Review of Bucherondin Goat Cheese

Review of Bucherondin Goat Cheese

This past week I made a trip to the local Whole Foods about an hour from my small town. I like to treat myself every once in a while and, of the cheeses I like, goat cheese is my favorite. However, I couldn't afford much of Bucherondin. I bought about an inch and a half from the small log, but I am so glad I did. It is so good.

Bucherondin is a French pasteurized goat milk that is shaped into a log (buche means log) and has a white bark-like crinkled coating on the outside. The outer most part of the inside has a creamy texture and is quite mild and the center of the log has a rougher texture that gives this cheese the distinctive goat cheese tanginess. Bucherondin does not have as strong a taste as most goat cheeses, but it is stronger than a goat gouda. It has no sharp aroma and is not very salty. A pleasant goat cheese, even for those who prefer cow's milk cheeses.

This goat cheese went well with a 20-year old mellow port, but at $18.99 per pound, I can't afford much, not even for a splurge. Therefore, I will eat it sparingly and savor every bite.

The Heck with the Diet

The Heck with the Diet

Today was a busy day. I helped a friend of mine, Taylor Michaels, move his wine to a new wine cellar. By the end of the day I was so tired that it didn't take much to convince me to share dinner and a good wine.

For several weeks, I have been on the Nutrisystem diet in order to lose ten pounds. Today was an exception. I don't even want to think about tomorrow. Today is still fresh in my mind as I sip my 20-year Sandeman port.

The wine I had with my salmon dinner was a 2010 Clos Vougeot from the Chateau de la Tour. It was a great wine and was rated a 91-94 on JJ Buckley Wines. By the wine, JJ Buckley has a good selection of wines. However, the 2010 was a little young to be drinking. It was a little on the tannic side. It will be better, I'm sure, several years from now. However, any wine was great to me after not drinking any for the last couple of weeks.

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.

Review of Snofrisk Goat Cheese

Review of Snofrisk Cheese

Let me say first that I am a big fan of goat cheese. And Snofrisk is one of my favorites.

Snofrisk is a creamy goat cheese from Norway. Actually it is 80 percent goat’s milk and 20 percent cow’s cream. Needless to say, that 20 percent cow’s cream makes this a creamy cheese. When it comes to the taste, however, it is definitely a goat cheese. I don’t know how many times I have bought a mixture of goat’s and cow’s milk cheeses and the taste of the goat cheese has been watered down. Mild cheeses, that is. A goat Gouda to me is not a true goat cheese. The texture and taste is more like a cow’s cheese. There is no mistaking Snofrisk for such. The taste is strong and the texture, while creamy, is that of a goat cheese.

I usually eat Snofrisk spread on a hard French baguette or a good crisp cracker, followed by an equally good port, usually a 10-year Offley or a 20-year Cockburn port. While my port is not the cheapest, this goat cheese is inexpensive.

Snofrisk is readily available at my local Whole Life Food store.

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.