Pinot Noir & Cheese

Ange and Taylor talk about a couple of great Pinot Noir wines and match them to cheese. For more like this visit: www.legourmet.tv Distributed by Tubemogul.

Ange: Okay, so we're here with Taylor at Reds in the Financial District, Down Town Toronto talking about Pinot Noir and cheese. Welcome Taylor. Taylor: Thank you. Ange: So we've got two great Pinot Noirs here. One from Ontario, one from California and some beautiful local cheeses and you're going to give us a run down here. Taylor: Absolutely. Now this is a Tawse 2007 Pinot Noir. Now Tawse Winery is a really great local winery. This one is a 100% organic and they use a lot of biodynamic wine making principles, just meaning that biodynamics is like being the king of organics. Like you are actually just using what exists within your vineyard. For example, Tawse has actually brought in some goats that would walk around and kind of do the weeding in the vineyards and then, little bit later on I think these goats end up on some of the Niagara's tasty menus. Ange: Well, exactly and I know that Paul Pender, the winemaker down there, he is really great at what he does but he also likes really using the environment to his advantage and the biodynamic part is really important to what he does and they harvest a lot according to the moon and rely on astrological science. So it's a really cool science down there but -- and with the California, La Crema. Yeah. Taylor: Yes, so La Crema resonates with us both because local winemaker, Elizabeth Grant-Douglas was actually the assistant winemaker now at La Crema and took Brock University of Wine Making. So she came from here and we were just in California and we had a great lunch, where we had some lamb and where we had some La Crema Pinot Noir and that was actually a great experience. This is the Carneros Pinot Noir. Carneros is really interesting because it actually is in and encompasses both Napa and Sonoma. So little bit more a Napa valley than Sonoma but you have got cool currents coming in there, and cooling it down right to Napa valleys, so you are ripening these Pinot Noirs a little further inland than you normally would be. So Carneros is really interesting for that. Ange: Well that's a nice thing too because California is very warm growing region but there are cool climate areas, very small pockets of cool climate Chardonnay and Pinot Noir does very well, and the La Crema here. And I mean Pinot Noir obviously is a great match with cheese, what cheeses do we have here going on as matches. Taylor: Okay, well these are both Ontario cheeses. They are actually both sheep's milk cheeses as well. So we have here the Eweda Cru, alright. And this is the Pecorino from Monforte Dairy. Monforte Dairy is actually a cheese area that's just outside Stratford. So really an interesting cheese there as well and when you are having a local red wine, it's great to have it with local cheese. You can go local, it's almost a great way to use no-brainier wine pairing because I mean, much like Italy where you have to buy a wine from a certain place and you have got food from that certain place, you know you have got pairing. I think Ontario is really reaching towards that and that these cheeses are inspiring Ontario wines, and that these wines are inspiring Ontario cheeses. Ange: Absolutely, and then you get just the great match in your mouth. So Pinot Noir is a great match with cheese. You are going to get that little, well very light to medium-bodied red wine but also matching well with sort of medium to firm cheeses and just giving yourself a great overall palette. So next time, you are at the store, you want some red wine with your cheese, Pinot Noir and some firm cheeses go very well but like Taylor just said, a key note is to remember local and local. If you can't remember anything else, remember that there is a local flair given to your local food and that the match should be great. Alright we should dig in and try some Pinot Noir and cheeses. Taylor: Yeah, absolutely. Ange: Thanks Taylor. Taylor: My pleasure.