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.
When we purchased this Zinfandel back in the summer at Cline Cellars (http://mferraro73.tumblr.com/post/95170593813/cline-cellars-red-blend-and-toscano-cheese-with) we were told to hold onto it for about 6 months before opening it. Having patiently put our time in, we decided to use it this week for WineAndCheeseFriday. Zinfandel is a wine Neil and I both enjoy but not knowing if it will have pepper spice flavors or jammy fruit flavors, it is always one that’s hard to pair with cheese. We have never tried a Basque cheese so we figured we’d see how it worked with our mystery wine.
It had been quite a while since we visited Treasure Island, so we decided to head there last weekend. On the last weekend of every month, they hold the Treasure Island Flea Market, which includes vintage goods, tons of food trucks, hand-made gifts and more. (http://www.treasureislandflea.com) It has evolved quite a bit since I used to pour wine there for one of the Treasure Island wineries! Speaking of those wineries, they have expanded their tasting rooms, now called Winemaker’s Studios, http://www.sfeventvenues.com/index.php/san-francisco-event-venues/winemaker-studios, to represent four brands, just behind the giant Winery SF, http://www.winery-sf.com, at the main gate of Treasure Island.
In order to celebrate WineAndCheeseFriday this week, we purchased tickets to the French Wine Tasting Event, hosted by Pierre Sparr, owner of Charles Sparr Winery. This event was held at the BevMo down the street from our apartment. (http://www.bevmo.com) They remodeled the entire store a few months ago and now have a tasting bar where they hold weekend happy hours as well as some more formal tasting events. This will be our first time using their tasting bar so let the tasting begin.
We received this wine as a gift around the holidays. Knowing the usual flavor profile of Viognier, flowers or peaches, I chose a cheese that would probably have some sweetness to it. This cheese, Rogue River Blue, is one that I’ve tried a handful of times and due to it’s seasonal nature, I figured we should seize the day for the pairing. (https://wineandcheesefriday.com/cheese-plus-intimate-and-exclusive-tasting-friday/)
After tasting the cheeses at the Cheese Plus event (https://wineandcheesefriday.com/cheese-plus-tasting-second-day-saturday/) we knew we had to try another one of the Luigi Guffanti cheeses with some wine. We became so familiar with this cheese brand last year when we visited their cheese cave (https://wineandcheesefriday.com/a-trip-to-a-cheese-cave-arona-piedmont-italy/). What better wine to try with the Robiola a 3 latti (3 milks) than a Pinot Noir, especially one that I used to sell at work and already knew the characteristics. Since this wine is from 2006, we opened it at 630 and waited to taste it for about 45 minutes.