“When the going gets tough, and the stomach acids flow. The cold wind of conformity is nipping at your nose. When some trendy new atrocity, has brought you to your knees. Come with us we’ll sail the Seas of Cheese.”
So goes the song “Seas of Cheese” which is the title track from the 1991 album Sailing the Seas of Cheese by the progressive metal band Primus.
Creative Cocktail Hour!
the cheese twins
We’re out most nights during the week at events. On weekends, we wind down and relax. One of the things we enjoy is sharing a creative cocktail hour and dinner with our good friends Richard and KT Harrison (she whips up the most creative cocktails.
Not too long ago we were the ones hosting cocktail hour since we received an amazing cheese pairing by Michael and Charlie Kalish, (aka. “”The Cheese Twins” who partnered with Meiomi Chardonnay and famed New York City fromagerie, Murray’s Cheese).
Four Fabulous Cheeses:
cheese plate with home-roasted almonds & apples
The Cheese Twins are brand ambassadors for Meiomi wines and known for their appearances on Food Network’s Great Food Truck Race and Chopped. They’re also experts when it comes to cheese, having completed apprenticeships with some of France, Italy and Switzerland’s oldest and most renowned cheesemakers.
They paired a delightful Meiomi Chardonnay (2015: $20.99) with four different kinds of cheese:
Murray’s Cavemaster Reserve Cornelia ($27.99/lb) a cow’s milk cheese from New York state that is rich and buttery with a nutty finish (this was the hands down favorite);
Four Fat Fowl St. Stephen ($17.50/round) a cow’s milk cheese from Hudson Valley Creamery in New York state a rich cheese with a salty creaminess and a nutty finish;
Cellars At Jasper Hill Cabot Clothbound Cheddar ($29.99/lb) a Vermont cow’s milk cheddar, mild sharpness, nutty but with distinct Cheeto notes;
Vermont Creamery Cremont ($13.99/5 ounce round) a goat and cow milk blend from Vermont. Mild and sweet with mushroomy notes.
Pairing With Wine:
Meiomi Chardonnay is a good value and the perfect thing to serve (nicely chilled) for cocktail hour or for a party. It’s a light yellow in color with a nose featuring florals, honeysuckle, and some citrus. This is a California style Chardonnay with a lot of oak on the palate, buttery with melon notes on the finish (Sonoma 44% | Monterey 29% | Santa Barbara 27%).
Chardonnay is a wine that takes on characteristics from its soil and its terroir very easily (a Chablis is the same grape as a Blanc de Blancs) and an oaky rich style is common for the varietal when produced in California and particularly for wines from the Central Coast.
Generally, the dominance of the oak easily overpowers the delicate fruit flavors of the varietal and also makes it difficult to pair with much. However, in this case, when the wine is paired with equally buttery and nutty soft cheeses, magic happens!
Rather than being overpowering (as it might be paired with seafood or turkey), the wine blends quite well with the complementary richness of the cheeses. In particular cheeses with a nutty character actually, brings out the melon and stone fruit notes in the wine.
The pairing of the pair of Cheese Twins with Meiomi gave us a beautiful wine and cheese pairing for a pair of couples on a perilously cold evening. It was a great sail on the Seas of Cheese.
We really did “sail away on a sea of cheese” as there was very little left of this cocktail hour!
*report filed by John Dunham
