We all have those films in our head which are triggered unintentionally by certain keywords. Take blue cheese: shouldn’t you have sweet wine with that? The Roquefort people have told us so many times about Sauternes being the perfect match with its sheeps‘ milk sweetness and penicillium spicyness, and for obvious reasons the Sauternes producers never contradict them… Well, my cellar isn’t exactly overflowing with Sauternes, and really good Roquefort is a rarity (so much of the stuff tastes overly salty and sharp)…
No, today’s combination, once again, is a serendipity (which, as a concept and idea, I much prefer to coincidence). I felt like a glass of Riesling (big surprise) and opened the 2011 Riesling GG from the Nies’chen site in Kasel on the Ruwer, a Mosel tributary, from Kesselstatt. The Kasel wines often remind me of rhubarb – but stop! I love rhubarb, and I don’t mean to imply that they have a metallic, bitter touch or are unpleasantly sour. Rather, I’m thinking of the pink stalks‘ (which my grandmother used to make juice of) special aroma. I think the reason for that is the vineyard’s microclimate and its blue and grey Devon slate soil. Anyhow, everything was perfect as far as the content of my glass was concerned. Next move: check the cheese bag. What did I discover in there: blue cheese! Not Roquefort, but Beenleigh Blue from the Ticklemore folks in Devon/UK. But just like its big French brother, it is made from rich sheeps‘ milk and has blue veins running through it. I admit, I immediately felt scepticism raise its grey head. Dry, relatively sleek, acidity driven Riesling with blue cheese? But after the first sip with the first bite, we let the old dearie go back to her wellearned slumber: those two got along more than well because the Beenleigh’s blue veins welcomed the Riesling’s mineraly, stony aroma, and the grapes had been ripe enough to deal with the milk’s sweetness without any problem. They were the opposite of the usually very filling Roquefort-Sauternes-Combos, instead making for a lively and inspiring experience. Altogether the three of us had a great evening. Once more the conclusion has to be: it’s worth the effort to check and update your personal film repertoire as often as possible.
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