Wine vs Beer vs Cheese

What started off as a typical Saturday night in store sampling of wine and cheese turned into a quick lesson of what doesn't work well.  The wine we sampled tonight was a new Spanish white from the Ribeiro region of Galicia, most notable for the white wine Albariño.

The name of the mystery grape tonight was Treixadura, something unknown to me.  The producer blended this wine with a small percentage Albariño.  To me, it lightened the citrusy/minerally edge of Albariño.  Great on it's own, but I would go out on a limb and say that this would be GREAT with seafood when the weather around these parts get warmer.  The two cheeses we sampled out tonight were #1 both locally produced and #2 made from cow's milk.  If you're looking at the picture above, the cheese in your right is a raw Jersey cow's milk cheese from Beaver Brook Farms in Lyme, CT called Nehantic Abbey. The cheese itself was smooth, creamy but that tang I usually get from raw milk was a little muted.  Still a good noshing cheese, not bad with the vino.  The other cheese is called The Melville produced by the Mystic Cheese Company.  Soft, creamy, decadent, versatile as a noshing cheese and makes for a great melter.  The wine however, not a good match.  The butteriness of the Melville and the steely edge on the vino clashed producing some off flavors.  Nothing horrendous, but nothing memorable or enjoyable.  Maybe I'm being too pompous or anal about this.  It just didn't work for me.  I would go out on a limb to say that going by laws of terrior association that Spanish Garroxta aged goat cheese would've been much better with this wine.

 So with that we decided that experimentation would be the next best thing or as we like to call it "quality control" on Saturday nights.

How about a beer?  Great choice! The beer was the Hop Session IPA from White Birch Brewing of New Hampshire.  The beer itself had that mild citrusy bouquet I usually expect from a domestic IPA, but the hops were rather controlled without being over the top bitter. Onto the cheese...

The Melville...

The slight bitterness of the hops cut through the creaminess of the cheese and blending the flavors into something more like fresh floral notes. 

The Nehantic Abbey from Beaver Brook..

This is a firmer cheese, but still creamy being its made from the fatty Jersey Cow's milk.  Again, once the hops hit the fattiness of the cheese it backs off the bitterness and gets tamed down.  Very harmonious. Perfect pairing.  The Hop Session itself is about at the bitter limit of what and how I like my IPA's to be.  Very drinkable on its own and I get a sense of how this beer would be better with food.  What else can you think of that would pair with THIS beer if you've had it before.  Let me know as I would like to experiment.  Find me on the Twitter Box at Wine1011 or drop me an email to wineschool101@gmail.com.  I look forward and would love to hear from you all!

Monday Blues

I shutter to have to come in on Mondays.  The thought of 20 sales people lined with with samples of the next great wine, the new Siracha flavored vodka, a new macro micro craft artisanal local beer.  It's endless.  Sounds like a tough job right? Who wouldn't want to sip booze all day?  Well if the samplings in question have a repeat track record of sucking donkey balls then you'd understand my disdain.  Today, my sales woman walks in with her new manager.  Manager, that word has literally no meaning anymore.  When I was in big box retail, I was a manager.  The ranking made me feel like a general.  Now it's just a label on a VistaPrint business card that gives you another number to call to get the same bull shit response, "I don't know, but I'll call the office to find out."  Anyway, my sales woman brought in a foursome of vino from the Iberian peninsula.  Well done Miss!  She's been sizing us up and feeling us out as to what we like and sell a lot of.  Even though my store is heavy with selections from Spain, what's one or two more right?

First up (working left to right) is a red blend from Jumilla, Spain.  The blend is Monastrell, Tempranillo and Cabernet.  Smooth, velvety medium bodied with that  raspberry jammy finish.  My cost is $112 for a case of 12 bottles, you do the math.  EXCELLENT value to quality ratio, mass appeal with the fruit, easy sale.

Next up was the Haza from Ribera del Duero, a Tempranillo.  I haven't had this wine in years and forgotten how good it was.  Again smooth medium bodied with a touch of oak that was neither too aggressive or dominant.  You know he's there, but he's got he's using his manners today.  A little over $20 retail, so I'll pass on this one until the phobia of winter/holiday bills and tax season are over.  This should be a good one when grill season fires up.

Last in the line up, Graham's Six Grapes Port.  Do I need to tell you how much this rocked? Alright, it did kick ass for a Monday morning otherwise filled with rejects.

My gal Monday, it was a pleasure doing business with you.  Hopefully you're on to something good and continue with your intuition.  Let's see what crap the rest of the week brings.

This time of year is tough in retail being wedged in between holiday bills coming in and people nervous about paying taxes.  Super Bowl doesn't really generate tremendous wine sales as you can imagine.  In this business, I try to pay closer attention to price as I'm buying for shelf stock.  The marketing geniuses from these distributors don't look at the overall picture that the everyday consumer is tightening the belt.  Why in the fuckity fuck fuck world would you send in new item after new item after new item every week when you damn well know that no one has money including the retailer?  It's never ending and sometimes you have to pass and/or be blunt about not coming into the store with a box of new booze to try.  Again, it's a tough job, but someone has to do it.  I'm not complaining today.