Last year I went to Little Washington Winery in Washington, VA for their Wine Boot camp class which was fun and a great way to be introduced to this unique small craft winery.
When I saw Groupon had a deal for their Master Wine classes and "Cheeseology" was one of them, I jumped on that half price offer!! Last Saturday, my friend and I made the 1.5 hour trek to downtown Washington, VA for the class at their new tasting room.
When we got to downtown Washington, it felt like we were in the middle of nowhere. Flurries were starting, the air was cold and not a soul was in sight. This was our view down Main Street and right in front of us, to our surprise, was the well-known Inn at Little Washington.
"Wine Loves Chocolate" is Little Washington Winery's tasting room on Main Street. What a quaint little cottage from the outside and a beautiful, upscale wine and chocolate bar on the inside! Why isn't it closer???
How can one not be intrigued by a place named "Wine Loves Chocolate"? :)
Prior to the class beginning, we walked across the street to grab lunch at Stonyman Gourmet Farmer, the mercantile owned by the husband and wife team that happened to be the "cheese" part of our wine and cheese class later in the afternoon!
It was an extremely tiny place and not at all what I expected. The menu was listed on a chalkboard on the wall and had eight things offered of which two were no longer available. They must be used to only locals coming in for lunch because he looked at us like we had three heads. We were behaving too! Shocker.
The sandwiches were surprisingly delicious. Maurine had the BLT with heirloom tomatoes and local bacon and I had the pesto marinated chicken with herbed chevre and a side salad. The bread was homemade and crusty yet soft. My chicken sandwich was one of the best sandwiches I've had in a while. We don't have gourmet sandwich places where I live and I miss those quaint little farm town places.
After lunch we went to the loft of Wine Loves Chocolate for our "Cheeseology" class. I would be remiss if I didn't mention the lack of organization. The class started 20 minutes late and the "cheese lady" was just arriving (she had to walk across the street for Lord's sake!) AFTER all the participants were already in their seats. We won't even talk about when she took food off of someone's plate to give to someone else......
Ok, wow, look at the pretty view we had from our class table.... (phew)
Bread and crackers should just be an accompaniment to the cheese. Cheese should always be the main focus when eating cheese and pairing with wine. Use bread or crackers to cleanse your palette.
All Hail the Holy Trinity:
Bread, Wine and Cheese!
Ok - let us begin. I'll run down the pairings we had during "Cheeseology" - some worked for me and some did not. Again it's all about what you like, learning and finding out what you like and above all else having fun!
All of the cheeses we tried are Farmstead Cheeses and made by the Stonyman Gourmet owners.
I fell in love with this beautiful cheese - in appearance and flavor. It was creamy and tart and paired perfectly with the DeMeye Chardonnay. I typically do not care for stainless steel Chardonnays but this one was absolutely divine.
Look how beautiful it is when sliced!
#2 - Fromage Blanc Cheese -a goat's milk cheese in the form of a log with encased herbs - paired with a Chenin Blanc Vouvray from the Loire Valley in France. Everyone in the class seemed to like this cheese but it was too "herb forward" for me. On a sandwich or in a salad perhaps I would change my mind but on its own it was too much. I didn't care much for this wine either - too sweet for me.
#3 - Reserve Cheddar - known as "A Man's Cheese" paired with the same Vouvray as above. This was interesting to me because I liked the wine better with the cheddar than I did with the previous herbed cheese. The wine was no longer sweet but it had a tangy taste. In this case, the cheese improved the wine in my opinion. We were told to also try a slice of apple with this wine if we didn't like the cheese but I did not care for the apple. I did, however, like the wine with chopped walnuts. Very interesting.
We also paired this cheddar with a 2012 Chinon - a very light red wine, which is the sister to the previous Vouvray. It resembled the color of cough syrup and I did not like it with the cheddar cheese at all. It did go well with the slice of apple though.
#4 - Fontina Valdoste (or something like that - would have been nice to have a tasting sheet so we knew what we were tasting - again, lack of organization made me crazy) paired with the same Chinon red from above.
I love cheese and enjoy most cheeses but this one was the worst cheese of the entire day. The rind was hard and edible but not delicious. It was an aged cheese and is only made in the spring. Why? because the cows eat the spring grass and it changes the taste of the cheese. Yes, we were tasting cheese that had hints of spring grass. THAT may be appealing for some, but it was not for me.
#5 - Surface-ripened goat cheese with soft rind (again who knows what it's officially called because she didn't care enough to market herself or sell cheese, I suppose) - paired with the DeMeye Chardonnay (first wine we tried). Here is where I get on my soapbox......
The strategy with this pairing was to pair a cheese with the WRONG wine so that you could see the difference. Maurine and I actually didn't think it was that bad. Everyone else in the class is ranting about how horrible it is and even pouring out the wine. Really people? First - don't ever waste wine - give it to your friend!!! Second - get over yourselves. I hate people who are trying to impress everyone else or just go with the flow b/c "they" say it's supposed to be that way. If you like it you like it and guess what, it was fine. It sure was better than an earlier pairing that was supposed to be GOOD. Speak up. Say what you think. It won't offend anyone and if it does so what!?
Then they give us an Aussie Shiraz which is supposed to be a good pairing for this cheese. This is the oldest Shiraz vineyard in the world - Langmile Three Gardens. It was in the Chateau Neuf de Pape style. Didn't do much for me. Next....
#6 - Asiago-style cheese - Just like some wines (Bordeaux), there are rules that don't allow you to call it asiago but for all intents and purposes it was an asiago. We had two types of asiago. First was a young one with peppercorns and second was an aged asiago, which gets that hard/crunchy consistency to it that we're used to seeing in asiago.
This was paired with the same Aussie Shiraz above and I thought it paired much better with the asiago. The one with peppercorns made the wine much better. I thought the cheese alone was too spicy/peppery but with the wine it was toned down and was very nice. However, the aged asiago I liked on its own and did not care for it with the wine.
What an interesting class! I thought that I would learn what cheeses, in general, should be paired with what wines. We did not touch on that but it was more of a focused class on these particular farmstead cheeses which was fine.
Two things we were told as a rule of thumb:
Older and stronger style cheeses go well with red wines.
Pair your wine and cheese from the same area. If you are drinking a French wine, eat a French cheese.
Above are the wines that we tasted in the order we tasted them. The first Chardonnay was the only one I enjoyed and in fact bought a bottle to take home! Only $20!
After "Cheeseology" we went downstairs and did the wine and chocolate tasting. When in Rome.....
We had 4 chocolates with 4 wines - 2 red and 2 white. One wine was the Shiraz from the class which I did not care for but was decent with chocolate. The second red was a Spanish wine which was fine with the chocolate but uneventful otherwise (the label was also hideous).
The chocolate was delightful. The limoncello was absolutely enticing. It was paired with an Oregon Riesling and perfect! So perfect that I had to buy the chocolates and the wine to take home!! My dad loves Rieslings and we're always looking for a good one. At $20, I couldn't pass it up. So be ready for a review on that wine alone, with the chocolates and with a seafood dinner!!
Above are the Chardonnay from the class and the Riesling from the chocolate pairing. Both came home with me!!
Moral of the story: Wine is the ultimate condiment!!
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Two days later, I opened the Chardonnay and sliced some of the cheese as an afternoon snack.
This is the first stainless steel Chardonnay that I have ever enjoyed and bought! What a huge compliment to South Africa. :) With this wine, I didn't focus too much on the aroma and taste because it is just so perfectly balanced and is a heavenly pair with the ask brick cheese. It truly dances on my tongue! I will be making a trip back to Washington, VA to purchase this cheese and wine again, no doubt!
As you know, Val, I am not a Chardonnay person and really liked this Chardonnay. I am hoping to go to the Little Washington Winery and purchase some. Also, not a Riesling fan, yet liked the Riesling paired with the limoncello chocolates.
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