
2 minute read
Matches made heavenin
Brie de Meaux & Chablis
❝ Made in Ile-deFrance, the area around Paris, this is a rich cheese with a full, earthy flavour – it leaves a taste in your mouth for hours afterwards. As with all cheeses, I’d take it out of the fridge about an hour before serving to let it warm up to room temperature and serve it with a dry white such as a Chablis or a Sancerre.❞

John Axon, owner, The Cheese Hamlet
Parmigiano Reggiano & Macon Villages (Italy, PDO)
❝ Italians just go home and eat parmesan the way that the English eat cheddar, so every Saturday, for the last three weeks, we’ve been putting out chunks of parmesan and Macon Villages and have been selling bucketloads on the back of it. People think they won’t like it, because they are used to that horrible, ground sick-like stuff you get in the supermarkets, but once they try real parmesan with a nice, dry, crisp, white wine, they love it.❞
Terry Roberts, general manager, Chandos Deli.
Taleggio & Chianti Classico
Taleggio is quite pungent and powerful so I’d pair it with something with a bit of bite and a little tannin. A mature red wine like Chianti Classico works better than a younger wine with fuller flavoured cheeses as the tannins give it more richness and texture.❞
Peter Fawcett, co-owner, Field & Fawcett
Single Gloucester & Pinot Noir
❝ I use 12-month-old Single Gloucester, not because it’s got PDO certification but because it’s a first-rate cheese. I serve it as a standalone item and would probably recommend a Pinot Noir either from Burgundy or New Zealand to go with it.❞
Swaledale & St Émilion
❝ Swaledale is made in North Yorkshire by Mandy Reed to a very old recipe. It’s mild, moist and creamy and as it matures you get a fuller flavour. It’s best eaten at about six weeks and I enjoy eating it with a few wheatbased crackers. I’d wash it down with a St Emilion – the fruity richness of the wine complements the creaminess of the cheese.❞
John Axon, owner, The Cheese Hamlet
Mozzarella di Bufala & Dolcetto
D’Alba
❝Dolcetto literally means ‘little sweet one’, so it hasn’t got much tannin at all and is very soft, supple and juicy, which tends to work quite well with the texture of Mozzarella.❞
Peter Fawcett, co-owner, Field & Fawcett
Grana Padano & Brunello
❝ There is now a new grade of Grana Padano, which is aged for at least 20 months, giving it a darker colour, more granular consistency and richer, fuller flavour with aromas of butter and hay and floral hints of corn. Wines that are velvet-smooth, with plenty of tannin and a high alcohol content, such as Barolo and Brunello, are the ideal accompaniment to this aged cheese.❞

Elisabetta
Gouda & Plymouth Gin

❝ This is one of the most underrated cheeses, due to inferior specimens in supermarkets, however, when you do get a raw milk, farm-made version it’s a real treat. As a breakfast cheese it is hard to beat. What to drink with Gouda? An idea could be to try Plymouth Gin! You would be surprised as the aged [four year] Gouda is a wonderful complement to the spirit.❞

Patricia Michelson, founder, La Fromagerie
Cropwell Bishop Stilton & Chateau Musar
❝ At Christmas we did Cropwell Bishop Stilton with Chateau Musar – a winery in the Lebanon that produces an incredibly good organic, single vineyard red. The vintage I particularly liked was 1997. It’s one step away from being fortified, so it’s really big and heavy and has this sweetness of cherries in it.❞

Terry Roberts, general manager, Chandos Deli
