Cheese goes with red wine, right?
Well… not always, as we discovered at a recent wine tasting dinner hosted by Loire Valley Wines.
Last week, the 5pm Dining blog spent an enjoyably informative evening at Café St Honoré trying different wines from a couple of the Loire valley’s wine-making hotspots.
From a light aperitif Rosé d’Anjou from Eric Legrand to an aromatic Touraine Gamay called Les Marcottes, we tasted six wines – all matched with different dinner courses.
On hand to steer our taste buds in the right direction were Tom Cannavan of the always entertaining Wine Pages and cheesemeister Phoebe Weller, also known as the Roving Fromagiere.
Loire Valley variety
Stretching from Nantes by the Atlantic to just below Orléans in north central France, the Loire is France’s third biggest producer of appellation d’origine contrôlée wines.
In fact, it has some 87 different AOCs – clearly defined geographical regions which produce specific styles of wine. These different areas, or terroirs, mean that the Loire offers an incredibly wide variety of different wines.
Some, such as Sancerre, Pouilly-Fumé or Rosé d’Anjou, are well known. Others, such as Bonnezeaux or Menetou-salon, are less familiar.
Winemaking has a long history in the Loire Valley. It is though that the Romans introduced grapes in the 1st century AD and during the Middle Ages, wines from Angers, Touraine and Nantes were much sought after in Flanders and England.
In the 13th century, St Pourcain was the most highly prized Loire wine. According to The Oxford Companion to Wine, Louis IX served it at a banquet in Saumur to celebrate his brother’s birthday.
These days, you don’t need a king’s bank balance to find enjoyable, interesting wines from the Loire. All the bottles we tasted were under a tenner.
At £9.95, a Touraine Sauvignon Blanc from the Domaine de l’Aumonier seemed good value. Unlike more tart Kiwi Sauvignons, it was rich, ripe and a good match for a starter of Argyll sea trout tartare.
La Jaglerie, a £7.99 Rosé d’Anjou was very pale, slightly sweet and full of soft berry fruit. It almost worked like a chutney when sipped with a terrine made from ham hock and Grierson’s organic chicken.
The wine that prompted most discussion was a lightly chilled Touraine Gamay, Les Marcottes (£9.95). The only red wine of the evening, it was aromatic and, at first, almost floral on the nose.
Then as you stuck your nose in closer, it was more rustic and earthy – qualities which made it a good match to a rich dish of Gartmon free range duck breast with confit duck leg in a potato cake.
Running against convention, the Gamay worked less well with the stunning selection of cheeses which Phoebe presented.
When matching cheese and wine, Phoebe likes to look for ‘reciprocity where both cheese and wine add to each other. We’re looking for something magical between saltiness and sweetness, dry and juicy, sapidity and savoury’.
La Jaglerie Rosé d’Anjou hit the spot with Chabis, a goat’s cheese from Sussex. The cheese had a creamy, rich texture and the rosé provided a fruity base and a sweetness that complemented the slight acidity of the cheese.
Cheese to please
Filled with gooseberry flavours, a fresh, bright and citrussy Touraine Sauvignon Blanc from Jacky Marteau showed typical characteristics of the grape. It worked spectacularly well with the Chabis bringing out a nutty, possibly hazelnut, quality.
The same Touraine Sauvignon Blanc worked just as much magic with a cow’s milk Lancashire. the cheese had a creamy, buttery crumble and the white wine drew out its green, grassy flavours.
If you have ever pondered the curd stratification in your cheese or wondered why the French only produce goat’s cheese from south of the Loire then Phoebe is the woman to speak to.
What she doesn’t know about cheese is almost certainly not worth knowing and her cheese ‘chewtorials’ unveil aspects of the cheese maker’s craft that most people haven’t even imagined.
She is also very engaging and her enthusiasm for all things cheese is infectious. Do a tasting with Phoebe and you will never look at your fromage in quite same way again.
Rosé: fastest growing wine category
Tom was just as informative. Apparently, rosé is the fastest growing category in the wine market and we are also buying more Sauvignon Blanc – perhaps because we seem to have fallen out of love with wine styles which are often more heavily oaked.
Rosé generally has a lower alcohol content than other wines which also fits in with current trends. Moreover, it pairs well with a wide range of ingredients from seafood to game.
Next time you are wandering down the wine aisle in the supermarket, you might want to think about picking up a bottle of Rosé d’Anjou for a change. It is ideal for a summer evening or a blow out seafood lunch.
Alternatively, grab a Touraine Sauvignon Blanc, settle down with a slice of cheese and start exploring how they might make magic together.
