Nick: I’m Nick from Roasted bar cheeses. And today, I’m the event kitchen with you in the kitchen with Tim. We’re often asked how to pair cheeses with wines. But as much as I note about cheeses, I’m at the lost of word with wines. There’s the tradition beverages that you would use and that would be something like Atani Cort or a nice Sauturn. What? If you’re going to start a meal or just hanging out, one of the things I like to do is start with these two kind of sparkling and an off-sparkling thing, what they call it a Moscato D’asti and it’s what the Italians called Frizzante.
So it has this aromatic uppercuts but they leave a little yeast in there. And what it does is gives you that little tactile sensation of dancing bubbles on your tongue so it refreshes. Then, the other thing I like to use is like an Ontario sparkling champignon style and this one is from Henry Pelham. And being a pink it has the aromatic of dried strawberries and it has that wonderful crisp—again, very tiny little bubbles and it’s quite creamy. And then that nice zesty acidity keeps it refreshing. Getting to the traditional stuff, I would do the tiny port that has a nutty caramel character but it has the alcohol so it has the weight to cleanse your palate again. One of the most natural is a Sauturn and Sauturns go with most blue cheeses, you think they’re too sweet but they have this what I would call this kind of glycerin kind of characters so they have this kind of rich quality. And they’re not like Collin, they have good acidity right behind and again that refreshes your palate.
Male: Would it go more with the milder variety of blues or the stronger varieties?
Nick: It could go with the milder but I would prefer with the stronger blue cheese. Now, we can do into something else that’s French and this is from the South of France, it’s a Banyule. This is made of a Grenache Noir and they fortified a little like a tiny port and it has that kind of blue or fruits more than the nuttier quality here. Something I’m going to left turn here right now. This is a dessert Muscat from Australia, they call this a sticky. One of the things I like about these are, unlike ports or the Banyules which are—they are fortified but they don’t—the stickies don’t have that kind of hot burn that sometimes ports do have. They have this wonderful velvety lilt. It has the weight and the thickness of the Sauterne but it brings in that nuttiness of the tiny. Now, we’ve done that at the wine side and I don’t think you should ever leave yourself stuck in that. One of the things I like to use is darker beers, something like a Belgian Chimay here from the Trappist monks or it’s maybe one of the Lambics but you could also use some of the internal craft beer something like a Waterloo Dark or something like that. But I would stick more towards the darker beers in this kind of a sense because they have that kind of savory quality.
Male: If I was to prepare something with meat, which one should I be advice to take or direct to that?
Nick: What if it was with meat? I think you might kind of move away from the—this kind of thing but you could do definitely with the beers. Stick with the beers. I could always stay with this—I always—I learned something from Christian Paul’s Rose many years ago. What do you have with breakfast, lunch or dinner? Champagne, champagne and champagne. So you can do a sparkling wine in any kind like that. So it is kind of fun and it will go with meat. A lot of people think, no way but it does work. But if I was going to go into something, I would start with definitely red. Whites can work because I don’t like to—but you work with—it might come across as with say a Sauvignon Blanc, it will make Sauvignon Blanc taste a little metallic and then with a chardonnay it will take—make the Chardonnay taste very flabby. So if you like that, you could stick with that because I’m not going to say no but I think that would be probably—if you have a large group it might look nice, appropriate. But the kind of things I like to use are the two main grape varieties is Cabernet Sauvignon because it has more of a blackcurrant kind of character and it has that kind of richness that this kind of blue cheeses neat. And then something like a merlot which is more of that cherry kind of character. People always wondering what’s the difference in a blind tasting. You always look for grapes, cherries that’s the difference of the two to me. And one of the things I like too because I really like Ontario Bacco Noirs and I think one of the best is from Henry Pelham and it has that kind of blue fruit but again it has that kind savory kind of quality that I think blue cheeses going have and it would definitely go with the meat.
Male: Another twist on that then as we are rolling into summer, most of the meat recipe will be Girard and what would be advice with meat that is cooked on the barbecue and things like that.
Nick: Then you stick with this big bologna right now. The big red meats and with the beer with darker beers and that one, you’re safe, you have no worries.
Male: Just to make sure I take one of each them.
Nick: Absolutely.
Male: If I want to remember what you told me today, would there be an easy trick or any of this solution to remember?
Nick: The LCBO has a website that if you look up acrotic like this, you can get the tasting notes on the wine and they will tell you what food and wines match. If you come the LCBO and we have this wonderful pamphlets, LCBO educational program. There are certain stores through out the GTA and we do food and wine pairing. And it’s not just food and wine pairing, it covers the whole thing. If you want to learn wine and spirits straight from the basics right through the more advanced, we can do that too but we also have cooking classes. It will cover the whole range of the things that you’re looking for. Or come into the store and talk to you one of these gentlemen or ladies, wear these white shirts to call a product consultants and we’ll help you around it.
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