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Recap of the Le Grand Fromage: Cheese Seminar with L’Espalier’s Louis Risoli at the Nantucket Wine and Food Festival, May 2017.

What happens when you pair four cheeses and four wines at 11am on a lovely Friday morning in Nantucket?  I know, just the facts Ma’am!

The premise was, “try all four cheeses with each wine and rate the pairing on a scale of negative 2 to positive 2 with 0 being a neutral rating.”

The cheese lineup consisted of:

1.) Cremont, Goat and Cow, Vermont Creamery

2.) Moses Sleeper, Cow, Jasper Hill, Vermont

3.) Fiddlehead Tomme, Cow, Boggy Meadow, NH

4.) Fourmes D’Ambert, Cow, France

The wines served were:

1.) N.V. Gosset, Blanc de Blanc, Brut, Champagne

2.) 2015 Domaine Laroche Vaudevey Premier Cru, Chablis

3.) 2012 Tenuta Sette Cieli, Indaco, Tuscany

4.) 2015 Royal Tokaji Late Harvest, Tokaji

The Cremont from Vermont Creamery was very soft and creamy with 60% butter fat.  Moses Sleeper was very brie in consistency.  Fiddlehead Tomme was semi-hard and light golden in color.  Forums D’Ambert was a typically classic french blue.

As one would expect the Royal Tokaji paired the best with the full range of cheeses, only lacking a little in its pairing with the D’Ambert blue.  The Gosset Champagne was next, especially pleasurable with the Cremont.  As expected, the red from Tuscany finished in last place with the consensus that whites, especially sweet whites, often construct a good baseline for any cheese pairing.

All in all, a great way to start Day 3 of the Nantucket Wine and Food Festival!