Match of the week
Pairing Comté cheese and Chivite Coleccion 125 Reserva 2001
I spend a lot of my time trying to discourage people from drinking their favourite red wine with a cheeseboard because it's so often a disappointment but every now and again you come across a red wine and cheese combination that really works.
I had in fact picked a cheese for the purpose, a nine month old Comté. It's similar in style to Gruyère but has a richness, roundness and depth of flavour - almost a fruitiness - that you rarely get in Gruyère cheese.
Being a comparatively young cheese it was mellow rather than intense so gave an easy ride to a mature modern Spanish red, a 2001 Coleccion 125 from Bodegas Julian Chivite, a blend of Tempranillo, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. It's a wine I've consistently enjoyed over the years, a wine that's still very much in its prime but on which the tannins have softened sufficiently not to intrude on the pairing
It also survived a Dorset Blue Vinney, a West Country cheese which is milder and more mellow than many blues.
Those were the only two cheeses on the table by the way - and all you need. The more cheeses you have, the more chance that one of them will get into a fight with your wine.
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Comté cheese and Languedoc Syrah
We’ve been down in the Languedoc for the past week and two bottles - both Syrah - have impressed me for very different reasons. One was an inexpensive but characterful Ressac Vin de Pays d’Oc Syrah which we bought from the co-op at Florensac, Vinopolis, after eating at their showcase restaurant Bistrot d’Alex which I’ve mentioned on the site before. The other a much classier bottle called Clos du Fou (the 2004 vintage) from a local Faugères winemaker Château des Estanilles which bore comparison with a Côte Rôtie.
Both went extremely well with a chunk of Comté, an unpasteurised Gruyère-like cheese from the Jura we bought from the local supermarket (the lack of good cheese shops in this part of the world is really quite depressing.) I mention it not because the cheese was exceptional but because it didn’t detract from either of these wines - one relatively light, one complex and full-flavoured. A more mature Comté might have done them fewer favours (a Jura or Savoie white is the more usual pairing).
Clos du Fou is made in limited quantities and does not appear to be available from the main UK stockist The Wine Society though you do appear to be able to order it from 1855.com The current vintage is 2005 but it definitely repays keeping.
Image ©Awe inpiring images
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