Federica Carr shares the highlights from a cheese and wine tasting hosted by Hero Hirsh of Paxton & Whitfield and Barbara Drew from Berry Bros. & Rudd.
Cheese and wine comprise one of the best pairings on the planet. Whether during the festive season or not, it is an extremely enjoyable match. I went along to Jermyn Street cheese mongers Paxton & Whitfield for what turned out to be an unusual and interesting session on these two items. Indeed, unusual because the cheeses picked were all British and made by small producers and known as ‘territorials’ because they take their name after the region or county they are produced in (eg Cheddar).
Berry Bros. & Rudd are Britain’s oldest wine and spirit merchant, established in the 17th century. Their beautiful shop located at No. 3 St James’s Street has been there since 1698 when it was founded by the Widow Bourne; the family still run the company and have been a supplier to the royal family since the reign of King George III.
Paxton & Whitfield can compete with Berry Bros. & Rudd in heritage and curriculum; while ‘younger’ as a company (having been going ‘only’ since 1797), they supply major retailers with their artisan cheeses and fine food products (including Selfridges as well as leading restaurants and hotels around the country with their exceptional cheeses.
The evening was hosted by Barbara Drew (Master of Wine, Berry Bros. & Rudd) and Hero Hirsh (buyer from Paxton & Whitfield), who had put together 5 pairings for us to try, learning about some quirky producers and thought provoking matchings.
The Tasting
The first pairing we tried was a 2015 Frog’s Leap Chardonnay, Napa Valley, California with a delicate Single Gloucester PDO. The wine was surprisingly intense for a chardonnay: we slurped, and picked up hints of stone fruit, ripe melon and a subtle touch of vanilla and toast from a hint of oak and quite strong at 13%.
The cheese was a little bland at first bite but really picked up with the wine which brought up its buttery taste, each of the two really complementing each other. A delicate cheese with a creamy feel and slightly sharp freshness on the finish. Made by Jonathan Crump in Gloucestershire, this cheese is special in the fact that is made purely with the milk of Gloucester cattle, one of the rarest breeds of cattle in the country. Single and Double Gloucester are historic cheeses, having been known outside the county as far back as the 8th century, and widely acknowledged in Tudor times.
The second pair was incredible. A 2016 Berry Bros. & Rudd Grüner Veltliner Weingeberge, Federspiel, Nikolaihof (try pronouncing that!) from Austria, a country perhaps not immediately associated with wine, yet rich in great soil as well as a good temperature, this wine was exceptional with notes of spice, stone fruits, florals and grapefruit and a touch of acidity. Everyone in attendance loved it.
His match made in heaven was the cheese: Pennard Ridge is a 2kg goat’s cheese made to a Caerphilly recipe. It is pale cream in colour and has a slightly open, chalky texture without being dry. The flavour initially is fresh, clean and slightly fruity with a nutty tang that develops as the cheese matures and was truly enhanced by the wine, which toned down the ‘goatiness’ and really brought up its wonderful taste.
A difficult act to follow, indeed the 2017 Fleurie, Domaine Julien Sunier proved to be a good, solid red, very low in tannin, silky smooth; the cheese a traditional Caerphilly, made by Maughan and Kim Trethowan at their dairy in the village of Hewish, North Somerset. Good bite to it, interestingly, it ripens slowly from the rind, which gives it a stripy interior and a crumbly centre and when eaten, each bite has a slightly different flavour tone, because when young the cheese has a lemony fresh tasting tang but as it matures the flavour changes to become more intense with an added creaminess. The wine really ‘toned down’ with the cheese, becoming almost a grape juice, really mild.
A gorgeous spanish byodinamic 2016 Petalos, Descendientes de J Palacios, Bierzo – a rare grape (Mencia) grown at altitude where the days are dry and warm and the nights cold, this wine carries violets and crunchy red berries to the nose, with background aromas including tea leaf and even dark chocolate and lots of tanning, almost ‘sticking’ to teeth. The cheese paired was Kirkham Lancashire, which has an original method of production that gives the cheese its great texture and intense flavour: cooled evening milk is mixed with warm morning milk and the rennet is then added. The resulting curd is cut by hand with curd knives and then allowed to settle. The whey is drained off and the curd is stored for the night. The following morning the previous day’s curd is milled and mixed with the day’s fresh curd in a proportion of one to two. Beautifully, fluffy white cheese, with slight acidity and citrus notes, this was perhaps our second favourite of the night.
Oddly named Bedrock Wine Co., The Whole Shebang, Cuvée XI, California was the final tipple of the session, a very balanced multi-vintage, multi-variety blend low tanning zinfandel, 15%, with tones of vanilla and caramel. It was paired to a delicious Red Leicester – Sparkenhoe, and of course we all got talking about why the red leicester which is mass produced tastes of nearly nothing, and why the cheese is coloured as such, with annatto. This special cheese was so much better than those, the cheese is nutty and complex, with deep caramel and liquorice undertones
Overall it was a very enjoyable evening, with surprisingly good cheese and wine and unusual discoveries, which would make good choices for the festive season ahead.
Tasting notes provided by Paxton & Whitfield / Berry Bros. & Rudd; Federica Carr was a guest on behalf of tikichris.
Paxton & Whitfield is located at 93 Jermyn Street, SW1Y 6JE, with shops in Chelsea, Bath and Stratford upon Avon as well. Find out more at paxtonandwhitfield.co.uk.
Berry Bros. & Rudd is located at 63 Pall Mall, SW1Y 5HZ. Find out more at bbr.com.
