A grown up pairing that’s as classic as it is decadent, Erin pick this week has us positively drooling!
It’s been a while since we’ve truly sung the praises of a classic, delicious, decadent French triple cream and Fromager D’Affinois Excellence is here to fill that void. D’Affinois is like the best butter you could ever imagine, amplified by ten. Super rich, creamy, and as the name would have you believe – excellent. Milky sweetness, salty, and ever so slight touch of earthy notes coat the palate and draw you right in for another bite. D’Affinois is a step up in the decadence factor from brie, given that most brie is typically a double cream cheese. Essentially this means that for a triple cream, the cheesemaker adds an extra cream to the process bumping the dry content fat percentage from 60-75% (standard for double creams) to over 75%. Don’t let the numbers scare you! Young, soft-ripened cheeses still have quite a bit of water content, which doesn’t contribute to the fat percentage – so essentially, subtract the water content and then 75% of the dry content that is left over is fat. See, not so scary after all & and in my extensive research (read: snacking), this is the golden ratio of soft cheeses. I’ve also concluded that there’s really nothing better than a D’Affinois Dinner – grab a baguette or cheese vehicle of your choosing, toss together a salad of crispy greens with a zesty quick vinaigrette and there you go, a well-balanced-enough meal.
While we’re munching on a meal that reminds us how great it is to be a grown up, we’re sipping a bottle of bubbles to really hammer that idea home. This week, Schödl’s Pet Naturel is our bottle of choice for a refreshing counterpart to our dear D’Affinois. The Schödl winery is run by three siblings, Mathias, Viktoria, and Leonhard in the Eastern Austrian region of Weinviertel, the country’s largest winegrowing region. They’ve spent time traveling to biodynamic vineyards and farms all over the world and are bringing all the knowledge they’ve gained back to their home base with a goal of producing uncompromising, organic, & natural wines. They’re proud to be stewards of the soil in the area and are dedicated to keep it thriving for generations to come – along with grapes they grow herbs, wild grasses, and chamomile in order to keep their dirt diverse & pollinators happy.
The Pet Nat itself is a delightfully fun combo of Austrian heavy hitters: Grüner Vetliner, Weissburgunder, and both red & white Riesling. The siblings describe it as the ultimate refresher – lively and herbal and a pleasure to drink. The nose is chock full of elegant citruses like lime and candied orange along with delicate pears. On the palate you get the Schödl’s true goal of pure expressions of their grape; juicy and scrumptious with an easy minerality to ground you. The bubbles themselves play a perfect partner to our D’Affinois, cutting through all that richness to refresh your palate. This is complemented even further by the zippy citrus, while managing to not feel stripping. All in all, we’re working with the ideal appetizer pair. And, like I said, no one is judging if the pre-dinner snack turns into the meal itself. That’s freedom, baby!
written by Erin Hepinstall, Cheese Manager
