A Seasonal Change
The shift in season brings out new tastes and textures. In comes the sweet, sharp apples from Kent, the juicy pears and wet walnuts. The memories of summer have faded almost to a distant dream.
We've been busy with Private Corporate evenings where we've journeyed from the English Suffolk countryside to the Pyrenees and onto Treviso, taking in the Loire, Burgundy and Bordeaux. Our events seem to be more and more inventive, delving into history and geography, and the pairings are not just instructive and delicious, but also help to connect the dots between land and the table.
Of course the maturing rooms are now evolving too, and my eyes have been lighting up on several cheeses this week.
Yr Afr from Wales is a small Crottin style goat cheese with a delicate mushroom and earthy taste. Its thin rind hugs the flaky textured cheese and lends itself to both crisp white wines as well as a delightful red Lagrein from Marco Donati; a hidden gem of a wine that introduces you to the full body fruitiness of the Treviso wines.
I keep going back to Lindley from Primrose Creamery in Nottingham; what a stunning
lightly washed double cream cow's milk cheese in the style of a Brillat or Chaource. This is a cheese that will be winning many awards, but I am hoping they won't become too big or expanding their dairy because retaining such a delicate yet rich cheese is not easy and requires skill from the team at our cheese rooms to keep it ripening to its perfect peak. This is a cheese that is going to feature big in our Cheese Rooms from now through the festive period.
Much as I like big strident flavours from cheese I also value the more restrained understated styles and one that caught my eye this week when I was enjoying the new season Wet Walnuts was Tomme de Yenne - a smooth textured ewes milk cheese from Savoie. You don't see many of these from this region and the rind has had its dark blooms patted back onto the cheese to form a thin natural rind. The taste is sweet and nutty and is perfect with both white wines like Roussette from Jean-Francois Quenard or the Lagrein from Donati that I was tasting at the time of sampling the cheese. The St Pierre from the Savoie is very much like a Reblochon with its rich clotted cream melting quality and lightly washed rind that is a must not to remove as it lends the flavours the earthy mushroom flavours to offset the richness of the cheese.
Blues are definitely in their element in the autumn and with the celebration of Stilton coming up in October we will be showcasing the cheese we love from Colston Bassett. However, just now I am totally enjoying Cote Hill Blue from Suffolk, It has a delicate dark mould rind and the softest cushion of creamy cheese within with flakes of blue. It has the distinctive blue taste but mingled with the creamy pate, goes so well with other cheeses on the board and if you wanted to take anything from this little insight then the cheeses I have highlighted will all work beautifully together as your cheeseboard.
Copy by Patricia Michelson
