More cheese please!

Me and my lovely work colleagues received a very special treat last week.....a cheese and wine tasting class. What a perfect way to end the working day!

The very knowledgable Claudia Bowman from McIntosh & Bowman gave me and the girls an insight into the wonderful world of cheese with a tasting of 6 cheeses (French and Australian), matched with 3 French wines.

We were taught about the different types of cheese from fresh to bloomy, washed to blue veined, and learnt about the variety of milks used including goat and cow's. My favourites on the tasting plate were the silky smooth, award-winning Holy Goat from Sutton Grance, VIC and the stinky, gooey Livarot from Normandy, France.

Claudia talked us through each cheese and allowed us to sample each wine to see which we thought worked with which cheese, rather than telling us which one to match with what.

I started with the Les Petites Vignettes Pinot Noir Chardonnay from Burgundy which perfectly suited the bloomy, soft cheeses. Next I cracked into the Domaine Pichot Coteau de la Biche Vouvray, which was a delightfully light and fruity wine and went perfectly with the strong, smelly cheeses, cutting through the fatty texture. I then finished with the Georges DuBoeuf Beaujolais, which isn't a favourite variety of mine, however it did work well in that its dry finish cleansed the palette after all the rich flavours.

I managed to finish off all of my cheese plate, and most of the other girls', then went home fat and full! I would highly recommend the class to anyone. Details on the website.

Cheesy goodness!

H