Huet tasting need help with ordering flights. Also, Name that cheese.

WINE TALK
1

We’re going to be hosting a tasting focused on Loire Chenin Blanc. The first few flights will be to compare Huet’s Vouvrays across vineyard & vintage, and also to see what age can do to/for a wine

I’m not sure how to arrange these and could use some help figuring it out. The first group of flights will contain:
2014 - Le Mont Sec, Clos du Bourg Sec, Le Haut-Lieu Sec
2015 - Le Haut-Lieu Sec, Clos du Bourg Demi Sec
1998 - Le Haut-Lieu Sec
2010 - Clos du Bourg Sec

I’m also considering comparing Chidaine’s Clos Baudoin 2009 & 2014 vs my last bottle of 1990 Poniatowski from Moore Brothers. (I have a few left from Garagiste, but like many many of Garagiste’s supposedly “perfect provenance” wines, I’ve had a horrendous rate of flawed bottles from them and won’t rely on those. The ones from Moore Bros have almost all been great.)

Also, we’ll have the wines blind in flights, with snacks - cheese, crackers, nuts - and then non-blind with the meal. What I was hoping to do is see how some type of cheese will be a good match for one wine but not another, and vice versa.

So my other question is: for each wine on my list above what general type of cheese might be best served as a snack with it? (I assume if I can come up with the good matches, the not good ones will show themselves as we mix & match.)

Thanks in advance for any help.

2

While I couldn’t recommend a cheese, I think choosing one or two and using them for all the wines will allow the differences to be a bit more obvious. If each wine has its own cheese there are fewer constants.

3

Good point. Thanks. (We weren’t necessarily going to have 1 for 1, but less is more sounds about right.)

4

On cheese, I think an ashed goat like a Selles-sur-Cher or a valençay would be lovely

5

Definitely go with various kinds of goat cheese. Btw, smoked whitefish is a magical match with Vouvray.

As for tasting order, I’d do older to younger, drier and and more subtle to bigger and sweeter, so my order would be as follows:

1998 - Le Haut-Lieu Sec
2010 - Clos du Bourg Sec
2014 - Le Haut-Lieu Sec
2014 - Le Mont Sec
2014 - Clos du Bourg Sec
2015 - Le Haut-Lieu Sec
2015 - Clos du Bourg Demi-Sec

You’ll probably want to double decant the wines. They’ll benefit from air.

6

Oh man, Shelsky’s just closed.

7

You close to the Brooklyn Costco? They usually have the whole ones there.

8

Based on about six months of pairing research for a project that will eventually see the light of day, I’d suggest Pelardon, Valençay, Crottin de Chavignol, Chaource, Cantal, or (if you can find it) 2.5-4 year Comté, or equivalent cheeses from elsewhere (as I realize many of those aren’t available domestically, and the goats are out of season). Avoid any other bloomy rind cheeses and all washed rinds. If you were working with some residual sugar Fourme d’Ambert is surprisingly good, but it’s too much for sec.

9

I think that young Brillat-Savarin and Etorki would work well too.

10

Surprisingly (at least to me), Brillat-Savarin isn’t a good match. The wine highlights the butyric acid in the cheese, and that’s not a thing one wants highlighted.