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Our palates are unique and what is a great pairing for one of us may
be awful for somebody else. So you cannot be prescriptive BUT we can learn
from what others have tried and we can experiment.
As a general rule, if you are eating Stilton with biscuits and you are
looking for a wine, then Stilton needs one with a depth of flavour. Whether
it is a robust red or a sweet dessert wine or fine Port, the Stilton and
the wine should balance one another.
Firm favourites are:
- Tawny Port.
- Any dessert or pudding wine – Sauterne, Gewurztraminer, Muscat.
- Sweet dark Olorosso Sherry.
- A full bodied, robust red wine such as a Shiraz.
Where you have used Stilton as part of a recipe, then the choices become
even broader. At a recent tasting event at the Gramercy Hotel in New York,
the Executive Chef prepared 5 different Stilton based recipe dishes –
starters and main courses – and the invited members of the Tasters
Guild of New York gave their views on the perfect pairings with different
fine wines. Read for yourself below their verdict.
Bon Appetit!
The following review is from a recent meeting of the Tasters' Guild /
NY. If you would like to learn more about this exciting food group click
www.tastersguildny.com
Friday, October 19, 2001
Review by Ron Kapon
Speaker: Joanne and David Lenweaver, Stilton Cheese Makers' Association
Its high butter fat content combined with its robust and tangy flavors
means that Stilton, the king of cheeses, not only is great by itself,
but is also a perfect cheese to use in cooking. The sharp and slight salty
piquant taste enveloped in a silky texture makes Stilton ideal accompanying
wine or matching with other foods. The new Executive Chef at the Gramercy
Park Hotel prepared five dishes using aged Stilton. The dishes, Stilton
and Walnut Quesadillas with Apple Fig Salsa, Stilton Stuffed Mushrooms
with Herb Butter, Cranberry-Walnut Pie with a Stilton Walnut Crust, Stilton
Twists and Stilton and Spinach Parcels were paired with appropriate wines.
The dishes and wines are reviewed in the order presented. At the end
of the evening, the attendees were asked to vote for their favorite wines,
favorite foods and favorite match. Notes are a combination of the speakers'
and Kim Ginsberg, New York City based wine consultant.
Some 25 members and friends of Taster's Guild were treated to one of the
most delightful tastings I have ever attended. This "simple cheese
lesson" was a multi-focused, multi-hosted, multi-course fun evening!
Questions about wine, wine and food, food and cheese were bandied about,
shared, answered, co-answered and cross-answered.
The first course was Stilton Twists with Ch. St Jean Gewurztraminer,
2000. I was disappointed that the twists were not crunchier and more redolent
of cheese. I was looking for a piquant snap in texture and flavor, to
begin the evening. The twists looked lovely and the cheese made for a
VERY rich but soggy dough. The Gewurztraminer was a good aperitif -- fruity,
soft, off-dry to stimulate the appetite. The wine showed excellent fruit
and a nice mouth feel. Though I think it would have been a better match
if the twists were crisper and had that blue-cheese zip...then mellowed
by the wine.
Stilton-Stuffed Mushrooms paired with Domaine de la Boissier, 1999 (from
the Costieres de Nimes) was next. I had wrongly anticipated that the Stilton
would overpower the dish and bury all sense of loamy mushroominess, and
was thrilled to be so wrong! The generous serving was a perfect blend
of a cheesy well-melded stuffing sitting in a perfectly cooked, moist
mushroom cap, resulting in a wonderful rich, but not oily, smokey dish.
The only correction I would make would be to place a torn bit of fresh
sage leaf ON the mushroom, instead of serving the whole leaf on the plate,
as if it were just a garnish. When I tasted the mushroom with the fresh
sage it was perfect and so right for this harvest time of year. The fresh
herb just pierced through, refreshened, brightened the whole dish. The
wine, a blend of 80% syrah and 20% grenache, had a lively, fresh fruitiness
of cherries and plums-- like a Beaujolais and the slight zap of acidity
and alcohol just cut through the cheesiness of the food and almost lifted
it right into the mouth. The suggestion would be to buy the wine now,
and serve it with this dish next year!
Stilton and Spinach Parcels with Antonelli, Sagrantinodi Montefalco,
1997, seemed like it needed help. The recipe instructs a cube of cheese
to be placed in the center of each spinach portion, instead of the cheese
being fully incorporated in the filling. The filling also lacked the flavors
of scallions and nutmeg prescribed. It was a rather flat, one-dimensional
course, not helped by the equally dull yogurt and mint topping which neither
tasted of mint nor had that tang of yogurt. At least the filling was a
vibrant green and had a full, dense green-spinach taste, and one bite
even had that magical, melty-cheesey flavor! The Italian wine was appropriate
because it was robust, rustic and charming. Heavier and bigger than the
French one preceding it, and it has that marvelous acidity of Italian
wines which went well with the slight bitterness of dark greens.
Stilton and Walnut Quesadillas with Apple Fig Salsa with Rugate, Recioto
di Soave Classico "La Perlara," 1997. What an Autumn treat..no
trick here! Is there a more traditional (deservedly so) pairing than apples,
cheese, bread and walnuts? Just add a salad and this would make a terrific
Sunday dinner. The wine turned the dish into ambrosia, bringing all the
various flavors together in the mouth. Nuts connected to the figs and
the cheese by the sun-soaked Soave. The sweetness was just enough to round
the edge of the nuts and melt the floury tortilla. And when was the last
time we had a Soave we could boast about? The Costieres de Nimes also
went well with this dish.
Cranberry Walnut Pie with Stilton and Walnut Crust matched with Le Catalan,
Banyuls "Tradition," 1998. The weakest link in an otherwise
fine lineup. The recipe does not call for a top pie crust and that instruction
should have been followed, because the crust was heavy and pasty. The
filling was an overly sweet mess of corn syrup, with no expected relief
of tartness from the cranberries, all topped with soggy almond slivers.
Thank God, the wine had enough acidity and supplied the liveliness to
the dessert course. Like Port, Banyuls are fortified dessert wines, but
besides the customary alcohol and sweetness, these special little wines
are balanced with a welcomed dose of acidity. The flavors of chocolate,
berries and mint shown though all enhanced by the rounded texture.
The cheese stands alone: Stilton is not a pressed cheese, so it is not
as dense as, say, Cheddar. The rind is all itself, and was a diaphanous
sheet of pale yellow. The cheese was not crumbly or overly salty or had
any ammonia flavors, but was a rather creamy cheese with a wonderful smokiness
to it. It gently breaks apart, demanding that you finish all the little
tidbits. I did.
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