Gewürztraminer and Cheese

I like having mini wine and cheese parties. I put on my monocle and top-hat and make lots of fnah-fnah noises. Being snobby is fun. For wine I picked out two gewürztraminers – a German and a New York – because I like comparing and contrasting local wine to wine from other types of places. Also because I have a Rewards card for the wine store and I feel like I’m accomplishing something when I buy lots of wine.

Oh, and know what? I don’t know anything about wine tasting or cheese tasting or anything. I’m trying to learn but there’s no instruction manual so I just make things up. In general I tend to like dry reds and strong blues, but I’m trying to branch out.

2006 Treleaven Gewürztraminer – New York

I was not a fan of this at first but I think it’s because it was chilled for too long. Pale, pale color. Citrusy nose. The taste was bubbly and didn’t have a lot to it. As it warmed up in the glass, it got a little sweeter and had more of an apple flavor.

2006 Valckenberg Gewürztraminer – Germany

I thought this was the better of the two. Sweet and pleasant. I actually thought it had a little bit of a chocolate taste to it. More of a yellowish color. I can’t remember what it smelled like though. Whoops. I would definitely pick this up again. I’m guessing it tasted better because gewürztraminer is a German word. Right?!

Blue Shropshire

Mmm. I love blue cheese. Mmm. This one was salty and creamy and not at all harsh. Blues sometimes have that sharp edge to them, and this one was super-mild. It went great with the Valckenberg gewürztraminer. Definitely a tasty blue.

There was another cheese but it’ll have to wait because I don’t remember the name of it right now. I think maybe it was montagnou but I’ll have to wait until I go home to make certain.

-Bret