Aaron (Left), Grace (Middle), and Myself (Right) ready to enjoy the wine and cheese
THE CHEESES
Roth Kase Havarti Plain: I have never had Havarti plain before, at least not in my mind I have not. That being said, this cheese was wonderful. It was soft, creamy, and very light. Just from using my past experiences, I could already see that this cheese would pair amazingly with most of the wines we were going to taste this evening. I would but Havarti up there in my tier listing of favorite cheeses.
Drunken Goat: Woah! Just woah! I was not expecting to enjoy this cheese! It was smooth and yet bitter at the same time. The finish on this cheese lasted longer than the other cheeses we were trying. Interestingly enough, the cheese had a flavor that resembled heavily on olive oil. I love olive oil, so maybe that is why I enjoyed this cheese so much.
Sarvecchio Parmesan: Parmesan! What to say about the classic home cheese for pasta. Very hard, very strong, and very rich in flavor. I am not one to simply eat Parmesan outright, but this cheese was good. I could not say the same for what my two friends think of this cheese. To put it simply, "I will be grating this for pasta later." I don't believe that my two friends are as open to experimenting and enjoying different foods in different ways than what we have become accustom to. Overall, an amazing cheese!
Roth Kase Havarti Plain (Left), Drunken Goat (Middle), and Sarvecchio Parmesan (Right) ready for consumption
THE WINES AND PAIRNGS
The Wines
Block Nine Pinot Noir (Left), Ruffino Pinot Grigio (Middle), and Biltmore Riesling (Right) ready for tasting
Block Nine Pinot Noir: At first inspection, this wine provided aromas of dark fruit and oak with the addition of being jammy and medium in body. This Pinot Noir seemed promising, but it was flat and flabby. There were virtually no flavors in this wine! I was still interested to see whether or not this would have effects on the cheese or if the cheese itself will have effects on the wine. Maybe the cheese will bring one of these mysteriously hidden flavors from the depths of the wine into the light of my taste buds.
Roth Kase Havarti Plain: Unsurprisingly, the Havarti dumbed everything down in the wine. Whatever tannic components that the wine had were further neutralized. It didn't make the wine or the cheese worse, but I don't think I would have these two together again.
Drunken Goat: The Goat cheese was able to attack the other end of this wines components. The Goat cheese outright killed all of the acids in the wine. Sadly, while doing this the cheese itself was lost in the all of the flavor. It was as if I had something solid in my mouth that somehow didn't exist to my sense other than touch. The experience itself was pleasant, but yet again I wouldn't have theses two together again.
Sarvecchio Parmesan: Strangely enough, this was the only cheese that somehow created a good atmosphere with the wine. Making everything sharper and more acidic, the finish of this combination was good. I believe that it was the strong sharpness of the Parmesan that was able to pull these shy flavors from the wine.
Ruffino Pinot Grigio: Where to start for this Pinot Grigio. Lightly acidic and boldly earthy, this wine was smooth and light with not a hint of a finish. The wine was so soft and light that it almost made me believe that I was having a nice cold glass of water with a slight dash of lemon juice. I was quite interested to see if the cheese would have effect at all because the wine seemed to be flavorless since it seemed like water.
Roth Kase Havarti Plain: Holy cow! This Havarti was able to amplify everything in the wine and the cheese itself too! The cheese became incredibly sharp and the wine became more like wine. I would have these two together again in the future, but since I don't really like white wine I can't say that it will.
Drunken Goat: It seems like the Havarti and the Goat cheese work on opposite ends of the spectrum for how they affect the wine. The Goat cheese was able to smoothen down this already calm wine. The cheese itself became soft and less sharp. That being said, the experience was enjoyable so I would definitely have these two again.
Sarvecchio Parmesan: This Parmesan DESTROYED this wine. Any notion of what the wine was or was trying to be was gone. The cheese was only amplified tenfold and the wine as left behind. There is not much to say since there was practically nothing to comment on! Never again.
Biltmore Riesling: Ah Riesling! Arguably the only white wine that I am even partially partial to. Providing aromas of strong acids and lemon, I was not surprised by this wine. Upon tasting the wine, I found flavors of green apple and other earthly fruits. I believe that this was the wild card in these pairings as I didn't think they were going to work with how the trend has been going. Boy how I was wrong.
Roth Kase Havarti Plain: This pairing was so perfect. Creating a balanced and calm experience in my mouth, everything as neutral in how things were changed. Both the cheese and wine exemplified eachother into a wonderful tasting experience. I would definitely have these two together again. That being said, it was not the best pairing of the evening.
Drunken Goat: This as the best pairing of the evening! The Goat cheese with this average Riesling worked together to create a calm and pleasant experienced that highlighted the richness of the cheese and the overall flavors of the wine. The olive oil flavor of the cheese and the earthy components of the wine clashed to create the most earthy and enjoyable pairing of the evening!
Sarvecchio Parmesan: Very surprisingly, this wine and cheese pairing seemed to have the opposite effect than what I was expecting. I was expecting the wine and cheese to build off each other, but instead we got a very calmed down version of both. The Parmesan was calmed down to a dumbed down strength, as I have written in my notebook, and the wine was overall just brought down a few pegs in intensity. Overall it was an okay pairing, but not the best.
The evening's charcuterie board
