Le Tastevin Wine Club - Notes on Cheeses – March 13, 2019

The cheeses and bagettes are from the Whole Foods store in Ann Arbor. They have been selected because they represent two totally different style of cheese recommended by many authors to go well with red wines. Both are slightly salty on the attack, but not on the finish.

Mimolette (Boule de Lille) - a very hard, pasteurized cow's-milk cheese from the area of Lille, France in Brittany. When consumed young it is undistinguished. However, when aged over 1 year (as is ours), it hardens, turns a deep orange color, and takes on an array of fruity and very nutty flavors with notes of butterscotch and caramel. The round, flattened ball of cheese, which some say looks like a melon, has a thick, inedible rind with a grayish, pockmarked, moon-like appearance, thanks to the work of co-evolved species of flour mite (Acarus siro). This cheese traces its origin to King Louis XIV who wanted a French cheese made to resemble Dutch Edam, the importation of which had been banned. The result is an intense cheese which is similar to aged Gouda. Mimolette reportedly was the favorite cheese of Gen. Charles DeGaulle, but he’s dead now.

Gorgonzola Dulce (raw cow’s milk) is a sweet blue cheese that originated from an eponymous town outside Milan the Lombardi region, but has since been made in various regions in northern Italy. Looking back on my notes since 2008, we have not had a Gorgonzola cheese! It has a white or pale yellow, buttery and melty paste speckled with a homogeneous distribution of blue colored veins. The rind is compact, rough, hard and grey/pinkish but is not edible. Flavors are not very assertive but sweet, mild with notes of sour cream. Igor is a company about 30 miles west of Milan, and their entry of Gorgonzola Piccante won the second step of the podium at 2018 World Championship Cheese Contest in Wisconsin.

Because we like fat, our decadent cheese of the night is…

Delice de Bourgogne is a French classic triple crème cheese made on the lines of other classics such as Brillat Savarin or Explorateur. It originated in the Burgundy region of France. The cheese is made by blending full fat cow's milk with crème fraîche to produce a rich flavor and a smooth, rich mouth texture. Unlike many simple triple crème cheeses, Delice de Bourgogne has a white, bloomy and pungent rind produced by the Penicilium candidum mold. The mushroomy aroma of thin rind blends wonderfully with rich, creamy, buttery and tangy notes of the interior.

Page last updated: March 24, 2019 (EB)