Review of Rond du Cher Cheese

Review of Rond du Cher Cheese

While perusing the goat cheese at Whole Foods this week, I ran across Rond du Cher, a goat cheese made especially for Whole Foods. I’m surprised that I had not seen this cheese before since I am constantly looking for different kinds of goat cheeses, my favorite kind of cheese.

This is a hard round goat cheese whose rind is coated with ash. It is hard and smooth, not crumbly, with an ashen coated rind. When I first opened the 4-1/4 ounce package, the smell reminded me of the goat cheese I had smelled on the barge trips along the canals of France. It brought back very fond memories. Rond du Cher had a pungent smell with a nutty sour taste, but still not as strong as the non-pasteurized goat cheeses I had in France. And, even the rind was edible. My husband said that it smelled like buttermilk. I don’t know what confidence to place in that appraisal, since my husband abhors goat cheese and buttermilk.

I had this cheese with a crusty French baguette -- perfect. However, the 20-year Sandeman port was a little too mild for the sharp taste of the cheese. A vintage or any other ruby port might have been a better choice.

I’m glad I ran across this cheese, but, at $10 for 4-1/4 ounces, it’s a little too expensive for my budget. Maybe I had to also pay for the little wooden crate in which it was packaged.

Review of Vincent Cheese

Vincent cheese is imported from Holland and I purchased it at my local supermarket in a town of about ten thousand.

The package says it is a “unique, fully ripened, full flavor” cheese. This is absolutely true although it is not as full of flavor as the cow’s milk cheeses that have been aged for many months. It is strong in flavor and is a grainy, crumbly cow’s cheese with a little bit of a sour taste, much like a goat cheese.

I don’t normally like cow’s milk cheeses, but this one is my favorites. It is both good with fruit such as pears or peaches, but I mainly have it with baguettes and port. If you are serving it with other cheeses, I would recommend that it be served toward the end of the cow’s milk cheeses that have not been aged or at the beginning of the goat cheeses or after any goat goudas.

The Drunken Goat Cheese Review

The Drunken Goat Cheese Review

As the label says, The Drunken Goat is a semi-soft goat cheese bathed in red wine and is a product of Spain. I couldn’t tell that much about the wine, but it is a semi-soft goat cheese that has a mild bitter flavor that goes well with sweet nutty port or fruit. The best port to have with this cheese is the milder 20-year-old ports. Anything else might overwhelm the taste of the cheese.

The Drunken Goad has a very smooth texture like goat goudas, only this cheese is not as strong as goudas. It does not have the crumbly texture or strong taste of regular goat cheeses, either. To me, this cheese doesn’t really taste like a goat cheese nor does it taste like a cow’s milk cheese. It is somewhere in between the two.

If this cheese is being served with a combination of other cheeses, it would best be served near the beginning of the cheeses because of its smooth light taste.

Review of Cockburn's 20-Year-Old Port

Review of Cockburn’s 20-Year-Old Port

Cockburn’s 20-Year-Old port is a port of special distinction. It is sweet alcoholic and nutty flavored port. It goes especially well with cheese and nuts and sweet desserts and crusty bread. It is a light amber in color and is difficult to obtain. In a small city of 150,000, I could not find it anywhere. I had to special order it and then only in 500 ml bottles and only finding a few sellers.

It is the favorite of my female sleuth Rachel Christie, who likes to drink port and look out upon lights and twinkling stars at night.

Sandeman 20-Year Port

Sandeman 20-Year Port

What’s for desert? Pie? Cake? How about port, cheese and some crusty bread? Maybe also a few grapes or cherries? Or a few cashews? Or even almonds? Or chocolate? Or -- all the above. Tres tasty. That’s what I did today after dinner, port, cheese and crusty bread.

Ports come in several flavors, so to speak. The basic port is ruby or red. This is usually sweet with a fruity flavor. Not bad. Six Grapes is a good, reasonably priced, example, less than ten dollars a bottle. A bit pricier, but no better, in my opinion, is vintage port. The port vintner is the one who says whether or not it is vintage. Like trusting the used car dealer to tell you it’s a good car. Yeah, right. You’re too smart for that.

Next is the 10-year aged tawny ports at around twenty-five dollars a bottle. Some are excellent with quite nutty flavors. Then, we have the 20-year aged tawny ports. At around fifty dollars a bottle, these are a little milder a little more balanced, a little less nutty, a little more civilized.

Like most 20-year ports, Sandeman is light amber in color. It has a light nutty mild flavor with less alcoholic taste than most 20-year ports and is more balanced. It goes well with mild goat cheese and stronger Vincent cheeses. It also goes well with caramel and chocolate desserts and nuts.

This is one of my favorite ports. I highly recommended it.

By the way, good port is spelled on the label, Porto. Don’t buy any port that is spelled port unless you have received a great recommendation.

Is Whole Foods the Same as Wholesome Foods?

Is Whole Foods the Same as Wholesome Foods?

Yesterday, we made a pilgrimage to Winston-Salem for supplies not available in our small town. The trip was also to return an installation kit we bought from Sears for the new clothes dryer. We usually use the trip as an excuse to go to a different restaurant than those available in our small town.

At Sears, the salesman punched more keys on his keyboard than we could count, all the while saying "Your order was cancelled." He seemed to be implying that, as the order was cancelled, he couldn't refund our money for buying it. I countered with "If you'll refund the money for the cancelled washer and dryer, I'll be glad to keep the installation kit." Finally, he noticed that it was a three-piece kit with a cord and not a two-piece kit without the cord. I had mentioned that the cord had three prongs instead of the code-mandated four several times. Anyway, he finally got it all figured out and gave us the money. Then, we went to the Olive Garden and had a nice lunch. The waiter was a little verbose, but quite efficient. The food wasn't verbose, but was good anyway.

When we were finished with the main shopping area, we headed for the Whole Foods store several miles away. Some years ago, they had by far the best selection of cheese around, but it had been going downhill for the last two years. We first noticed it when a six-month aged Brie from France had been replaced by a fresh Brie from fifty miles away.

This time I was looking for some SnoFrisk goat cheese which I like and which I previously reviewed. At first, I thought I'd gotten lucky. Half a dozen of the easily recognized, triangular packages were on the refrigerated shelf. I grabbed the first and checked the 'use by' date printed on the package. Six days ago. How terrible! But there were five others. No problem. One after one, I checked the dates and they were all to be consumed six days ago.

From there, I went to the cheese counter somewhat depressed. The lady behind the counter immediately greeted me and asked if I needed any help. I pointed out that the SnoFrisk was out of date. "Oh no. It can't be. I just took those out of a new box." I assured her that the cheese was indeed past, not the 'sell by' date, but the 'use by' date.

I had frequently gotten the advice that if cheese were bad, or fungused over, that all one needed to do was scrape off the fungus. I had heard that many times and believed it until my husband ate some Irish Cheddar which had been scraped off and then got sick for a day.

Then the lady behind the counter said, "I'll remove it from the shelves." But, she didn't. She just stood there and asked if I’d like some goat cheese from California. That cheese was within three days of expiration. I proceeded to look at other cheeses and found another half a dozen within two or three days of their 'use by' date. I don't eat enough cheese to eat six ounces in two or three days. So, I passed those by. After I had left the cheese counter, I looked back and she was still standing there.

I always thought Whole Foods was short for Wholesome Foods. Now, I don't think so.

It's a terrible shame when you have the money and are ready to spend it, but the product either isn't there or the people selling it don't care enough to do their jobs. I see it more and more. A great number of people are out of work but those working don't care enough about their jobs to do them properly.

Review of Warre's 1997 Vintage Porto

Review of Warre's 1997 Vintage Porto

This vintage port has been sitting in my cellar for the last five years. When I finally decided to drink it today, I had to sieve it. The cork fell to pieces. And a lot of sediment was in the bottom. However, when I took my first sip, it was wonderful.

I normally like tawny ports, with 20-year Cockburn port being my favorite. However, this port was excellent. It had a fruity flavor and was sweet, but not too sweet. It went well with the cheeses I decided for after dinner. I had a selection of goat and cow cheeses. It went as well with the goat as it did with the milder cow cheeses. The port was at its peak. It was good that it was the last bottle in the cellar. This port would have gone just as well with after dinner chocolates.

All in all, this is an excellent vintage port.

Graham's 10 Year Tawny Port

Graham's 10 Year Tawny Port

This is a nutty but alcoholic port. It goes well with cheese, nuts and chocolate. It would be better if the alcoholic taste were less. Some would say it's not balanced.

In spite of the above, I enjoyed this port. I particularly liked the nutty taste. It's not a typical wine to be consumed with dinner. It is a dessert wine and is, therefore, sweet.

The port was bottled in 2010.