Philadelphia: Vines and Veins | Dine (Restaurants)

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Vines and Veins
January 24, 2005

By: Christian Stapleton - cstapleton@aroundphilly.com

For your next party or get together, try Colston Bassett Stilton cheese. It's the only remaining traditional farmhouse to hand-ladle over the course of four days to create the product. The key here is to free your mind and try to pinpoint the sweet yet subtle flavors of dried fruit and maple syrup, along with the refined character of walnuts, tobacco, and old leather.

Colston Bassett breaks the image of Stilton as a one-dimensional, sharp, salty pile of crumbled cheese. Look for accents to show off the cheeses complexity such as Stilton and walnut tarts or Flank steak and Stilton sandwiches.

I recommend Bordeaux and Tawny Ports, absolutely. I prefer the more profound sweetness of a Sherry "Oloroso" from Spain. Let's not confuse Oloroso or Fino sherries with cream sherries or cooking sherries, as the latter are probably two of the finest examples of "travesty" in the Spanish wine industry.

Fino sherries (and manzanilla) are Spanish white wines that are meant to be drank young with light seafood dishes and tapas. During fermentation these wines are left in contact with the air and will develop a natural yeast or "flor" that will ultimately impart a distinct flavor on the end product.

Sherry Oloroso is the opposite of "fino" sherries, whereby the wine does not grow the yeast. Oloroso is one of the most common base wines for some of Spain's finest dessert wines. In most cases, producers will sweeten the wine up even further with late harvest wine made with the Pedro Ximenez grape.

As a rule, if the bottle says "Oloroso" or "Pedro Ximenez" you are probably about to experience a fairly decent dessert sherry. The honeyed qualities of a good dessert Oloroso work very well with the buttermilk qualities of a quality Stilton. The nose will remind one of raisins, toasted nuts and figs, giving way to a well-rounded flavor experience of pistachio, honey and caramel. Look for producers such as Lustau and Barbadillo.