Munster is another monastery cheese; indeed the name Munster is derived from monastery. From Alsace in eastern France, it has an assertive flavour, rich and sweetly herby. Very similar to Epoisses.
One might assume that Stinking Bishop is also a monastery cheese but, in fact, it is a recent invention of Charles Martell who makes the cheese in western Gloucestershire. The name derives from an ancient variety of pear. The pear juice is fermented into perry, which is then used to wash the rind of the cheese. The result is similar to Epoisses.
Tornegus is another recent invention, by the late James Aldridge, and is a young Caerphilly cheese, which is washed in a mixture of brine, white wine and herbs. It has a full aroma and quite a powerful flavour. The texture softens from that of Caerphilly but nonetheless remains firmer than most washed rind cheeses.
Less powerful in flavour is Reblochon, made in the alpine Savoie region of eastern France, from the milk of Tarentaise cows and possessing the most marvellous soft texture reminiscent of melting chocolate. The flavour is quite delicate and herby.
Ardrahan from western Ireland has a full, earthy flavour, above all savoury and nutty.
Mont des Cats is a monastery cheese produced by Trappiste monks at the Abbey of Bailleul. It has a smooth texture and a delightful, mild flavour.
Durrus is made by Jeffa Gill just outside Bantry in western Ireland and is notable for its superb texture, not unlike Reblochon, and a delightful, herby yet fruity flavour. At its best it is a stunning cheese.
Gubbeen is another of County Cork’s treasures. Made by Giana Ferguson, it has a slightly firmer texture than many of these cheeses, and a buttery flavour.
St Nectaire is made in the heart of the beautiful Auvergne region of central France. With its mushroomy aroma and unctuous texture it is stunning when eaten young from a good farmhouse producer. Unfortunately there are too many unimpressive factory versions.
Taleggio, at its best, is a real stunner from northern Italy. With its smooth, meltin-the-mouth texture, it has a fruity almost aromatic flavour.
Pinot Gris Vendange Tardive 1997: Kuentz-Bas
Jean Berthaut recommends a good Chablis to enjoy with his Epoisses. The Chablis vineyards are, after all, only some 25 miles away and certainly Chablis cuts through the creaminess of Epoisses to very good effect. Another possibility is a red Burgundy such as Savigny-Les-Beaune. The mayors of Savigny-Les-Beaune and Epoisses came together in August 1962 and solemnly declared the ‘marriage’ of their respective cheese and wine, recording in beautiful manuscript that they should for ever after remain inseparable on the tables of France.
But to me, Epoisses all too easily overwhelms any Burgundy, red or white. It was Lyonel Lecomte who first got me thinking about an Alsace Pinot Gris Vendange Tardive as the perfect foil for this powerful, pungent cheese. And indeed it works – very well. The wine I found ideal was from Maison Kuentz-Bas and their vineyards 8 km south of Colmar.
In 1975, Rachel (not then my wife but soon to be) and I arrived at Kuentz-Bas a week early for the harvest, which we were due to pick. But no matter, we were given a charming little room above some outbuildings and told to ‘faire le tourisme’. And what a charming region it is. Kuentz-Bas trace their origins back to 1795 when Joseph Kuentz founded the business. In 1918 the Bas family married into the business, bringing with them their own vineyards, and the name of the business was changed to Kuentz-Bas to reflect the new partnership, which lasted until 2001 when there was a parting of the ways and the firm was taken over. Christian Bas remains, as ever, a firm advocate of the wines which bear his name. They are to be found in Husseren-Les-Châteaux, nestled in the foothills of the Vosges Mountains, overlooking the wide plain of the Rhine to the Black Forest, on the far side of the river, in Germany. We drove out most days in our MGB to visit Colmar, Strasbourg and many of the small villages; or just to drive through the vineyards, which reach an altitude of nearly 400 metres.
Then it was into the full swing of the harvest. The weather was far from perfect and the harvest was difficult. Not one to be remembered, except by us vendangeurs, setting out each morning often in thick, cool, damp fog; by the time we reached the vineyards we were above the fog and could look down on it in the valley below, with just the occasional church spire rising through it. A pig was killed to feed us and every evening we all ate together in convivial company. It was a great time – very friendly and sociable.
Recently Christian Bas was kind enough to send me a bottle of his Pinot Gris Cuvée Caroline Vendange Tardive 1997. It was superb. Produced from grapes which were over-ripe when picked and with concentrated sugar levels, it is a wine of substance and intensity but retains a very appealing freshness. Bright straw yellow in colour, with appealing flashes of green, and a fine aromatic bouquet, with pineappley fruit and hints of bacon. It is sufficiently rich and full-bodied to stand up to the Epoisses and, although I would guess the acidity is fairly low, it is there in sufficient quantity to cut through the creaminess of the cheese. The flavour is delicately smoky with hints of apricot and fresh pineapple fruit. The touch of sweetness in the wine balances the salt of the cheese to great effect.
Christian Bas recalls “In 1997, I remember that we had splendid botrytis on the berries due to alternating sunshine and humidity”. The grapes for this wine were picked on 17th November, a full month after the rest of the harvest. It is a risky practice, because if the weather turns bad, as it did when we were picking in 1975, the whole crop can be lost. But in 1997 the weather remained dry until early November resulting in sound, fully ripe grapes which were dried rather than being affected by ‘pourriture noble’ or noble rot. Nonetheless they had some of the highest sugar levels ever recorded. 1997 is widely regarded as one of the finest vintages in Alsace, comparable to the legendary 1949’s and 1959’s. Christian expects the Pinot Gris to continue to develop, not reaching its peak until some time around 2015.
Alsace wines are immensely appealing but you need to find the right occasion and the right food to go with them. Epoisses is certainly one successful partner but do not stop there. Other Alsace wines, such as Gewurztraminer Selection des Grains Noble, partner blue cheeses to perfection and many Alsace wines need no food and are superb wines to enjoy simply on their own.
Fat content of cheeses
People sometimes think that a cheese like Epoisses is going to be full of fat. They are put off by some labels which say 45% fat or even 70% fat. But these labels refer to the fat as a percentage of the dry matter in the cheese. Those with a high moisture content will actually have less fat than drier cheeses. The true percentage of the cheese’s weight represented by fat is generally about 20% for soft cheeses and 40% for hard cheeses. The reason cheese is labelled in this, apparently misleading, way is that the moisture content diminishes with age and, if the fat were expressed as a percentage of the total weight, the figure on the label would need to be changed as the cheese matured.
These days we see more ‘low fat’ cheeses on sale. Sometimes these labels are misleading because who determines what is ‘low fat’? Of equal concern is the fact that, if they are genuinely low fat, many of the flavour giving proteins will also have been removed. This results in a cheese with little flavour and little body, which is less satisfying than a full-flavoured, full fat cheese and so one naturally eats more of it.
If you need to watch your fat intake, but still want to enjoy the pleasures of cheese, my advice is to buy a full-flavoured cheese and, because it is so satisfying, you will almost certainly eat less of it and your fat intake will in fact be lower.
Research by two notable French scientists suggests that only a limited amount of the fatty acids in cheese is actually absorbed into the body; most is passed straight with the calcium, which the body cannot absorb at such high levels as are present in cheese, especially unpasteurised cheeses.
THE QUINTESSENTIAL BRITISH CHEESE
Montgomery’s Cheddar
From the reputed site of Camelot, a hill fort near South Cadbury, one c
an just make out the cows grazing the rich silty-clay loam pastures on the Montgomery’s Manor Farm at North Cadbury. The black and white Friesians graze contentedly, seemingly unaware of James and Archie Montgomery’s intense interest in their diet – an interest dictated by the fact that what the cows eat has a direct influence on the milk they produce and thus the cheese. As a cheesemonger I visited Jamie every couple of months to select which days’ cheeses we would buy, and the variation from one day to the next never ceased to amaze me. Part of the variation is due to the starter culture they use but the diet of the cows is also critical. On one of my visits I tasted three days’ production, which had some distinctly odd flavours which I didn’t like. “This is unlike your usual cheese” I said to Jamie. “Mmm” he said, “Those three days the spring ran dry and we had to ration the cows drinking. We thought we’d compensated for this in making the cheese, but obviously we didn’t!”
Archie & Jamie also believe in strip grazing, where the cows eat all the grass in a small area of a field before being allowed to graze the rest of the field. The idea is that, if they were allowed access to the whole field, they would eat just the lush top of the grass first, before getting down to the higher fibre base of the grass; cheese produced from the top of the grass would lack body and that produced from the bottom of the grass would lack protein.
Jamie is equally focused on the cheesemaking process, and particularly the reasons for variation in the cheeses. He keeps detailed notes of each day’s production and refers to these when tasting the cheeses 6, 9, 12 or 15 months later. From this, he builds up a picture of what produces a successful cheese and what might not be so good. Now and then, he might make a minor adjustment to current practice if he feels that it will result in more superb cheeses or fewer bad ones. He says there was too much variation in the past, and now he hopes to produce superb cheeses more consistently. Overall, the cheddar-making process at Montgomery’s has changed little over the years and the cheese today is probably little different from the cheese produced in past centuries, just more consistently good.
Jamie has identified a number of factors that are responsible for the quality of his cheese and they are:
The region in which it is made, the county of Somerset in South West England, has a climate and geology which provides lush pastures, enabling the cows to produce milk which is perfect for cheddar cheese. Jamie only uses the milk provided by the farm’s own cows and, by deciding himself on their grazing and diet, he can influence the quality and character of the milk; so that he gets just the flavours he is looking for. When it comes to the cheesemaking, he uses raw milk to preserve all the natural flavours of the milk and increase the complexity of his cheese. Jamie is equally exacting about the starter culture he uses, insisting on the traditional live bacteria provided by ‘pint starters’. He uses seven different cultures, one for each day of the week, and each imparts a slightly different flavour to the cheese. Not for Jamie the current vogue of vegetarian rennet. He insists on using animal rennet because he believes it is more holistic and gives a more rounded flavour.
Cheddaring, which consists of cutting the curd into blocks and repeatedly piling the blocks on top of one another so that the texture changes from crumbly lumps to pliable, elastic slabs, is done by hand to give the superb friable texture that is a characteristic of his cheese.
Much cheddar is vacuum packed in plastic but Jamie sticks to the traditional cloth binding which enables the cheese to breathe during its long, slow maturation of up to 18 months which allows time for the potential flavours in the cheese to develop.
In association with Slow Food, the international organisation which helps preserve and promote the enjoyment and importance of food, and together with two other local cheesemakers, he has devised a protocol incorporating the above procedures, which is now followed by all three farms. As a result, their cheese is entitled to the designation ‘Artisan Somerset Cheddar’. The protocol does not attempt to standardise the production of the three farms, and the cheeses of each are recognisably different. However, following the principles of the protocol sets the cheeses above the quality of the mass of inferior cheeses which carry, yet have debased, the cheddar name and also above even the other farmhouse cheesemakers in the region.
Montgomery’s Cheddar is full-flavoured and slow-maturing. Although the potential of each cheese is apparent at about 6 or 7 months of age when I would first taste them, it is not until 12 months of age that the flavour really starts to develop. In my view, the best cheeses should be kept until at least 18 months of age. By this age the cheese has developed a unique depth and complexity of flavour. The flavour is strong but, unlike some lesser cheddars, not overpowering. The intricate blend of flavours – sweet fruit (peaches mainly), nuts, grass, herbs, caramel and a whole host more – creates a truly exceptional cheese. The depth of flavour lasts and lasts in the mouth. The texture, too, is superb. Not the rather oily, moist texture of most mass-produced cheddars but a dry, almost grainy, texture which encourages nibbling rather than devouring. If you’re looking for a cheddar which blasts your taste buds, Montgomery is not for you. If you’re looking for a cheddar with sublime complexity, look no further – you have found it.
Other hard farmhouse cheeses
Other great makers of cheddar are Keen’s, which I find is slightly more steely and less fruity than Montgomery’s, and Westcombe, which is beginning to show great style, more creamy than either Keen’s or Montgomery’s.
Amongst my other favourite hard English cheeses are Double Gloucester, especially that produced by Jonathan Crump at Wick Court, overlooking a bend in the Severn, some 10 miles south east of Gloucester. To approach Wick Court is like stepping back to the 1950’s. A delightfully ramshackle farmyard is home to pigs, sheep and chickens as well as the Gloucester cows which produce the milk for the cheese. Jonathan is dedicated to all of them. Gloucester cows are now rare but time was when all Gloucester cheese was made from their milk. The resulting cheese has a golden colour, with a smoother, silkier texture than Cheddar. The flavour is full yet soft and rounded, but with an attractive piquancy.
Jonathan also produces a Single Gloucester (made from partly skimmed milk whereas the double uses full cream milk) but I actually prefer the Single Gloucester made by Charles Martell a few miles away. It has a lovely, fresh, spring-like quality.
There are a number of cheddar-style cheeses made on farms across the country, but generally sold under the name of the farm rather than under the cheddar name which, in my view, should only apply to cheeses made in the south west of England. Amongst the best are Daylesford Organic, until recently made by Joe Schneider in Gloucestershire. Joe is one of the best cheesemakers I know and he has produced some stunning cheeses full of flavour, yet with an enticing delicacy and lightness.
Another excellent example is Lincolnshire Poacher, made since 1992 with great success by Simon Read in Lincolnshire.
Classic Claret for a classic cheese: Château La Garde
While I suppose I must concede that the natural partner to Cheddar is cider – after all, the apples are, or were, grown in vast quantities in orchards alongside the pastures where the cows graze – I must confess to never having found a cider which I really liked. At lunchtime I enjoy a good real ale, such as Wadworth’s 6X, with Montgomery’s cheddar but for more refined pleasure I look towards Bordeaux.
The wines of Bordeaux are, I suppose, those to which many winemakers and wine drinkers aspire. The region has the reputation of producing the world’s best wines and, even now, with good wine being produced all over the place, few would argue that truly exceptional wines come from Bordeaux. Even lower down the scale, there are some remarkably good wines produced in this area of western France; wines known for centuries to British customers as Claret.
Within the Bordeaux region are sub-regions; Médoc, Graves, St Emilion, Pomerol, Sauternes and Barsac, together with other lesser areas. Within these sub regions are Villages and within the Villages are the Châteaux. It is
important to know your way around all these, in order to choose wines with which one will be pleased – not always easy.
The grape varieties, by contrast are easy; red wines are made from blends of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, with smaller quantities of Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. White wines are made from Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon. Sauternes and Barsac produce sweet wines; the other areas generally produce dry wines. However it is worth checking before buying, as it is not always obvious from the label.
The Médoc is generally regarded as the top sub region, mainly because it houses the largest number of the great Châteaux. But St Emilion and Pomerol also produce top class wines and, of course, there are the great sweet wines of Sauternes and Barsac. So it is really only Graves that historically might have been considered the poor relation but, even here, one cannot discount such great wines as Château Haut Brion. Over the last decade or so, the quality level at a number of Châteaux has improved markedly, putting the area back up with the Médoc, with which it shares a similar gravely soil.
Because the wines of Bordeaux are complex and subtle, some people now pass them over in favour of more immediately appealing wines from the New World. This is a mistake. The best Bordeaux wines are incomparable, and even those lower down the scale offer nuances of flavour and interest which wines produced in more climatically friendly areas seldom achieve.
Top post-war vintages are 2005, 2000, 1990, 1982, 1961 and 1945. Top Villages are Pauillac, Margaux, St Julien and St Estephe. Top Châteaux are Latour, Lafite, Mouton-Rothschild, Margaux, Haut Brion, Yquem, Pétrus – but there are plenty of others. Incidentally, it is always worth looking out for the second wine of great Châteaux. They are generally good and a fraction of the price of the first wine.
The Cheesemonger's Tales Page 11