Wine and Cheese Class

Last night I was lucky enough to go to a wine and cheese pairing class at the Ferry Plaza Wine Merchant in San Francisco. If you haven't been to the Ferry Plaza, check it out next time you're in SF. There is plenty to keep yourself busy, most of which is food focused.



It's not often that I venture into the city, but I thought it was worth it for this event. The class was just $65 and included seven wines and cheeses.



But first, a trip to the Ferry Plaza isn't complete without a stop at Taylor's Refresher. The original one is in St. Helena, but this one works for me too.



I had a bacon cheeseburger, fries and a 1/2 bottle of Silverado Vineyards 2005 Cabernet...

Of course, I had a good friend with me to help share the wine and fries!

They poured us a glass of Prosecco (Italian Sparkling wine) which was very crisp and refreshing with lots of fruit flavor on the palette.

Next came these six still wines and the seven cheeses.

The wines from left to right:

Godello (Spain)

Gelber Muskateller (Austria)

Chardonnay (Carneros, CA)

Pinot Noir (Sonoma Coast, CA)

Petit Verdot (Napa Valley, CA)

Solera 1847 (Spain)

The wine from Spain had almost no smells at all and was very light in the mouth. The cheese that was paired with it was a soft cow / goat cheese that overpowered the wine a little. But the same cheese with the Prosecco was outstanding.

My favorite white was the Austrian Gelber Muskateller (don't even attempt it!). It had amazing aromatics (like CA Guwurtztraminer) and was full of body and flavor on the mouth without having too much oak. The cheese with it was perfect - a fresh pecorino from Italy. It was so soft and creamy. I was thinking it would make a great cheese for the next time I make pizza.

I was really surprised about the Chardonnay. This Chard was representative of CA: big, buttery and oakey. On its own, I didn't like it. BUT, with the Carmody cow's milk cheese it changed significantly. The wine became more creamy and most importantly the wine had this elegant long finish that was a result of this creamy cheese interacting with the wine. Cool.

The cheeses from top clockwise:

Largo, Andante Dairy (CA)

Pecorino Toscano (Italy)

Carmody, Bellweather Farms (CA)

Pilota (France)

Mimolette (France)

Noord Hollander (Holland)

Bleu d'Avergne (France)

The fourth wine was a Pinot Noir from Sonoma Coast, CA. Pinot is not typically my favorite type of wine and this one wasn't an exception. But, yet again, with the Pilota cheese (sheep's milk from the Basque region of France) the wine evolved into something I would drink.

The last dry (all the sugar was fermented out) wine was a Petit Verdot from a small producer Napa Valley. Just 110 cases of this wine were produced. This is a grape variety that has been used as a blending grape in Bordeaux, France since the beginning of time. Well almost, anyway. It's fairly uncommon to find this grape bottled on its own because it usually doesn't have enough interesting qualities. However, with this one, that was not the case. Tons of fruit on the nose and palette and a pleasing long finish. This paired wonderfully with the sheep's milk cheese from france. I think this cheese would work well with many CA Merlots as well.

The final wine was a Sherry from Spain. Slightly sweet this wine had outstanding smells. Everything from toffee to petrol (like the late harvest Riesling from an earlier post) to caramel and coffee. It was by far my favorite of the night and at just $18 it was a bargain too. This was paired with two different cheeses - a 24 month old Gouda and a Bleu from France. The Bleu was my favorite with it and that's not uncommon for me and sweet wines.

Overall, this was an excellent experience that I would highly recommend.

There was even a dog there, to ensure the proper wine country reception....

In case you were interested, her name is Sheeba. Isn't she cute?

I hope I have inspired you to pair some of your wines with cheese. There are no "rules" when it comes to this, but there are some cheese that work better with some wines. The problem is it's hard to generalize both cheese and wine, so it's difficult to say that this cheese will work with this wine. The best thing to do is to try.

Cheers!