Wine Class #3- Pairings

...taking a wine class. this evening i took a wine class at brooklyn oenology in williamsburg, brooklyn (of course!). it was soooo much fun and interesting. one thing that i loved about boe is that everything that is sold: wine (all the grapes are grown in ny and the labels on the bottles feature brooklyn artists (sooo cool)), cheese, meat, or other snacks are made in new york, quite a bit of them even made in brooklyn (i'm totally down for supporting the n.y. economy!!) the owner of the boe was the one to lead the wine class which was on pairing wine, cheese and cured meat. she put together 5 pairings for us.

wine: 2009 boe friend riesling (seneca lake, finger lakes)

meat: finochietta, salumeria biellese (pork salami, seasoned with fennel seed and fennel pollen)

cheese: kunik (triple cream, white mold ripened from goats milk and jersey cow cream)
**best pairing**

wine: 2007 boe chardonnay (cutchogue, north fork of long island)
meat: cacciatorini, salumeria biellese (coarse ground, air cured pork sausage, seasoned with red wine and garlic)
cheese: barat, sprout creek farm (raw cow's milk--dense and dry)

wine: 2009 boe cabernet franc rose (seneca lake, finger lake)
meat: salami toscana, salumeria biellese (coarsely ground berkshire pork shoulder, seasoned with traditional tuscan spices)
cheese: frere fumant, 3 corner field farm (raw sheep's milk)

wine: 2006 boe merlot (cutchgue/ southold, north fork of long island)
meat: ciacciatorini al diavolo, salumeria biellese (seasoned with mediterranean spices)--quite spicy
cheese: eden, sprout creek farm (raw cow's milk)--stinky

**bonus**
wine: 2009 bouke perlant (mattituck/cutchogue/southold, north fork of long island)
sweet: better brittle west-african style peanut brittle-- the bomb diggity!!!!!!!! best peanut brittle ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

so of course i tried everything, and it was crazy how the wines complimented the meats and cheeses they were paired with. though i would probably never eat cheese made from sheep's milk on my own, with this cabernet franc it was so delicious!! that one was definitly a surprise.  the first pairing was the best of the four. the wine was tasty, i liked the creaminess of the cheese (tasted almost like soft cream cheese) and the meat was a great compliment. i even learned a few things: 1. spicy foods go great with sweet wines. 2. rose= red wine + white wine. 3. rose wines are made from bleeding the skins of red grapes. bleeding the skins for a small amount of time= rose. bleeding the skins for a long period of time= red. 4. dry wine= no sugar is added to the wine. there are a couple that i would definitely buy in the future but i didn't buy any wines this time. however, i did buy some treats made in new york/brooklyn ... peanut brittle, bourbon-coffee caramel corn with candied bacon popcorn, and sweet potato chips (i am salivating just telling you about them! i can't wait til tomorrow so i can eat them!!). the owner was interesting and informative causing me to thoroughly enjoy myself during this experience. this is totally something i would like to do again!

xo