Wines with old and young sheep's milk cheese

Tasted Friday, May 20, 2011 by Anthony Lombardi with 416 views

Introduction

A few wines with a fresh young Willapia sheep's milk cheese andan unidentified producer of a 10 year old aged cheese.

Flight 1 (5 Notes)

  • 2007 Stein Riesling Blauschiefer trocken

    Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer

    Pale gold- chilled for three hours before serving. Expressive nose showing apricot and citrus. Wonderfully bright palate although plenty of austerity/minerality is present. Light bodied with lime, grapefruit and some green herbs. Extremely high acidity. Refeshing one with a bright, citrusy finish.

    With the cheeses, quite complex. Brought out an herbal austerity with both. Complex and confounding. The wine showed some effervescence when paired with the cheese and the flavors morphed to an extreme herbal/ austere area with tons of minerality on the finish.

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  • 2008 Château Routas Viognier Var Coquelicot

    France, Provence, Var

    Yellow gold. 80% Viognier 20% Chardonnay. Yellow gold. Honeyed nose with some floral notes and some Asian pear. Killer light bodied palate. The Chard's acidity keeps this on a great place as the nose leads one to think this is going to be extremely sweet and flabby. Honeyed apples and pears with some apricot and persimmon on the finish. A delightful drink with brightness not normally associated with Viognier.

    This was the most straightforward pairing with both the aged and young cheese. It just blended beautifully on the palate, but stopped short of adding any interesting complexity. Very enjoyable bottle that I drank primarily with my Copper River Sockeye Salmon.

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  • 2009 Peay Vineyards Chardonnay Estate

    USA, California, Sonoma County, Sonoma Coast

    Yellow gold. The nose shows Anise, Meyer lemon and a gorgeous blend or tropical fruit and herbal notes. Medium to full bodied. This just stuns the palate with a mix of honeyed lemon, crisp minerality and a long, complex finish of green and white fruit with floral essences blended in. My last bottle of this was served way too cold, but I had a chance to follow this one overan entire night and it kept evolving.

    That was the wine alone. With the cheese, this blended up and brought out green austere notes, smoke, even changed texture multiple times as we tasted these together. Just an amazing expression of the grape and a truly great bottle of wine.

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  • 2006 Travignoli Chianti Rùfina Riserva

    Italy, Tuscany, Chianti, Chianti Rùfina

    Decanted four hours before serving. Dark maroon. The first two hours, this offered nothing. The nose was shut down and the palate was shrill acid and nothing else. Almost punted it, but decided to ride it out. Rewards for everyone! The nose evolved to a beautiful earthy aroma showing some green notes, but plenty of red and black fruit. The palate evolved beautifully into a mix of Star Anise, tart cherry and cinnamon with a haunting finish blessed by firm tannic structure and bright fruit due to the acidity of this wine.

    An absolutely terrible pairing with the cheese, but a great drink alone and with our Copper River salmon. I feel like I'm cheating someone drinking this for $17.

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  • 2003 Château Clos de Sarpe

    France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru

    85% Merlot 15% Cabernet Franc. Decanted four hours before serving. The nose was a blast of new oak at first dominating everything else. Eventually, some black fruit and cigar tobacco showed. Aromatics are certainly complex. The palate was full bodied, but not the parkerized mess one might expect from the nose. Nice black currant, tobacco leaf and a bit of green pepper. Good earthiness and acidity as well. Long, albeit oaky finish adds a modern twist to this one. Not particularly great with our food and cheese, but a very appealing drink on it's own.

    Only tasted with the aged cheese and a disaster of a pairing, quite candidly. Two ele
    elements quite pleasant alone which did not blend together very well.

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