Feeling the Bleus

(The following post was supposed to end up on my WordPress site, but for some reason -stupidity?- I can't get on my own web page. So here it is.)

I’ve been feeling kinda bleu lately, so I thought I’d have some wine to cheer me up.

Okay, cheesy opening, but fitting, as my bleu-ness comes not from ennui, but from the likes of Roquefort, St. Agur, Stilton, Shropshire, Gorgonzola, and Oregonzola. Great cheeses all.

And, as I was entering the final episode of a three-part class on pairing cheese and wine, I wanted to go out on a high note. With blue cheese.

As per usual, whenever I go to round-up cheeses for a class, the array of choices is nearly paralyzing. But eventually I pared it down to these four: St. Agur and Shropshire, both from Freddies. And Herve Mons Persillé Chevre du Beaujolais, and Neal’s Yard Stilton Colston Bassett, both from Whole Foods. And as back-up, Société Roquefort, Oregonzola, and Blue d’Auvergne, none of which we got to.

They weren’t needed. Because, aside from the cheeses by themselves, Mary Karen made a Roquamole. And just to show off the versatility of blue cheese, I whipped up an incredible (no brag, just fact) Gorgonzola Cheesecake.

Mary Karen followed this Nigella Lawson recipe, and it was awesome. For my recipe, cf. below.

So, what wines match well with blue cheese? Well, the authorities claim either a big muscle red, or, in a complete spin-about, a sweet dessert wine. Let’s start with muscle, in the form of Twisted, 2007 California Old Vine Zinfandel, $8. Now, I’m not a big fan of California Zin, in particular, this style. Overblown, sweet, all flash, no subtlety. And yes, I know, this is the style (and price) that many people love. To be perfectly fair, it was a good match with the St. Agur, and the Shropshire. It did, however, turn that Herve Mons into a bitter hunk of mold.

Primitivo may be the same grape as Zinfandel, but it’s not the same wine. Italians prefer food friendly wines, and tend to pick grapes earlier, leaving a bit of acidity, and giving the wine some leanness and earthiness. Perfect example, the Caleo, 2005 Salento Primitivo, $9. To highlight the difference, the Caleo is 13% alc., while the Twisted is 14%. All of which adds up to the Primitivo faring much better all around with the cheeses. Especially with the Herve Mons and the Stilton.

But then you go back to 15% alcohol with the Napa Cellars, 2006 Napa Valley Zinfandel, $22, a big robust wine, with bright berry and cigar box aromas, and sweet berry/cherry flavors, almost Port-like. While a far better wine than the Twisted (commensurate with the price difference!), it drew almost the same results when paired with the cheeses. Okay, but not great.

And then a real treat, Alison, god love her, brought a bottle that had been hiding in her cellar for a long time, the Viansa, 2002 Sonoma County Cabernet Sauvignon, ??, and it was terrific. Starting with the simple fact it was perfectly aged. All the raw, gangly, aggressive notes of a young Cab are sanded down, and smoothed out. Still plenty of tannin though, indicating it still has some aging potential. But for our purposes, it was wonderful with all four cheeses.

And then the big cliché -o yawn- Sauternes and blue cheese. Of course it’s going to work! Isn’t it? Well, let’s start with the fact the Chateau de Cosse, 2005 Sauternes, $26, is a marvelous wine –rich, flavorful, earthy. I’m not even going to bother with superlatives. So good, one of our tasters, Dan, insisted that it was a terrible match with the cheese, because nothing you put in your mouth could pair with the intensity and succulence of this wine.

I certainly sympathize with Dan’s point (just drink the damn wine!), but the other side (mine), it was truly remarkable with all four cheeses. I use a 4-point system (my own private voodoo) and the match with St. Agur got 4 ½ points. Can’t get any better than that.

What about that other cliché -Port and blue cheese? Well, we had a little snafu, as two of us each thought the other was bringing a Port, and it turned out neither of us did. But wait a minute, I still have that Roquefort, Oregonzola, and Bleu d’Auvergne waiting in the wings…reason for another class?