There’s a saying in the wine business: "Buy on apples; sell on cheese." The theory is that the acidity in apples cleanses the palate and makes it sensitive to even the most minor faults. This can be a useful technique for a careful wine buyer in selecting the very best wines.

Cheese, on the other hand, tends to mellow the flavors in a wine. When paired with the right cheese, almost any wine can be subtly enhanced and show nuances that it might not have had on its own. A useful thing for that same wine buyer to keep in mind when presenting those wines to the discerning buying public.

The Seattle Wine Society’s April program will feature a back-to-basics theme of wine and cheese. All wines poured will be Silver Medal winners from our 2004 Wine & Food Festival. Varietals will include Chardonnay for our entrance wine, plus an assortment of Gewürztramniner, Pinot Gris, Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon. These will be paired with an extensive selection of unique, artisan cheeses. Bread, crackers and almonds will be available as palate cleansers.

So bring two glasses and join us on April 13 for that perennial favorite—an evening of wine and cheese.

Our Silver Medal Wines

Entrance Wine: Chardonnay
Apex Cellars
Barnard Griffin
Columbia Crest Grand Estates
Two Mountain Winery

Attendees will get to sample two different pours of each wine varietal, paired with a variety of chesses, at each of these flights:

First wine: Gewürztraminer or Pinot Gris
Sumac Ridge Estate, Gewürztraminer
Tyee Wine Cellars, Gewürztraminer
Tinhorn Creek Vineyards, Pinot Gris
Willamette Valley Vineyards, Pinot Gris

Second Wine: Syrah
Apex Cellars, Outlook Vineyard
Bridgman Cellars
Chandler Reach Vineyards
Columbia Crest Estate Reserve
L’Ecole No. 41, Seven Hills Vineyard
Silvan Ridge, Del Rio Vineyard

Third Wine: Cabernet Sauvignon
Canoe Ridge Vineyard
Caterina Winery, Walla Walla Valley
Chateau Ste. Michelle, Cold Creek Vineyard
Columbia Crest Grand Estates
Sagelands Vineyard, Four Corners Vineyard

Our Speakers Say "Cheese"
To guide us through the evening’s wines and cheeses, the Society is pleased to welcome three speakers to our April program. On hand will be local food and wine consultant Alison Leber, an educator and specialist in food and wine pairings. The founder of Brie and Bordeaux, Alison more recently assisted Beecher’s in opening their cheesery. Also joining us for the evening will be Kurt Dammeier, the founder and owner of Beecher’s Handmade Cheese, the only artisanal cheese producer in the Seattle area. And we welcome Connie Bennett of DeLaurenti, a culinary destination in the Pike Place Market for over 57 years, boasting 250 kinds of cheeses and hundreds of wines. We look forward to their insight on pairing wines and cheeses and their discussion about how these cheeses are made.

Both companies are located in the Pike Place Market. Beecher’s can be found at 1600 Pike Place. DeLaurenti is at First and Pike.

~ The Cheeses ~

From DeLaurenti:

Taleggio — Italian cow’s milk cheese, with a fragrance of mushroom;
Vella Dry Jack — from California, a hard, nutty-tasting cow’s milk cheese, rubbed with cocoa;
Valdeon — Spanish cow’s milk blue cheese, wrapped in sycamore leaves. Creamy and nutty with a hint of caramel.
Pave de Jadis — Fresh goat cheese from France dusted with vegetable ash. Soft and cakey with a slight tang or citrus note.

From Beecher’s Handmade Cheese:

Beecher’s Flagship — semi-hard cow’s milk cheese aged one year. Robust and nutty;
Beecher’s No Woman — semi-hard cow’s milk cheese, flavored with Jamaican spices. Earthy with a bit of brown sugar and cloves;
Juniper Grove’s Tumalo Tomme — from Oregon, a raw-milk, alpine-style cheese. Mild and fruity;
Willamette Valley Cheese’s Brindisi Fontina — also from Oregon. Firm textured and buttery;
Bingham Hill Sheepish Blue — from Colorado, a raw milk, blue-veined cheese. Smooth and rich.

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