Land of cheese and wine

How lucky we are in this world to be offered artisanal cheeses, and occasionally a glass of wine. In the UK, it’s usually tea with our cheese but I do like a good cuppa. I went to an evening event last week – a nine-course English cheese and Bordeaux wine pairing evening, held at the Theatre of Wine and with the cheesemonger, Cheese at Turnpins in Greenwich. To say it was very lovely was an understatement.

All the wines were quite superb, and the cheeses were excellent. Our new favourite is Yoredale Wensleydale from Curlew Dairy (pictured), and we also really enjoyed the Rachel goat cheese from Whitelake Dairy. It has won a lot of awards for very good reasons. Baron Bigod made an appearance, along with Punch, the latter of which is a seasonal salt brined cheese from the same Fen Farm. Love that dairy.

The other cheeses ranged from Duckett’s Caerphilly from Westcombe Dairy, to Washbourne from Sharpham’s Dairy (sheep cheese) and Moreton from Kingstone Dairy. This last dairy also supplied Ashcombe, a Morbier-type cheese that was paired with a very fancy Chateau Rauzan-Segla 2016, Margaux red wine. The Cambridge Dairy finished off the set with Duke, a nice creamy blue cheese of the type I enjoy (also a World Cheese Award super gold). We finished with a Sauternes, a dessert wine of the type our chef friend brings around occasionally.

I have a list of the other wines, which were largely reds but surprisingly, the first Bordeaux was a white wine, a very drinkable Entre-Deux Mers. I learned a lot about the geography of the region that evening too. Chris of Turnpins did his part for the cheese segment, and he did a good job of explaining terroir and how England has this as well as France.

Overall, a great way to spend an evening, and near a UNESCO world heritage site. I think some of the attendees were also surprised to have an evening of English cheeses where there wasn’t a cheddar or Stilton to be seen. Plus, Greenwich town is now home to two cheesemongers, which means we are spoiled for choice.

You can eat your way around the world without ever leaving London, and it seems true in the British cheese world as well. Go visit your local cheesemongers and wine merchants, and see what they have.

www.theatreofwine.com, cheeseatturnpins.com

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