a touch of acidity (see below wine note) to balance the creaminess of the cheese. It was a heavenly "mess"!

Heavenly "mess"!

On my cheese board last night (see below), I also served a Rove des Garrigues, one of my favourite goat cheeses from France. The local breed of Rove goats in the Provence/Midi-Pyrénées roam the garrigue-grown land and the aromas of the wild flora and herbs (wild thyme, juniper, wild rosemary, broom) find their way into the organoleptic profile of this wonderful fresh goat cheese. Serving it at its prime, this little round ball of cheese had a slightly wrinkly cream-coloured coat that was almost lifting from the soft white paste when cut. It had a refreshing citrus lactic tang, and a delicate herbal note, with a creamy texture that lingered most delicately. A tiny cheese that packs a lot in!

The cheese board with Tomme aux fleurs, Beaufort Chalet d'Alpage, Reblochon, Brie de Meaux, Langres, Lavort, Le Parthenay and Rove des Garrigues.

Langres and Champagne, a heavenly pairing!

As for the wines of the night, here are my short tasting notes:

1996 Dom Perignon: I would have liked this to be more zingy, more fresh.  It was a beautifully matured champagne, with a creamy mousse, nuances of mushroom, hazelnut, honey, caramelised apple shortbread notes, but to me, it lacked energy and tasted a bit flat and unexciting. However, I only tried one of the two bottles.  According to Richard who tasted from both, both bottles were very similar. 16.5/20

2010 Mount Mary Triolet: A blend of around 75% Sauvignon Blanc, with some 20% of Semillon and some Muscadelle from Yarra Valley.  It was a harmonious wine with measured acidity, notes of honey, toast and straw, with a medium length finish. 17.5/20

1982 Grand Puy Lacoste (in magnum): A very attractive bouquet of cedar, leather and tobacco, with just a hint of graphite and herbaceous note. It was elegantly structured, with pleasant acidity and a long finish. Drinking at its peak now, but would hold for another 8-10 years in large formats. 18/20

1982 Mouton Rothschild (in magnum): A more muscular version from the 1982 vintage, with smokey, dried blackberry, cassis, and black tea notes, with just a hint of leather.  It took a while to unfold in the glass and it revealed a robust structure, with ripe velvety tannins, and a soft acidity. The finish was long.  This was a classy claret still very much in its prime and would probably take at least 5-8 years to reveal its best, depending on the format.  19.5/20

2004 Climens: I did not taste this. I was told it was delightfully fresh and not a waste at all to taste it in its youthful stage.

An Epic Cheese, Food and Wine Pairing Evening

25 April 2018

This started off as a somewhat ambitious attempt to stage a multi-course cheese and wine pairing, alongside a wine and food pairing for each course. A few friends volunteered to join me on this educational “expedition”.  To ensure that we have a fresh palate to vote on the best cheese and wine pairing, I insisted on tasting the cheese first before the pairing dish for each course. 

The Wine Selection

The Cheese Selection

Course 1
The first course was paired by a champagne:
2002 Pierre Péters Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru Cuvée Spéciale Les Chétillons: This bottle was much fresher than the last 2 bottles we tried from the same case. This was classy Blanc de Blancs, with the immediate attack of ripe fruit notes (apple compote and pear), overlaid with buttered toast and brioche notes, leading to distinct mineral tones on the mid-palate, with just a hint of field mushroom character. Creamy texture, full-bodied, this was an opulent and classy wine with crystal definition and a persistent finish. 95/100

Cheese pairing:
We paired this with Brie de Melun (Seine et Marne, cow). This soft bloomy rind cow-milk cheese was intensely flavoured, with earthy aromas from the rind. The soft and creamy texture pâte showed marked saltiness and a pronounced and persistent mushroom character.

The chiselled acidity of the champagne was able to cut through the creaminess, cleansing the palate with the fine bubbles. The savoury and mushroom character of the cheese paired quite well with the mature character of the champagne. Given the unexpected freshness of this bottle, next time I would have paired this cheese with a more mature example (a 1995 Krug?).

Food pairing: I paired the champagne with the classic smoked salmon on blinis, with a lemon-flavoured crème fraiche. The fresh acidity from the lemon balanced the richness of the smoked salmon. The toasted and citrus character of the champagne complemented the flavours very well.

Course 2

The next course was paired with a set of wines based on Sauvignon Blanc:
2008 Silex, Didier Dagueneau: 100% Sauvignon Blanc. A rich and powerful wine, layered with overt notes of tropical and green fruit, mango and gooseberry, lifted with refreshing acidity, delivering a remarkable balance and long persistent finish. A Sauvignon Blanc not like others, very distinct. 94/100

2011 Aile d’Argent: A blend of 60% Sauvignon Blanc, 38% Semillon and 2% Muscadelle. The Semillon seemed to have taken over the characters of this wine. The bouquet was floral, peach, pear, with honey and nutty nuances. On the palate, it tasted phenolic, leaving a slightly bitter note at the finish. A rich and opulent wine, balanced but somehow lacking in precision to rank it amongst the finest from Bordeaux. 90/100

Cheese pairing:
I served two goat cheeses: Mothais sur Feuille (Deux Sèvres, goat) and Selles sur Cher (Touraine, goat). Here, we agreed that the pairing was best when we paired the cheese and wine from the same region.

The Selles sur Cher with the firm texture which melted in the mouth, and the interplay of sweet, salty and citrus tangy notes, paired very well with the Silex.

The Mothais sur Feuille with its creamy, oozing texture, and the more pronounced salty and nutty character, found a better match with the Aile d’Argent.

Food pairing:
The vote was unianimous for the Silex when it came to pairing with the dish: Grilled asparagus with Iberico ham, and lemony crème fraiche.

Course 3

The third course was paired first with a pair of Syrah-based wines, followed by a Mediterranean style wine.
2000 Côte Rôtie La Turque, Guigal: This was a blend of Syrah with 7% Viognier, with fruit from the Côte Brune. The structure was initially tight and masculine, displaying ripe fine tannins and lifted with marked acidity. With aeration, it opened up to display a rich bouquet layered with notes of dark chocolate, clove spice, cassis, dates and figs. A flamboyant wine, made with precision. Long persistent finish. Drinking beautifully now, and over next 8–10+ years. 96/100

2000 Côte Rôtie La Mouline, Guigal: This was a blend of Syrah with 12% Viognier, with fruit from the Côte Blonde. This wine was at once more open and evolved than the La Turque. It was sensual aromatically and texturally, diplaying an elegant and fine-chiselled poise. The softer acidity was balanced by refined tannic structure. The bouquet was blackberry, plum, mocha and cardamom spice. An absolute beauty now, drinking so well, and will continue to do so over next 8-10 years. 95/100

1999 Château Musar: a blend of Cinsault, Carignan and Cabernet Sauvignon, each a third. Fermented in cement tanks with extended maceration, followed by a year ageing in French oak. There was the hallmark bretty gamey note, immediately followed by pronounced sauvage character of wild herbs, almost like the garrigue, and notes of prunes and plum. Good lifting acidity provided great balance to this opulent wine, with sinewy muscles. A very elegant wine. Drinking very well now and over the next 6-8+ years. 93/100

Cheese pairing:
24-month Laguiole (Aveyron, cow): the saltiness of the Laguiole and the spicy tangy and savoury notes from the extra aging worked reasonably well with the Syrahs, but I think these two Syrahs were too powerful for the Laguiole. I would pair this with a Saint Joseph or a Côtes du Rhône next time.

Mimolette Extra Vielle (Nord Pas de Calais, cow): Uncooked, pressed cow-milk cheese. Salty and savoury, with caramelised notes. The savoury character worked well with the Syrahs, and the fruitiness of the La Turque in particular went well to complement the salty character.

Ossau Iraty au Piment (Pays Basque, sheep): this pairing had the most votes. This uncooked pressed semi-hard sheep milk cheese from the Pays Basque had a slightly grainy texture, creamy and buttery in flavour, with herbaceous, nutty, floral and spicy notes. This paired very well with both Syrahs, but possibly even better with the La Mouline.

We experimented with Livarot (Normandy, cow) too. The washed rind was not too disastrous for the Syrahs – in that the wine did not taste bitter with the cheese. (I asked our friends to try both, with or without the rind.) The pungent note from the washed rind possibly worked much better with the characterful Musar.

Food pairing: I paired these wines with a 6-hour lamb shoulder with North African spices, chick peas and tomato, served with steamed ratte potatoes and Savoy cabbage. A very fine food and wine pairing, especially with the Musar.

Course 4

Final course was paired with a dessert wine.
1995 Riesling Sélection de Grains Nobles, Hugel: A golden hue. Pronounced acidity balancing the luscious sweetness. Complex notes of apricot, honey, beeswax, nuts and rye, with a slight smokey nuance. Delightfully refreshing and finishes long. 93/100

Cheese pairing:
I paired this with two different blue cheeses, just to demonstrate a bit of diversity amongst the blues.
Fourme d’Ambert (Auvergne, cow): Rich, creamy, with an open texture. Salty, with delicate notes from the blue mould, complementing the buttery and creamy notes. This paired brilliantly with the SGN.

Bleu de Gex (Jura, cow): A drier style of blue cheese, with semi-firm texture, dense and close, lightly salted, spicy and pepper nuances balancing the buttery taste, finishing with a slight bitter note. This actually paired rather well with the Syrahs.

Food pairing:
It had been an epic journey…so we just settled for a sliver of kueh lapis cake, the richness of which was washed down nicely with the acidity from the SGN.

Here's a summary:

Wine	Cheese/Dish
Champagne: Pierre Péters Les Chétillons, Le Mesnil, 2002	Brie de Melun (cow) Smoked salmon blinis
Sauvignon Blanc-based: Silex, Didier Dagueneau, 2008 Aile d’Argent, 2011	Mothais sur Feuille (goat)/Selles sur Cher (goat) Grilled asparagus, Iberico ham, lemon crème fraiche
Syrah-based: Côte Rôtie La Turque, Guigal, 2000 Côte Rôtie La Mouline, Guigal, 2000 Château Musar, 1999	24-month Laguiole (cow)/ Mimolette Extra Vieille, 24 months (cow)/ Ossau Iraty au Piment (sheep) Slow-cooked lamb shoulder with North African spices, chick peas, potato and Savoy cabbage
Sweet Wine: Riesling Sélection de Grains Nobles, Hugel, 1995	Fourme d’Ambert (cow)/Bleu de Gex (cow) Kueh lapis cake