Our Wedding Anniversary

Melissa and I recently had a small but decadent gourmet celebration in honor of our second wedding anniversary (March 9). We like to have a bottle of wine from the vineyard where we were married (Ascension Wine Estate, Matakana, New Zealand) in honor of the special day, and so we bring back a few every time we visit Melissa's family. Currently we have "The Ascent" Reserve Chardonnay (2006) on hand, so we put together a small starter dish and a (considerably larger) cheese plate designed to complement the wine.

To start, Melissa made a simple but elegant shrimp dish. For each plate, a half dozen large peeled shrimp were sauteed in a white wine, butter and garlic sauce and served with a fresh salsa of chopped red capsicum, avocado, red onion, tomato and cilantro with a dash of lime juice. As you can see, it made a visually stunning presentation, and the classic shrimp, garlic and salsa flavor combination pairs nicely with a dry, crisp and fruity wine like The Ascent Chardonnay.

We love a simple cheese plate with a nice wine. You can find an endless supply of advice on wine and cheese pairings in books and on the internet, but of course what it really comes down to is just what you think tastes good together. Cheese can generally mask both the bad and the good characteristics of wine, so this is a terrible way to judge the intrinsic qualities of a wine. But just like any wine and food pairing, when you hit upon a really good combination the synergy can be a fantastically rewarding experience. We went to the Whole Foods cheese counter and chose a few cheeses based on three criteria: what we know we like, what looks (and smells) interesting, and what we think might pair nicely with a wine we already know quite well. The result of this thoroughly subjective exercise was the following collection of cheeses (clockwise from the blue):

Fourme d'Ambert -- a semi-hard, mild French blue cheese made from raw cow's milk

Robiola due Latte -- a soft-ripened brie from northern Italy made from cow and sheep's milk

Taleggio -- a semi-soft and mild tasting (but strong smelling) Italian cow's milk cheese

Hirtenkase Reserve -- a hard cow's milk cheese from southern Germany that resembles aged gouda

I think for both of us the Taleggio proved to be a very pleasant new discovery. It's a rich, creamy feel with an earthy flavor and a surprisingly fruity edge to it. That said, the Hirtenkase was the star of the evening as far as wine and cheese pairings go. Apparently what starts as a semi-hard cheese, kind of like a reggiano or aged gouda, actually softens with age. We had a relatively young one at 5 months, and we both would have put money on it to be aged gouda tasting it blind. Can't quite put a finger on what made the pairing so spectacular, but Melissa and I both looked around almost in confusion at how much the wine and cheese flavors both developed for the better when experienced together. A spot of fig jam added even more nutty, fruity goodness to the mix.

Happy anniversary to us...