Di Bruno Bros Wine and Cheese

Di Bruno Brothers is a long time cheese shop in Philadelphia, but honestly we just stumbled on it last year during our first visit out. Since we liked it so much, it was our first stop upon arrival this year! We knew we’d be able to find all kinds of wines and cheeses to stock our fridge.

Then as we’ve been walking around Philly, we found out that there are a few branches, which explains the multiple social media handles. There’s one in Italian Market that appears to be the original, with an amazing mural that would bring any cheeselover into the store! We also saw another one in a different part of town just a couple days ago.

Why tell you all this, well because it explains how they would have a private label wine and cheese. During that trip just a couple weeks back, I saw the wine with their name on it. It’s a rosé which is great for this time of year and it’s a wine made here in Pennsylvania.

I asked the sales person about it and he said that their staff took a field trip out to Galen Glen Winery, and helped with the harvest of those specific grapes. The winery is actually only about an hour and forty five minutes from here. He also noted that this was their fourth time having a Di Bruno Bros wine and that they’ve traveled as far as California to be involved in the winemaking. Any of you that know me, know that I had to pick up a bottle of a wine with a story.

Then as we walked over to the cheese section, there was another private label for Di Bruno Bros. I didn’t ask the cheesemonger if their staff had traveled to help with this one but I did recognize the cheesemaker, Jasper Hill Creamery. This is a Vermont based cheese and I’ve tried their cheese back in the days of living in California, https://wineandcheesefriday.com/pinot-noir-and-jasper-hill-harbison/. It was such a great tasting experience that I had to try this cheese, the perfect mate for the rosé we’d be sipping. It actually called out the Galen Glen wine and that the cheese had been washed with it during the cheesemaking process.

So we had our local wine, our perfect cheese for pairing with it and it’s Rosé Day, so without further ado Galen Glen Rosé paired with Jasper Hill Creamery’s Willoughby.

The rosé was created by using Cabernet Franc, Chambourcin, and Gruner Veltlinter grapes. After tasting so many Pennsylvania and New York Wines, I knew the first two grapes could grow here but not the third.

As I swirled the rosé, I found peach and strawberry aromas. Neil noticed smoked meats like salami, serrano ham or prosciutto, with green beans or asparagus. He asked “Are we were drinking the same wine tonight?” Whoa, what a difference in notes! Let’s see if we had any flavors line up?

The texture of the wine had some fizz, but also a smoothness. I picked up fruit flavors with an acid finish at first and then strawberries. Neil thought it was a surprisingly light wine, with cotton candy and watermelon jolly rancher flavors. He also picked out the strawberry and acid that I had. Whether we found the same things or not, we both agreed that it was a nice rosé!

Upon tasting the wine we went back to those grapes that were used and tried to pinpoint the notes from each. We identified the vegetables from the Cab Franc, the fruitiness from the Chambourcin and the acid from the Gruner.

And now the cheese. Neil will start on this one. He sniffed the cheese and sour cow milk funk leapt out! There was a hint of salt too. That rind was pretty funky and it made my nose tingle a little. The Willoughby was milky and creamy with a slight salt finish as well as something slightly sweet, maybe it was basil? Neil said the texture reminded him of a melted provolone. The flavor made me think of baked macaroni and cheese! The rind didn’t really seem noticeable and I didn’t really find any influences from the rosé that the cheese was rinsed with.

I know you’re all wondering how they went together since they were made for each other? Well, although Neil didn’t find my tasting notes in the wine, they came out for him now. He noticed the peach in the wine and some more acid. He also thought the wine brought out the cheese funk in the finish. The cheese got more buttery and creamy. He gives it a “thumbs up” for a good pairing.

I could still smell fruit in the wine and the funk and milk from the cheese came out but it wasn’t overpowering. The cheese got a little sour and didn’t seem quite as good as it was alone. So yes the cheese helped the wine but not the other way around for me. Guess that’s half a vote.

That’s pretty good for us, almost two thumbs up. So glad we noticed the store name on the wine and cheese and it sparked us to try them together. The wine was really tasty too. Maybe we’ll pick up another bottle? Hope you found something delicious to celebrate with this Rosé Day!