When choosing this weeks wine we wanted a local wine and I was thirsty for some bubbly. The Fiesta Rosado seemed like just the trick. We tried the Fiesta brand back in 2015 just before we left Costa Rica, https://wineandcheesefriday.com/fiesta-vino-de-nance/. Since the previous wine was apple, we made sure to look for the graphic of grapes on this bottle of wine. Part of the reason we wanted a local wine and not a South American one was to pair it with the traditional fried cheese of Costa Rica. Simply ask at the cheese counter for Queso para Freir. I was happy when I was asked if I’d like the handmade (casero) or processed version! Did you notice that the lighting on these photos are a little off, that’s because we did this wine and cheese pairing during a power outage. Actually it was during Tropical Storm Nate that hit Costa Rica. What better way to take advantage of no electricity than to sit around tasting wine and cheese!
We told you there would be more wines by Undurraga! This time we’ll taste their rosé. And this cheese, I know you can all imagine how excited we were to find an aged cheese made with goat’s milk here in Costa Rica. We came across it at the grocery store that we visit most often, Luferz. We go there every week and it wasn’t until about a month of visits that we noticed this brand of cheeses, Monte Azul in the refrigerated section. They have have over a dozen different cheeses and they refer to themselves as artisan. We all know what that means ?
Here’s another Costa Rican Wine and Cheese pairing for you to enjoy. This week's wine hails from Spain but the cheese is from here. We found the cheese in our grocery store refrigerated case and it was simply called Tico Cheese. (The phrase Tico, typically refers to a person from Costa Rica, but hey, let’s give it a try). We’ve found a few Spanish wines during our trips here and Opera Prima is another new brand for us so we picked up a bottle. Without further ado, the pairing of Opera Prima Cabernet Sauvignon and Tico cheese.
Welcome to the first Wine and Cheese Friday coming to you from the Southern Zone of Costa Rica. Neil and I have visited CR a few times in the past and usually end up drinking wines from Chile and Argentina while we are here. There’s not much for Costa Rican produced wines, at least not made from grapes. We chose a Chilean brand that we’ve never heard of to start off our Costa Rican series, Undurraga.
We picked up this wine at Wine 101 Hamden and the co-owner Chris told us, you guys have to try this one, “It's pretty strange!" Always on the hunt for the next wine to challenge us, we gladly accepted! Not really having a cheese in mind to pair it with, we brought it along for another wine picnic and paired it with sushi. Well, pairing it isn’t quite exact, we brought it along as our tasty beverage that we would deeply analyze, and then eat sushi. ?
During our time in Massachusetts the weather was very unpredictable. I lived there my whole childhood so you’d think I would be expecting that. So many days we watched the weather wondering if it would be sunny or rainy and what we could do to enjoy the day. This Sunday in particular, the forecast kept showing sunshine and low 80’s. We all knew it would be a great day to have a picnic in the park. We had our wine and picnic lunch all packed and ready! We’d bring a Pinot Noir rosé that we purchased at Wine 101 Hamden, and it even had a screw top. Our cheese this week was Edam, because surprisingly we’d never tried it before. Just needed to pack up the car and keep our fingers crossed that the weather predictions were correct!