Don Simon Vino Tinto and Maduro Cheese

Last week when I was searching for information on Monasterio wine, I came across a forum regarding wine in Costa Rica. There I saw that box wine was pretty common in Costa Rica. We decided to give one a try this week. For the cheese, we chose one that we found at a rest stop.

It seems strange, but here the busses stop about half way to your destination and some have a pretty good selection in their store. This one in particular had quite a few local treats, etc, so I couldn’t resist purchasing one of the cheeses available. The one I found, had the word “maduro” handwritten on it. This word translates to “ripe” but is also used to describe ripe plantains that have been baked or fried. This is usually a treat that I enjoy so I thought this cheese might have the plantains actually made in to the cheese.

We have moved to a new place for the month of February and there were no wine glasses so in order to enjoy our Wine and Cheese this week, we had to go out and purchase some. Without further ado, Don Simon vino tinto and Maduro cheese.

We both smelled this wine with a confused look, Lasagna? Yup that was it, can’t say we were expecting that. It was kind of funny, definitely like tomato sauce and a hint of black pepper. Neil called it “italian dinner.” As far as flavors, it kind of reminded me of the Red Noble wine from Rosa Fiorelli, where I used to work, but I noticed the finish of spice and pepper. Neil described the flavor as hearty with a tart finish. He was also able to identify a hint of cherry fruit. We both agreed that the texture was light and Neil even found it to get lighter, after drinking a few sips.

The Maduro cheese had a mild smell with a hint of smoke aromas. When we tasted it, I thought it was soft and airy with a slight tartness. It reminded Neil of low-salt velveeta cheese. Perhaps that’s why I thought it would be so easy to melt on something? It also tasted like really soft cheddar, definitely mild. After tasting it, we had to find out why it was called Maduro. Neil looked it up online and saw a recipe that calls for cheese to melt on plantains. (http://laylita.com/recetas/2009/03/03/platanos-maduros-asados-con-queso/)
That explains it! I guess it says “Maduro” so you can know which one to buy.

Once it was time to pair the Don Simon vino tinto and Maduro cheese, we were kind of hesitant after the strange things that had already occurred. I found the wine to still smell and taste like tomato but noticed the spice to come out more and made my tongue water. The cheese changed too, it seemed to get more gritty and kind of stuck to my tongue. Neil immediately said, “They don’t go together!” For him the wine was so tart and peppery after the cheese, but the cheese stayed the same. Although there was a noticeable reaction with the Wine and Cheese together, we decided this wasn’t a good pairing, too weird!

The discovery of Wine And Cheese in Costa Rica will continue all month, check back next week for more!