This WineAndCheeseFriday will focus on cheeses safe for pregnant ladies. Knowing that we were attending a celebration for my brother and sister in law, who is 6 months pregnant, I was excited to research cheeses safe to eat while you are pregnant. I searched online and found a couple different resources, http://www.fda.gov/Food/ResourcesForYou/Consumers/ucm079516.htm, and http://www.babycentre.co.uk/x3175/is-it-safe-to-eat-cheese-during-pregnancy#ixzz3WHkDUxt0 with some pretty straightforward cheese safety guidelines. There were a few things to avoid including raw milk cheeses and soft or blue cheeses. Luckily hard cheeses and soft processed cheeses like cottage cheese or cream cheese are still allowed. The main concern for pregnant ladies is the risk of Listeria from unpasteurized cheese, in case you were wondering. So we headed to the store with our guidelines in hand.
We paired an Italian wine and French cheese this week, guess we’re ready to go back to Europe! We purchased the wine at Gianelli Vineyards during our trip to Yosemite back in February. (http://mferraro73.tumblr.com/post/78294642143/gianelli-vineyards-over-the-weekend-we-made-a) Since many Barbera wines have a creaminess to them, we chose the Comte to pair with it.
During the week, we joined some friends for dinner and wine pairing. Our task was for each person to choose a bottle of wine that would pair with their food. Since all of us are in the wine business we knew there would be some nice wines at the table, as well as some good pairings!
Over the weekend we made a trip out to Yosemite. On our way we stopped in Jamestown, a cute Gold Rush town, around the halfway point. The wine tasting pass to Gianelli Vineyards was included as part of our Living Social deal for the weekend. (https://www.livingsocial.com/cities/15-san-francisco)
In order to bring 2013 to a close, I decided to create a “Most Memorable Wines of 2013” list. These wines are all wines that made such an impact on me that I continued to talk about them after finishing the bottle. Overall, I really liked them but one that made the list, turned my stomach.
These are not listed in any particular order
It’s time for another “super local” Wine and Cheese! Our wine, Barbera, comes from my work (http://winery-sf.com) and our cheese, Broncha, is from Petaluma, CA (http://www.achadinha.com). Neil and I love to support local businesses so these experiences are always close to our hearts.