Some wine with our cheese!

And lentil soup. One reason we decided to become connoisseurs of soup instead of salsa is because our palates are not very developed. This would hold true in the world of wine.

As wine-novices we seek help from the knowledgeable (the wine guy at Whole Foods), so our wine choice to go with our selection of cheeses was directed to a Washington State winery, Hogue. It was a late harvest 2011 Reisling. (quite sweet, ’cause that’s what we like)

Late Harvest Riesling Columbia Valley, Washington —- Eastern Washington’s low annual rainfall and cool nights during the growing season make it the perfect area for producing consistently great late harvest wines. The Hogue Cellars has developed a style of late harvest Riesling that is crisp yet moderately sweet. The wine was produced from select Riesling vineyards where the fruit can ripen to the required 24°+ Brix. At that level of ripeness, the wine develops its trademark tangerine/apricot flavor. Zesty aromas of orange, lemon-lime and peach are followed by flavors of tangerine, apricot and a trace of mineral. Serve with poached pears, apple pie or a cheese platter of Stilton, smoked Gouda and fresh goat cheese. It’s also excellent served well chilled as an aperitif.

We went to our local Whole Foods store together. This in an of itself was unique – it’s a very rare occurrence when both of us shop at a grocery store. It was a full experience: wine, lentil soup and cheese.

We chose 5 small cheeses to try. Two stood out: the GranQueso with a hint of cinamon, and the Sartori Raspberry BellaVitano – As the cheese guy suggested, we bought a few olives and some quince paste to add to the cheese experience. The lentil soup was delicious, and we dressed it up with a few crumbles of the parmesan type cheese, GranQueso.

We relaxed at home in our sun-room, and indulged. Sweet wine in glasses from my Grandmother’s engagement in 1919. Yummy food. Great conversation. No whining. 😉

(And nice guy too – the hubby I mean… He ate all the emmenthal ’cause that’s his favorite cheese.)

All together, it was quite a decadent feast!

Have you ever done a wine & cheese date? What’s your favorite wine?

Thankful to link with:

Happy Wives Club

3 Comments

Bonnie Anderson on September 17, 2013 at 2:36 pm

I love this! The wine glasses are exquisite. Great idea.
Robyn Gibson on September 17, 2013 at 7:19 pm

Hey there, I’ve been absent due to a fried computer. Just getting things back in order.

Great post, I love your encouragement and have missed it!
Hannah on September 19, 2013 at 5:13 pm

I’d love to do a wine and cheese date. We definitely like Beringer California White Zinfandel, which is relatively inexpensive per bottle, but we’ve also found a local [inexpensive] strawberry and blackberry wine [and honestly I can’t remember the brand name]. My husband and I both prefer fruity and sweeter flavored wines, but I recently have been enjoying Chardonnay.