The last Friday of every month, Good Cheese holds a cheese and wine pairing event. Tickets are usually $65. Despite living a couple of blocks away and patronizing the store fairly regularly, we have never tried out this event. We finally made it at the end of February. Overall, it was quite fun. Some interesting and not mainstream wines coupled with delicious cheeses and some tasty sourdough. Not quite enough for dinner, so come after eating something. Lots of in-depth explanations about the wines and cheeses, about their production and some of the tasting notes.
We started with a Lambrusco by Agricola Villa Picta from Lombardy, which was light, dry, and had nice red fruits. It was paired with a 24-month Parmigiano Reggiano, very nutty with those little crunchy tyrosine crystals.
Next we had a white made from a grape we’ve never had before: Romorantin, La Mazodière by Cyrille Sevin, Cour-Cheverny, Loire Valley, France, 2022. It was grassy and herbal, with a bit of bitterness, plus some yellow apple. And it was surprisingly strong at 14.7%. They paired it with an aged goat gouda, Midnight Moon by Cypress Grove, from Utrecht, Netherlands. It was sweet, nutty, and creamy.
Our 3rd wine was a light red, Preyna by Martin Texier, Agricola Tedeschi, made from Cinsault and Grenache, Rhone Valley. Lots of red fruit and candy, like cherry jam. The cheese was an old favourite of ours, Grey Owl, from Bas-Saint-Laurent, Québec. This is an ash-covered, bloom rind cheese that is outstanding when you let it ripen just so.
Our next wine was a Valpolicella Ripasso by Tedesci, with Corvina, Corvinone, and Rondinella grapes, Veneto, Italy, 2022. It had youngish tannins but a clear raisin scent. Our cheese was Louis d’Or, Fromagerie du Presbytère, from Sainte-Élizabeth-de-Warwick, Québec. It was a 2-year-old unpasteurized cow’s milk alpine-style cheese, nice and nutty, with tyrosine crystals.
Our last wine was Flora White, an off-dry made from a bunch of hybrids: L’Acadie, Petite Milo, Seyval, Geisenheim, Siegerrebe, by Lightfoot & Wolfville, Nova Scotia. It was quite floral, had enough acidity to balance the sweetness, and was redolent of lychee. We had it with a cave-aged gruyere by Kaltbach, Lucerne, Switzerland. Very beefy and savoury.
