WINES & CHEESES with Liz Wheadon

ESK VALLEY

Our monthly Channel Wines and Cheeses columnist is Liz Wheadon, General Manager of Glengarry Wines. Liz is also a passionate foodie. Weekends are often spent first planning the event and then entertaining friends and family with magnificent food and wine experiences.

Producing fine wines for many-a-year

I have been guilty of over-looking some of the fine reds produced here in little old New Zealand. We seem to have had an overwhelming passion lately for everything European and seem to have missed what’s on our back door.
I have just finished a very satisfying glass of the 2009 Esk Valley Merlot Cabernet Sauvignon Malbec
What have I been missing? What fine reds have I passed over for a little Rioja or St Estephe. I can confess to you that this Esk Valley red is superb. It has been a number of years that I ‘moved’ up to European Reds. How short-sighted and sad have I been!
This wine offers everything in the glass. Rich, warm, flavoursome, no greenness, youthful but elegant. Fantastic on the palate, with great length. Inviting, charming... oh and great value.
Now Esk Valley has been producing fine wines for many-a-year, under the guidance of Gordon Russell. Gordon was for a number of years under the tutelage of Grant Edmonds (or the Guru as we like to call him). They have established an exemplary reputation internationally for their wines over the last 20 years. They have more medals than the Waiouru War Museum.
The wine has been tasted and blended from the Gimblett Gravels area of Hawkes Bay. This special parcel of land was created by deposits over many thousands of years of silt and sand. Free draining with underlying gravel. Hopeless for farming and much else, but has found it’s calling as an outstanding grape growing area. It also gets extremely hot, again good for Red wine production, and the stones tend to retain more heat overnight. So look for wine grown in the Gimblett Gravels.I’m very keen to try the top Esk Valley wine again called ‘The Terraces’. A truly iconic NZ wine that really does deserve all of the hype.
You will hear winemakers talking a lot about producing a wine in the Bordeaux style (this being a Cabernet Merlot blend). Our relative youth as a wine making nation (New Zealand – winemaking as we know it today started only about 1980, France – about 200 BC) has us to compare our wares with the French Merlot, Cabernet blends. This is good, but our wines have their own distinctive characters, flavours, quirks, delights, joy, that no one else can duplicate. Our winemakers have realised that they need to take advantage of the uniqueness of our climate, soil and technique in producing wine for our local and international market.
Let’s revel in our uniqueness! So start by trying this little gem from Esk Valley!

The Perfect Cheeseboard

So how do you set about preparing the perfect cheese board? Ideally a cheese board should have three – four different cheeses on it. In saying that, there’s also nothing wrong with one very nicely aged piece of cheese on a beautiful plate with the right accompaniments. But given this article is about a cheeseboard, not a piece of cheese, let’s stick with three – four different cheeses. I find any more than this is too much choice for your guest. The different types of cheeses should get a look in on your cheese board, positioned in order, from fresh to blue – moving clock wise around your plate from 12 o’clock.

Fresh Cheeses: These are young cheeses that are essentially the curd, once it’s been separated from the whey. Cheeses like feta (a preserved fresh cheese) and buffalo mozzarella (a stretched curd fresh cheese) can both feature on a cheese board and should be in the 12’clock position, but are not a must have in this occasion as this group of cheeses tend to have better uses.

Natural rind: This is a great section of cheeses, these are fresh young cheeses that have developed a natural rind, and my favourite is Chabichou - a goat’s cheese from the Loire Valley region in France. It has a wonderful texture when fully ripened and makes a great start to the cheese board. We also have a delicious range of Chevre in stock that would also be a good start.

White rind: Think Camembert or Brie. Both are white rind cheeses, when ripe, lovely and creamy in the centre. Either makes an ideal second cheese on your cheese board. A favourite at the moment is the Camembert du Bocage - the unpasteurized version is just superb.

Washed rind: These are my favorite section of cheese, but I would leave them off your cheese board unless you have a true group of cheese lovers for dinner; the washing of the rind as they age, does produce cheeses that are pungent and strong smelling – some are often quite mild inside.

Hard Cheeses: A must on any cheese board is a good quality hard cheese, one often overlooked is Grana Padano – a hard Italian Parmesan.

Blue cheeses: These come in many guises, from strong to mild, hard to soft and everything in between. On a cheese board I like to use Gorgonzola Dulce, it has a distinctive blue character with a creamy sweet finish that will see it a favourite with the most adamant non blue cheese eater.

So there you have it – how to put a cheese board together – don’t forget the accompaniments – I’d pop those in the centre of the plate – muscatels, quince paste and perhaps a little chutney.
The team at Didas can assist you with selecting the perfect cheese for your next dinner party, you can also pre order a cheese board to be prepared.