What a weekend – the Markthalle Neun was full of cheese, cheese makers, cheesemongers, cheese lovers – in short, you! For a whole, long day, from 11 til 7pm, local, regional, national, international material was presented, sniffed, felt, tasted, discussed, sold, savored…
This fourth edition of Cheese Berlin was a very special happening – which Heinzelcheese celebrated with four (!) very special Heinzelcheesetalks.
We started on Saturday, October 31, with an extensive tasting of rare traditional cheeses from Turkey (yes – there was real Tulum!) and some of the very best wines, brought to us in person by my wonderful friends from Istanbul. Gamze Ineceli had brought a suitcase full of cheese, Meltem Coskun sent wines from Kayra winery and Marla Kayacik (together with wonderwoman Pamela Dorsch) took on the organization.
You loved the tongue cheese, had fun with the Turcoman Tassel and understood how exceptional those three different Tulum cheeses and the Konya Küflü blue one… You shared my love for Narince, Öküzgözü and Bogazkere – and some of you even returned for another go on Sunday.
During the Cheese itself, there were three slightly shorter tastings (many thanks to Paolo and his team who made us welcome at the Vineria Gallina, across the street!).
At noon, we welcomed Christos Tzilios and Benis and Aliki Levis who presented some excellent wines and cheeses from Greece.
At 2pm, our guest was Jan Dirk van de Voort, the amazing Dutch cow whisperer, who brought us his Remeker as well as a selection of French natural wines and told us about the fundamental changes at this farm, which now centers entirely on the cows. We could have listened for much longer… And finally, at 4pm, there was another chance to meet our friends from Turkey, on the cheese plate, in the glass and in person.
All this ever so slightly transcended the usual procedures, and I’d like to thank absolutely everybody involved for making it happen, including the Cheesemakers‘ Get Together on Saturday night – cheesio!
