On June 23, 2004, Amy and I enjoyed a fabulous dinner at Union Restaurant in Seattle. Everything about the food, service and atmosphere was outstanding, but what stood out most of all was the wine and cheese pairing experience we had during our first course. To start with, I was amazed to find a Turley Zinfandel on the wine list (I believe it was the 2002 Juvenile or Old Vines -- the bottle has the additional label denoting the Paso Robles earthquake in December 2003, so maybe it was the 2003 vintage). Then, when the cheese plate arrived, one of the cheeses, paired with the wine, created the most amazing wine and cheese taste sensation I've ever experienced. All of them were good but there was one that really stood out. Unfortunately, I've forgotten which of these cheeses was the one. Fortunately, however, I'd snapped a photo of the cheese plate and menu (see below).
Last night, we participated in a "progressive dinner" with three other couples, and we offered to do a wine and cheese course. After over two years on the waiting list for the Turley mailing list, I recently started getting shipments of Turley Zinfandel, including the 2004 Juvenile and Old Vines, so I decided to take advantage of this opportunity to attempt to recreate that ultimate wine and cheese pairing experience from June 2004.
I picked up [what I thought were] the five cheeses at Whole Foods:
- Blue Valdeon 2 Milk
- Pecorino Romano
- Goat Le Chevrot
- Pont L'eveque
- Pierre Robert
It took two trips -- four of the five were in the Redmond store, the last was in Bellevue -- and still, two are approximations (Pecorino Romano rather than Pecorino Fiore Sardo D.O.P., and Goat Le Chevrot rather than Mini Chevrot), and one was downright wrong (Blue Valdeon rather than Queso Azul de Valderon). Unfortunately, I forgot to snap a photo of the cheeses when they were laid out on the tray; fortunately, I remembered to snap a photo of the cheeses before I'd prepared them.
The eight of us each tried each of the cheeses with each of the wines, after starting out with a bottle of 2001 Hendry Ranch Zinfandel while people will still arriving. No one cheese turned out to be the favorite for a majority of everyone tasting. At least one person voted for each cheese, except for the Pecorino Romano, as a favorite, with a critical mass around the Valdeon and Pierre Robert. As for the wines, the Turley Old Vines was the favorite, followed closely by the Turley Juvenile. Mary, with whom I'd split a case of the Hendry three years ago, noted that the Hendry seemed to have mellowed considerably since we first had it, so it really wasn't a fair comparison with two young Turleys (I really only opened that one because it was the only other Zin I had close at hand as people were coming over).
My personal goal was to rediscover the one cheese that so exquisitely complemented the Turley. What I found was that they all complemented the Turley very well. Of course, I like Turley by itself, and like nearly all of the cheeses on their own, too. I suppose the standout was that I did not enjoy the Pont L'Eveque separately, but pairing with either of the Turleys really brought out a new taste that I did enjoy. I suspect, however, that the Queso Azur de Valderon -- the only cheese for which I did not have even an approximation -- may be the one I so fondly remember from the original experience ... and so I will try another experiment, once I can track down the missing cheese.
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