Perfect Pairings for New Year’s Celebrations… Dec 30, 2023
What better a way to ring in the new year and continue the celebrations as long as we can than with bubbles and über rich cheeses from across the land?
Nothing. After doing the research and crunching the numbers, I can confirm there is no better a way! For New Year’s Eve at my shop, we tasted only bubbles from all over the world, specifically France, Spain, Italy, and the US. Each was better than the last, and we featured rich, indulgent cheeses with them all. We did have one non-cheese pairing that went absolutely gorgeously with our first sparkler, a prosecco, so be sure to read on for all the details!
Alessandro Berselli Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore – Valdobbiadene, Prosecco, Veneto, Italy | Paired with White Chocolate Almond Bark (Enjou Chocolat, Morristown, New Jersey)
Oriol Rossell O.R. Cava Brut Nature Reserva – Cava, Spain | Paired with Truffle Manchego (various producers, La Mancha, Spain)
Claude Beaufort Brut Nature Grand Cru Champagne NV – Champagne, France | Paired with Crémeux Des Citeaux Aux Truffes (Rodolphe le Meunier, France)
Gran Moraine Yamhill Carlton Brut Rosé – Willamette Valley, Oregon | Paired with Bonne Bouche (Vermont Creamery, Vermont, US)
Our first wine and cheese pairing began with an Alessandro Berselli Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore that gave a lovely note of green apple both on the nose and in the palette. It also gave a pleasant citrus and deep pear, all wrapped up in a simple and clean experience. The acidity was definitely present, but nicely balanced with the white fruit notes. Overall it was a very easily drinkable wine, probably the only one of the four we served today that I wouldn’t need to pair any food with and could enjoy on its own. And though I would like to take credit for sensing the note that made this wine work so stunningly with our pairing, it was my shop’s wine manager who picked out the subtle hint of sweet almond on the finish. Reader, I know what you’re thinking. Sweet almond?? After all my descriptive prose about citrus and acidity? Well, I kid you not because that note was exactly what made this wine work so perfectly with… wait for it… white chocolate almond bark! Now I’ll preface my review by saying that I’m not a fan of white chocolate. But this locally-made white chocolate bark was damn good. It was sweet and rich and its velvety texture actually stood up to the carbonation on the prosecco. I could hardly believe that white chocolate went so well with a wine, but it truly did. The almond note too was made more present by the almonds in the bark, and overall the pairing was a delight!
Second, we tasted the Oriol Rossell O.R. Cava Brut Nature Reserva, a powerful Cava from a region of the same name in Spain. The very first element of the bouquet I got was a strong aroma of yeast fermenting before it’s turned into bread, almost like a sourdough starter but slightly sweeter. There was no fruit whatsoever for me on the nose, but rather a slight woodsiness, perhaps charred cedar or even a toasted oak. Our wine manager did confirm that this wine had been aged in new French oak barrels, so that was probably why it was so prominent for me. There was perhaps a very light melon note on the palette, but that yeasty, bread-y note was definitely the standout for me. We paired this wine with Truffle Manchego, a sheep’s milk semi-firm cheese from the La Mancha region in central Spain. The wool-y, woodsy note from both the sheep’s milk and the truffles themselves were complemented by the organic notes in the wine. Plus the very slight gaminess in the cheese’s milk paste found a nice pairing partner in the more savory notes from the Cava. Overall, I did think that drinking a glass of this Cava was like having a full meal in and of itself, with so many savory, rich notes. I would enjoy both the wine and the truffle manchego again, but would give them each a different try with pairings.
Next, we have our pièce de résistance - Claude Beaufort Brut Nature Grand Cru Champagne. This was a classic Champagne in that it gave a gorgeous bread-y note, like fluffy brioche rising slowly before it goes in the oven. It gave toasted nuts in the bouquet as well, and I detected perhaps hazelnut and cashew. It was bone dry, with a slight note in the palette of crisp, white apple, light melon and pear. Simply beautiful, and it was indeed my favorite by far of the four wines we tried today. Made up of 75% pinot noir and 25% chardonnay, it had virtually no minerality, and a very fine yet ample carbonization - perfect for a celebration. Despite its $40 price tag (on sale) even I would have purchased this bottle for a special occasion because it was so darned good. I’m definitely going to keep it in mind for a future event! With this Champagne, we paired another French item - Crémeux Des Citeaux Aux Truffes. This French ingénue was incredibly sweet in a pure heavy cream sort of way, and so velvety it would put most triple cremes to shame. It was so decadent that it felt almost naughty! The line of truffle going through the middle of this tiny wheel gave it an added element of mushroom savoriness that you normally only find in the bloom of a bloomy rind cheese. The paste was silky and had the perfect balance of moisture to allow it to melt right on your tongue. I really, really loved this cheese and am already looking forward to getting it back in stock next November.
And last but certainly not least, we tasted a sparkling Gran Moraine Yamhill Carlton Brut Rosé. This sparkling wine was from the Willamette Valley in Oregon, a region typically lauded for its fruit-forward and complex Pinot Noirs. The Gran Moraine was a very light peach color, which multiple tasters noted was hardly rose-colored at all and could have fooled them! In the bouquet, it gave a lovely light strawberry and distinct raspberry note. An impressive feature on the bouquet was the bread-like note, which our wine manager told me was because this bottle was made in the traditional method, same as Champagne. I thought that was a unique attribute and it definitely showed! It also gave some toasted oak, and quite a tart raspberry on the palette. The tartness did play off the tangy finish of the soft ripened goat’s milk cheese we paired it with, Bonne Bouche from Vermont Creamery. Sporting Vermont Creamery’s signature brainy-like rind, Bonne Bouche is a tangy and assertive aged goat’s milk cheese dusted with a layer of vegetable ash on the exterior. In this pairing’s case, rather than the wine cutting through the cheese, the cheese rather cuts through the tartness of the wine, and stood its ground well. I would not have paired this wine with any less tangy of a cheese, for the cheese would have been rendered moot. Even a fresh chèvre wouldn’t have been tangy enough. Just as many of us will as we enter this new year, the Bonne Bouche held her own and pioneered forward in the face of adversity with a formidable resolve.
