It is nearly always a delight to pair multiple foods and drinks together to explore new experiences and nothing makes that experience better than pairing your cuisine with company. That's why 5 ecstatic individuals and I visited the Wine Lab in Blacksburg Virginia, to partake in a pairing of 3 different cheeses with flights of 3 separate wines.
We all shared the cheeses, which consisted of a Vermont Honey Truffle goat cheese that was soft in texture with garlic forward flavors that evolved into extreme honey sweetness and finished with the all too familiar irresistible earthy truffle. There was also the Fromager d'Affinois Herb cow cheese that had a creamier mouth feel and seasoned fattiness. Finally, we also ordered an El Trigal Manchego which to me a tad harder than I personally prefer and was much more subtle in comparison to the heavy flavors.
Now to the much more fun part, the wonderful wine that I decided to do my exacting experiments on, or at least as exacting as one drinking wine can be. I ordered the Captain's Chair Flight from the provided menu which contained:
- Steininger Gruner Veltliner Grand Gru '20
- Prisoner Red Blend '19
- Mollydooker The Boxer Shiraz '20
Of these, the wines that drew my immediate interest was the Prisoner Red Blend and the Shiraz. They have quite fanciful names that matched the adventure we were about to partake in.
To provide you, the reader, a baseline of all these wines and how they may change throughout this night I will provide you a brief description untainted by influence of cheese. Grand Gru was fruity, acidic, with a slight bready and pineapple after some time in the air. The Prisoner Red was oaky, dry, with some caramel undertones. Finally the Mollydooker Shiraz was very fruit with mostly cherry flavors and a slight licorice herbal flavor.
Now I can only imagine you are quickly anticipating a description on how each wine faired and stood their own in pairing with each cheese. So I won't let the anticipation build too high and start with the cheese I most desired, the Honey Truffle. As mentioned previously the honey truffle cheese was like a roller coaster of sequential flavors, starting with garlic then reaching a overly sweet high point before being aptly grounded by the earthy black truffle. The Grand Gru combined with this cheese by bringing forward a light floral flavor that perhaps hinted at some sort of exotic fruit. The Prisoner Red made a friend with this cheese by captivating a slight sweet and smokiness. The Mollydooker Shiraz simply became lighter, perhaps a bit flabby.
After such a linking of hand with the Honey Truffle, each wine was introduced to the Fromager d'Affinois Herb cheese. The Grand Gru unexpectedly became more acidic in nature. This is quite in contrast to the Prisoners Red and Shiraz which both became smoother in body, less dry and a tad bit sweeter. Peculiar indeed how the grandest in life can sometimes be unpredictable.
Finally, the experimentation winded down with the El Trigal Manchego. Similar in how this cheese is quite and contemplative our night had previously reached our crescendo and now relaxed in excitement. The Grand Gru in regal fashion rejected abetments in it's flavors and body while the Prisoners Red and Shiraz invited fruity, floral, and berry flavors. Fruitiness that was subtle and hinting that while the night is coming to it's end, that many days are still left to enjoy another experiment and another adventure.
