We’re pouring the 2006 Ponzo this weekend at Monte Bello. And if you’re coming up to see us, I really, really, really recommend that you consider bringing a wedge of Harlech Somerdale (a Welsh cow’s milk and horseradish cheese), because this is the wine and cheese pairing of the year. Of the decade. Of the century. This is the color I dream in now. The aroma I bathe my clothes in. The paste I brush my teeth with. I put this cheese and wine pairing behind my ears when I go out dancing. Please try this pairing. It’s so lonely on Cloud 9. Or it would be, if I had any conception of loneliness. But I don’t. Because of Ponzo and Harlech. Like Adam and Eve, Laurel and Hardy, Punch and Judy, Ralph and Norton, Brownie McGhee and Sonny Terry. Except not like any of those. Only Ponzo and Harlech now. The sky I fly in, the land I walk on. I am a big cavemen club, and the mastodon of life cowers before me. I am Ponzo and Harlech man. Please come see us. We have Ponzo. You bring Harlech. “Hey, you got your Ponzo in my Harlech!” Miracles do happen. Amen.
Posts Tagged ‘Wine and Cheese’
One Of The Most Astonishingly Excellent Wine And Cheese Pairing Experiences Ever -or- Ponzo And Harlech, BFF!
September 18, 2009PS: RE: The 06′ Santa Cruz Mountains Estate – A Story About Cheese!
April 30, 2009I just remembered, I actually had one other opportunity to taste this wine recently (the new 2006 Ridge Santa Cruz Mountains Estate), in the context of a “trade” tasting, and I happened to be able to taste it with an outstanding cheese; Cowgirl Creamery’s “Mt. Tam.” Based in Point Reyes Station, CA, Cowgirl Creamery makes some astonishingly fine cheeses, and the Mt. Tam is no exception. It’s a pasteurized cow’s milk cheese that utilizes vegetarian microbial rennet, and it is organic. (It also, by the way, won First Prize at the American Cheese Society Competition: soft-ripened category)! It’s earthy in a mushroomy sort of way, and definitely funky; but highly funky delicious! Its soft, smooth, concentrated triple-cream middle is wrapped in a rind that I can only describe as mouth-wateringly pungent; it was actually a perfect complement to the young cabernet sauvignon-based blend that is the Santa Cruz Mountains Estate right now; the youthful acidity provides a great counterbalancing cut to the warm, buttery triple-cream density, and the funky Mt. Tam Rind accents and draws out all the complex herbality currently available in the wine. I must confess, I was a bit woozy afterwards! Quite a treat …
