Le Tastevin Wine Club - Notes on Cheeses – April 22, 2026

The cheeses were sourced from The Cheese Lady, and the epis and baguettes from Give a Thanks bakery, both in Rochester, Michigan. The demi epi bagette style, shaped like a wheat stalk (pain d'épis), is both beautiful and practical - perfect for tearing apart and sharing.

I made a trong effort to find French cheeses from Burgundy but the current environment makes that about impossible. Hence, back to the old standby Taleggio (a repeat of a great cheese).

Taleggio (cow's milk)A semi-soft, w shed-rind cow's-milk cheese from Lombardy, Taleggio is one of Italy's oldest soft cheeses, with references going back to Roman times. Its signature move is the contrast: a pungent, meaty aroma from the rind, but a mild, fruity, buttery interior that melts on the palate.
o Texture Supple, yielding, creamy but not runny
o Rind: Thin, sticky, pink-orange from brine washing
o Flavor: utter, tangy cream, stone fruit, slight mushroom
o Aroma: tronger than the taste-classic washed-rind funk
o Aging:~ 0-50 days
It's the Italian cousin to Epoisses (which was my first choice of cheese, which maybe can be found at Dolcetto (Farmington Hills), Mongers (Berkley), or Plum Market.
Royaal (no typo) Grand Cru is a 12-month aged, award-winning Dutch Gouda from Beemster Polder, North Holland produced by CONO Kaasmakers, a 125-year-old farmer-owned ooperative. It is known for its deep nuttiness, caramel-butterscotch sweetness, and fine ripening crystals. This cheese was recently crowned the 2026 World Champion Cheese - I brought stickers!!
o Milk: Pasteurized cow's milk
o Texture: firm, smooth, with crystallization from long aging
o Flavor: rich, robust, nutty, sweet notes of butterscotch, caramel, toasted almonds
o Aroma: combination of classic aged Gouda (caramelized, nutty) and Alpine-style cheeses toasty, buttery, slightly savory). Break it - don't cut it (worth doing).
o Rind: Natural, brushed, rustic. It's not waxed, not plastic-coated, not lacquered
o Aging: 1 months (natural aging on wooden planks)

Page last updated: May 12, 2026 (EB)

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