The Big Stink: Part II

Who put the PU in puer? The washed rind cheese, that’s who.

Epoisses, Munster, l’Ami du Chambertin, Reblochon, Maroilles, Pont l’Eveque, Taleggio, Cowgirl Creamery Red Hawk –put all these in one room, and you’d build a stench so strong it would rival a pigsty, with dirty gym socks, and cigar butts thrown in for good measure.

And so you ask: Is that a good thing?

Yes. These are some of the most incredible cheeses in the world (and o by the way, since many washed rind cheeses are French, I thought I’d toss in the French verb puer, which means ‘to stink’).

I once held a wine/cheese tasting at a restaurant with many of the above cheeses, and the smell was like Sue Storm’s Force Field, the wait staff bounced off it like ping pong balls.

What gives them that good stink is the process -the washed rind. After molded, the young cheese is bathed in a brine with either eau-de-vie, wine, or beer, encouraging the growth of certain bacteria, which produces the stink –and makes the taste so amazing. A cratered-like rind forms –from orange to brown- some edible (e.g. Epoisses), some not so much, like Taleggio.

Of the washed rind cheeses, by the far the strongest is Maroilles, which is impossible to find (legally) in the states, with Munster, Epoisses, and l’Ami du Chambertin, close behind. The American Red Hawk is right up there, as well. The milder ones, Pont l’Eveque, Livarot, Langres, and Taleggio (the lone Italian in the group), while still fairly strong, are fine entry-level washed rind cheeses.

The texture of most washed rinds is creamy to semi-soft, with young ones almost runny. The deep flavors are earthy, gamy, sometimes nutty to caramel. The Parisian cheese shop, Marie-Anne Cantin, ages an Epoisses that more than one savvy taster insists is like peanut butter!

So okay, what wine are we going to pair with these powerful cheeses? You’d think first, a muscle wine. A big Cab, for instance. Some authorities recommend Chardonnay. But since the finest of the washed rinds (in my humble opinion) are Epoisses and especially l’Ami du Chambertin, and as both are from Burgundy, I’m thinking a good Burgundian Pinot Noir.

So on to our tasting class. To minimize the risk of the Rubik’s Cube factor, I pitted four cheeses –l’Ami du Chambertin, Berthaut Epoisses, Cowgirl Creamery Red Hawk, and Taleggio- against four wines -o, actually five, as I –dubiously- added the Joseph Drouhin, 2007 Bourgogne Laforet Chardonnay, $12. Not surprisingly, while a lovely wine, the cheeses beat up all over it.

To minimize cost (I was already three-times over my budget just with the cheeses), I put in 3 wines from my own Spudders Crest label -two Cab/Merlots from Red Mountain, and a Pinot Noir from Sunnyside Vineyards, which is across I-5 from Willamette Valley Vineyards. I also tossed in an over-the-transom California Cab, about which the less said, the better.

I wasn’t so sure the Big-on-Big would work, but as it turns out, the Spudders Crest, 2005 Red Mountain Vineyard Cab/Merlot, was by the far the class favorite. Red Mountain churns out some big wines, and this is right up there with them. The 2006 Cab/Merlot, which is a little oakier than the ’05, didn’t fare as well, though I personally thought it was the best match with l’Ami du Chambertin (a very hard to find cheese, but Elephant’s Deli in Portland had it).

As for the Spudders Crest, 2007 Sunnyside Vineyards Pinot Noir, which I think of (in my wildest dreams) as rather like a young Savigny-les-Beaune, a little brambly, with real pretty Bing cherry fruit, it paired only okay with the cheeses. I think the prettiness of the fruit was a bit overwhelmed by the aggressive flavors of the cheeses.

Maybe a more raw and earthy Pinot –Pommard?- might’ve worked better. But in the meantime, I’ll go Big-on-Big.

Next up: Am I bleu?