CHEESE AND WINE TASTING COURSE

I attended an excellent cheese and wine tasting course with Alix Robinson at the West London Wine School in Fulham last week.  Learnt loads and Alix was a really good, knowledgable teacher.  I can’t say the same about her artistic skills, as you can see in her drawings of all the cheeses, but it did the trick:-

Wine and cheese tasting

It was only a two hour evening session, but reasonably priced at £45 per head and I learnt enough to go away and pair some wines with relevant (delicious) cheeses – below is the goat’s cheese we were introduced to – it’s got a piece of straw running through the middle of it:-

Delicious goats cheese

Did you know that Germany is the second largest sparkling wine producing country after France?  We all know about Champagne, Cremant, Cava and Prosecco – but I hadn’t heard about Sekt.  I assume they must keep it all for themselves, but I’m on the hunt.  Apparently it’s quite sweet though, like Prosecco, so I’m not sure I’m going to like it.

We were reminded of Madame Lily Bollinger’s famous quote about Champagne, which I LOVE:-

“I drink it when I’m happy and when I’m sad.

Sometimes I drink it when I’m alone.

When I have company I consider it obligatory.

I trifle with it if I’m not hungry and drink it when I am.

Otherwise, I never touch it – unless I’m thirsty.”

So, in a nutshell, here’s what we learnt

Champagne works well with a very creamy full fat sticky cheese such as Delice de Bourgogne or an Époisse de Bourgogne which I also love.

Sauvignon Blanc works well with an extremely mature goats cheese such as Sainte Maure de Touraine (which I have subsequently found at the wonderful cheese shop on Richmond Hill called the Teddington Cheese Shop )

Chardonnay is best with an aged Comté

Nebbiolo (Barolo) works best with a Taleggio – with a high tannin content an Italian cheese counterbalances the flavours

Cabernet Sauvignon/Merlot works best with a mature Cheddar 

Monbazillac (sweet desert wine or Sauterne/Ice wine) works best with a salty flavoured cheese such as Cashel Blue

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