Not terribly long ago, pairing wine and cheese in Pittsburgh was limited by the availability of intensely flavored cheeses and complex, yet reasonably priced, wines.
Today, purveyors such as Whole Foods in East Liberty, McGinnis Sisters in Monroeville, North Star Market in Richland, and, in the Strip District, Stamoollis Brothers and Pennsylvania Macaroni Co. offer wonderful arrays of rustic, high-quality cheeses. Meanwhile, the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board specialty wine shops consistently provide great values on tasty wines from around the globe.
Recently, Carol Pascuzzi, Pennsylvania Macaroni Co.'s "cheese monger," and I discovered some tasty wine-and-cheese pairings while collaborating on a class at the Crate Cooking School in Greentree.
"Customers really love the variety of new cheeses, and we keep it fun," says Pascuzzi, who is known to her loyal customers as "Dear Heart."
Leading off the class, she offered Fleur Verte (pronounced flur-vairt ) from the Périgord region in southwestern France. This wheel of fresh goat's cheese, or chèvre as it called in French, is coated with tarragon, dried thyme and pink peppercorns to create a vivid exterior. Wonderful herbal aromas and light earthy notes overlay a lovely combination of herbal flavors. The classic creamy, fresh texture melts easily in the mouth.
This zesty cheese matches perfectly with crisp sauvignon blanc-based white wines with little, if any, aging in oak barrels. For example, the 2006 Montes Sauvignon Blanc, Leyda Vineyard, Chile (Specialty 28822, $9.99) has bright and refreshing notes of grapefruit and guava with light herbal hints opening to vibrant flavors of citrus -- grapefruit and limes -- with exotic notes of passion fruit. Superb mineral notes and fine acidity provide a firm backbone through the dry, yet lush, and fruity finish. Highly recommended.
Spain, another cheese-crazy country, offers a great profusion of wonderful varieties, and Urgelia (pronounced ur-gee-leah ) is one of Pascuzzi's favorites. Made from cow's milk in the Catalan Pyrenées mountain range in northeastern Spain, the cheese is produced in a wheel with a rind-infused brine wash and a short curing period. Semi-soft, creamy and mildly aromatic, this cheese has a light straw color and many tiny "eyes" throughout the core. The brine curing adds a slightly salty touch to the robust flavor.
Urgelia matches nicely with the 2004 Joseph Drouhin Saint-Véran, Burgundy, France (Specialty 21215, $14.99). Made from chardonnay grapes in a restrained, lightly oaked style, this tasty and reliable wine's light golden color provides aromas of ripe apples and pears leading to pure fruity flavors of apples and citrus well-balanced by acidity and mineral notes through a dry finish. Highly recommended.
Asked to match a highly aromatic and unusual northern Italian red wine, Pascuzzi considered offering the always reliable Parmigiano-Reggiano from the same general region. Instead, she moved farther north to Holland and served Beemster XO. Like for Parmigiano-Reggiano, cows that openly graze only on lush grass provide the milk for Beemster XO. But the pasture lands of the "Beemster Polder," as the area is called in Holland, is actually 20 feet below sea level in areas that formerly were the bottom of seawater lagoons drained in 1612.
Renowned for its richness and full flavors, the Beemster Polder milk creates distinct, slightly briny flavors enhanced by brine curing and 26 months of aging. Beemster XO has a distinctive deep golden orange color, a firm, rich texture and complex flavors of nuts, caramel and smoky hints.
It is an excellent match with the equally aromatic and distinctive 2004 Bonny Doon Vineyards Il Circo "La Donna Cannone" Ruchè di Castagnole Monferrato, Italy (Specialty 24297, $9.99). Made in the rustic hills of the Piemonte countryside of northern Italy, the light red color offers fruity aromas of black cherries with floral geranium hints opening to refreshing fruity plum flavors with lively acidity and silky tannins through a fruity, but dry finish. Highly recommended.
Best buy
2004 Vignerons de Caractère "Seigneur de Fontimple" Vacqueyras, France (Specialty 18983, $9.99): This classic southern Rhône blend of grenache (70 percent), syrah (20 percent), and Mourvèdre (10 percent) featured an unique fermentation technique. The Grenache and Mourvèdre received traditional open-top fermentation, while the syrah had whole bunch "carbonic maceration" in a closed-top fermentor to enhance fruity aromas and flavors.
The resulting wine has a deep purple color with aromas of ripe berries with hints of black pepper and wild herbs such as rosemary and thyme. Flavors of ripe berries and plums with earthy touches lead to fine acidity and ripe tannins deftly balancing a very hefty 14.5 percent alcohol through a dry, yet fruity finish. Try it with penne pasta served in olive oil and minced garlic and topped with shredded Di Boscano Tartufo, an aged semi-hard sheep's milk cheese laced with highly aromatic and full-flavored black truffles. Highly recommended.
