The Big Stink

They call me the Big Cheese. Have Stink, Will Travel.

And so when Clark College in Vancouver, WA, dangled their bait, I bit. Now I’m doing a three-week class on pairing cheese and wine, and Buster, there ain’t a tougher gig in town.

First up; goat cheese. Pretty simple, eh? Pah! We’re not talking grocery store ‘chevre’. There are a whole slew, a kaleidoscopic mash-mash of goat cheese styles, enough to give you whiplash. Fresh, cheddar, aged, semi-soft, Gouda, Brie; how you gonna round up a snerkle of wines to pair with all of this? That’s why they called on me.

I didn’t need to, but I consulted the experts. They confirmed what I knew, with any young goat cheese, Sauvignon Blanc, preferably from the Loire region. For those in-between, the semi-softs -Chardonnay, fruity reds. But then I ran into a stone wall. What about aged goat cheese? The recommendations were all over the place, but one grabbed my attention –a good tannic red, like Cotes du Rhone. I was dubious. But, that’s how I got where I am today, by getting in the ring with the big boppers.

So I rounded up the usual suspects, strapped them into their chairs, attached electrodes to their nostrils, and set to work. First, the wines: Henri Bourgeois, 2007 Petit Bourgeois Sauvignon Blanc, $12. This was the obvious one. If it didn’t pair well with the cheeses, I was gonna drop my cement-booted body off the Fremont Bridge.

Then a little scarier, the Fire Road, 2008 Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc, $10. Sure it’s Sauvignon Blanc, but not Loire SB. Did it have the cahones to stand up to the cheese? Only one way to find out.

And then a ringer, the Wallace Brook, 2007 Willamette Valley Chardonnay, $10. This label is the little step-child of Adelsheim. And David likes Burgundian styled Chardonnay, doesn’t he? I hadn’t had the wine, so I wasn’t sure. But the limb was there, and I went out on it.

As for our staunch big red, I chose E.A.R.L. Burle, 2007 Cotes du Rhone, $12, a knuckle-cracking red.

Now, rather than wrangle with a Rubik’s Cube of cheese/wine pairing, I limited the cheeses to these: River’s Edge Fresh Chevre -no pesto, hazelnut, whatever. Straight Chevre. Then from central Oregon, the Semi-Hard Tumalo Farms Classico. Why not semi-soft? Beats me.

And finally, from the Loire, an aged little beast, Le Mini Chevrot.

We tasted the wines first, and all were good.

Then we tasted them with the cheeses. The Wallace Brook had a little more oak than I hoped, but it surprisingly went arm and arm with the cheeses, especially the Tumalo. And, while everyone liked the Fire Road by itself, some thought with the cheeses it turned a little sappy.

But, no doubt about it, the experts were right –twice. That Li’l Bourgeois wine was fine with all the cheeses, but awesome with the fresh chevre. And more incredible, Earl the Burle with that aged cheese was superb, the class favorite. Aged goat cheese is more firm, and takes on an earthy tang, while approaching nutty and caramel flavors, and the Earl was the perfect match.

After that, it was free-for-all time. I pulled out a goat cheddar, Gouda, a fondue, and goat cheesecake, and we merrily sipped, and nibbled the night away.

Next up– the Big Stink for sure, with washed rind cheeses. Epoisses, Taleggio, Munster! O, I can already smell the barnyard.