Before going to dinner on Saturday, we stopped at this amazing place next to the House of Blues called Bin 36. It's called that because it only has 36 brands of wine at any one time, as well as a huge selection of great cheeses.We went with the basic cheese flight, which was . . .
1. Mozzarella, Fratta Afragola, Camapana, Italy - buffalo milk
2. Cocoa Cardona, Carr Valley Cheese Co., La Valle, Wisconsin - goat milk
3. Pecorino Toscano Grand Cru, Academia Barilia, Tuscany, Italy - sheep milk
4. Green Peppercorn, Coach Farms, Pine Plains, NY - goat milk
5. Bleu du Sassenage, Isere, France - cow milk
6. Traditional Farmhouse Cheddar, Quicke's, Exeter, England - cow milk
The other nice thing is that they take the guesswork out of ordering a wine that goes with the cheese, since each cheese listing has a wine suggestion. So we had:
1. NV Vouvray, Demi-sec, Vigneau-Chevreau, "Petillant", Loire Valley, France2. 2005 Chenin Blanc, Vouvray, Demi-Sec, Yves Breussin, Loire Valley, France3. 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon, Central Coast, California
4. 2005 Zinfandel, Earth, Zine $ Fire, "Front Row Zine", Lodi, California
Someone did tell me once that picking a wine to go with a cheese is fraught with disaster, but the easiest thing is just pick a wine that comes from the same area. For example, an Alsatian Riesling goes great with a real Munster, or a Comte cheese is perfect with Jura wine. But with American cheeses being made without a complementary wine - it gets to be a bit harder.
