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.
For this week’s pairing I decided to try another one of the recommended wine and cheese pairings at Trader Joe’s (http://www.traderjoes.com) The wine is a Chardonnay from Mendocino. I haven’t had many wines from this region so I was curious to see what it was like. The cheese, Le Delice de Bourgogne, is one I have tried before and all I could remember was that I liked it.
My friend Karen and I were excited to attend the first Wine Class at Enoteca Vino Nostro (www.enotecavinonostro.com) during the week. They spared no expense with the spread they offered; italian meats, cheeses, olive oil, of course, and a spicy sausage, bean and fennel dish. I have described the wines on their own as well as paired some of them with the delicious foods, to see how the wine might change. Since the cheeses weren’t labeled I’ve done my best to describe them in the pairings.
We purchased this wine in August during our trip to Castello di Amorosa in Napa, CA. (http://mferraro73.tumblr.com/post/59728142614/first-trip-to-napa-8-27-neil-and-i-took-our) We tried this wine back then but other than a pretty cool ambiance in the Castle, we really didn’t remember the specifics of the wine. The description on the bottle says that it is a Zinfandel created in the Primitivo style. And if you’re wondering, Zingaro means gypsy.
Neil and I just returned from our first trip to Europe filled with photos and notes about wine and cheese. We chose to have a wine experience on a train from Paris to Milan. The scenery was beautiful, passing vineyards and countryside. It only seemed appropriate that we have some wine and cheese. I went to the dining car to see what was available, choosing the half bottle of white wine and cheese plate.
We're in Europe indulging on wine and cheese, check back next week for another delicious entry, http://mferraro73.tumblr.com/