Hunter Valley Shines With Wine

Last weekend saw the public tasting for Gold medal winners at the Hunter Valley wine show... yeah I know it was hard work! As you would expect at a Hunter Valley wine show Shiraz and Semillion varieties showed through to win pretty much all of the medals and trophies.

While I love a classic Hunter Semillon with a delicate goats cheese, I have always struggled to find any Australian Shiraz to be the perfect match with cheese. Now before everyone stops reading because you think I have gone mad; a great cheese match is seamless blending with the ability to bring flavours and aromas forward that you haven't perceived before and most importantly no clashes of flavours.

Bold ripe and spicy fruit with tannic mouth feel best describes Australian Shiraz and will make delicate goats cheese taste like the 'Billy' goat has been in the wrong stall and for hard cheese the tannins will just make them excessively tangy.

The development of wine styles like Shiraz Viognier, soften the acid and make the style much more approachable. A sensational medal winner from the Hunter show was the Margan 2007 Shiraz Mourvedre which is beautifully balanced to match, the sheep cheese Ossau Iraty, Alpine Appenzell or a traditional cloth-wrapped cheddar.

Just like they use to make...almost

The days of buying cheddar cheese in a cloth bound wheel in Australia almost seem a distant memory. Pyengana Cheese Factory on the east coast of Tasmania have nearly single-handedly kept the faith alive producing an old school cheese that has flavour without that sharpness that pretenders think is vintage cheddar.

If you are a serious foodie and can store cheese correctly, you will be well rewarded if you can hang onto this world class Cheddar for another 6 months. The flavours will be extraordinary.

Available from Australia on a Plate

http://www.aoap.com.au/Content_Common/pr-Semi-Hard-Cheese_Pyengana-Clothbound-Cheddar.seo

Cheesemaker on the TV...again

This was a very fun day. Basically I sat around and drank wine all day. Mike Whitney, the host of the Sydney Weekender program is a former Australian cricketer which will always make my day.

Why Are They So Mean To Me?

Goats get a bad wrap in my opinion. When you care for goats correctly, they are social and loyal and produce sweet, creamy milk with no gamey taints and this sets the platform for great cheese. Sèvre & Belle from the French Atlantic coast love their goats and are rewarded with 'Le Chevrot' being a marvellously yeasty soft goats style. The cheese has that distinct 'brainy' creamy yellow rind that is typical of geotricum moulds, which slowly softens the rind without making it go runny. Perfect dessert or aperitif.



Available from Simon Johnson stores in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth
http://www.simonjohnson.com/store/stores.aspx

Cheesemaking Demonstration (Part 2)

I had the pleasure of doing a cheesemaking demonstration on national TV at the beginning of the week on Channel 9's 'Mornings With Kerri-Anne'.

This post hasn't received copyright approval so I will leave it up as long as I am permitted

Cheesemaking Demonstration of TV (Part 1)

I had the pleasure of doing a cheesemaking demonstration on national TV at the beginning of the week on Channel 9's 'Mornings With Kerri-Anne'.

This post hasn't received copyright approval so I will leave it up as long as I am permitted by Channel 9.

Stracchino like Mama made

This soft cooking cheese is actually the base curd for Talleggio and Gorgonzolla, so if you buy the same brand of all three Italian styles of cheese, they should fundamentally taste the same. While not a common cheese in Australia Stracchino when melted will make any pasta rich and creamy. Binnorie Dairy in the Hunter Valley has recently introduced Stracchino to its mix of cheeses.





Available at Everleigh Markets, Sydney and Newcastle Farmers Markets

Recipe suggestions can be found at http://www.australianregionalfoodguide.com.au/index.html


NOTE: The author is the maker of this cheese.