Oh what a beautiful morning, oh what a beautiful day!
Being in the hospitality game, I work weekends. That’s a given. Which makes Mondays my Fridays. Which can be strange, and often troubling; what it usually means is that, at my tiredest point, all my fresh-faced and well-rested colleagues are peppering me with e-mails, requests, and questions I largely lack the energy to field. And I have to get everything done before my “weekend.” Suffice it to say I work a lot of late Mondays.
But every once in a while, Monday comes wrapped in a smile. Today was one of those days.
My outlook calendar for this morning? “10:30am-11:00am: Cheese & Wine Tasting.” Nice.
And it gets better; the purpose of the tasting? To find suitable cheeses to pair with the 1984 and 1978 Monte Bellos. Nice.
In the continuing spirit of my Haiku Wine Tasting With Paul Draper (who was very happily in attendance at the tasting!), I offer the following 17-syllable synopses of these extraordinary wines:
1984 Ridge Vineyards Monte Bello
Cranberry, currant,
umami and root. Snowflake
tannins percolate!
1978 Ridge Vineyards Monte Bello
Bacon at campfire,
clean, wet, mineral. Figs and
cheeses for dessert!
And as to the cheeses, here is what was tasted:
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- Monte Bellos!
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- Cowgirl Creamery, “Wagon Wheel”
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- Bellwether Farms, “Carmody”
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- Bellwether Farms, “Pepato”
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- Cypress Grove, “Lambchopper”
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- Redwood Hill Farms, “Camellia”
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- Cowgirl Creamery, “Mt. Tam”
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- Farmstead Cheese Company, “Point Reyes Blue”
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- Cowgirl Creamery, “Red Hawk”
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- Cypress Grove, “Humboldt Fog”
So, if this was YOUR Monday morning,, which cheeses would YOU pair?
