Funky Wine, Funky Cheese

On Wednesday night, I had the pleasure of joining a group of fellow Wine Circle members for a wine and cheese tasting event led by none other than our very own TA, Sarah Hoffman. We tasted a variety of whites and reds from the New World and the Old, and enjoyed a delicious sampling of cheeses from Bellwether Farms.

Out of all the pairings, one in particular really stood out to me. I was surprised to find the wine that I initially liked the least ultimately became my favorite, and all because of the amazing flavor marriage between it and the cheese. It was the third pairing Sarah led us through, a combination of a Domaine Des Carlines La Vouivre Chardonnay 2016 from Savagnin, France and a slice of 'Bellwether San Andreas', a raw sheep milk cheese inspired by the aged sheep milk cheeses of Tuscany. 

On the nose, as a fellow Wine Circler noted, this wine had some serious "stank." It was hard to put my finger on just what the smell was, but it was undoubtedly funky. It also had a cloudy appearance in the glass, which,  combined with the smell, definitely made me consider passing up on that particular round of tasting. But the wine definitely wasn't corked or turned. Was this perhaps that "barnyard-y" brettanomyces smell I had read about in our readings? Whatever it was, I assumed it was probably due to a more traditional production process than my relatively New World palate was used to. (Research after the fact did indeed confirm that the La Vouivre is naturally fermented, and goes through neither filtration nor clarification. ) So, I told myself, soldier on! 

Taking my first sip, initially all I could taste was a lingering quaff of that same rather off-putting funkiness. Eventually, though, it gave way to some really pleasing notes of pear, green apple and a bright minerality. I asked myself if this juice was worth the squeeze. Was this complex Chardonnay worth the stinkiness tradeoff ? And, even if I could get over it, was this a wine I could ever feel comfortable serving to guests at a dinner? Maybe, I thought, but this was probably not a wine that would be a repeat buy for a more casual wine consumer.

All this changed after a bite of the Bellwether cheese. The creamy mustiness of the aged sheep cheese complimented the funkiness of the wine in a way I could have never imagined. Suddenly, both wine and cheese were gone far too soon, leaving me wishing for second helpings all around. I've enjoyed many a pairing in the past, but this really illuminated how powerful a pairing can be. It truly was greater than the sum of its parts. Days later, I am still brought back to that magical marriage, and not just from a taste perspective. I think there is a significant marketing lesson to be learned here. For those "stanky" wines in need of broader distribution to a less funk-loving segment of customers, I think there is huge opportunity for them to be sold alongside complementary and similarly funky cheeses. The right pairing could be transformational for both the consumer's wine drinking experience and the producer's bottom line.