Central Bottle and Provision is a busy place. A wine shop with a unique and well chosen inventory of wines from small producers, delicious take-away food and a great cheese wall and case, it has an ambitious calendar of events – chef demos, meet- and- greets with winemakers, a weekly wine bar (or the occasional beer bar) and a staff of congenial folks who actually appear to enjoy their jobs. There is also a seasonal cheese series consisting of four classes – spring, summer, fall and winter. The series is moderated by cheese master Robert Aguilera and David Seaton, the cheesemonger of Central Bottle. I had missed the spring class – I was at The Wine Riot - but I signed up early for the summer session which was devoted entirely to goat cheese.
Our tasting plates were composed of four cheeses arranged by intensity – leading off with the mildest cheese and finishing with the most intense. The effect, as Robert explained, was to build upon the flavors of the preceding cheeses and create a totality of taste. The cheeses ranged from those produced at the start of spring to one that was a mere month old. These were paired with two wines, both from the Loire – home of great goat cheeses – and a French blonde ale. Leading off with a discussion about the wiley ways of goats, Robert covered a wide range of topics during the tasting - the history of cheese, appropriate condiments to serve with cheese, storage of cheese, production of cheese, types of cheese rinds and their formation, the role of medieval monks in cheese development and suggestions for wine and cheese pairings. Truly a crash course in all things cheese. David further embellished Robert’s comments and provided a counterpoint in the discussion about pairings. For those who came thinking that goat cheese is that cryovaced log in the supermarket cheese case, the evening was a revelation.
By order of intensity, the cheeses tasted were -
- Lake’s Edge, Salisbury VT., aged 30 days, evocative of the French classic Morbier with a streak of ash.
- Autor, Quatretonda, Spain – aged 90 days, coagulated with vegetable rennet resulting in a somewhat bitter but pleasant finish.
- Twig Farm Square, West Cornwall , Vt., aged 80 days, a tomme-style cheese formed by wrapping the cheese in cloth.
- Mont St. Francis, Greenville, IN, aged 60+ days, from the godmother of American artisanal cheeses, Judy Schad.
These cheeses were paired with -
- Domaine Augis Valencay Loire 2009 – a zippy blend of Sauvignon Blanc and, giving the wine a litte flesh, Chardonnay.
- Lieu-Dit-Cocagne Rose Vendomois Loire 2009 – the palest rose made from Pineau d’Aunis, spice and minerals.
- La Choulette “Sans Culotte” France - a blond ale redolent of apricots and malt and a fitting homage to the recently observed Bastille Day.
