Pour yourself a glass of B.C. grape and add a little Can-con to your cheese plate this long weekend.
That’s the idea behind a trio of wine and cheese pairings, unveiled recently at Artisan Wine Shop at the Lonsdale Quay Market.
The collaboration is a partnership between Mission Hill Five Vineyards and Dairy Farmers of Canada.
“We’re like the CBC of wine and food,” Mission Hill’s director of wine education Ingo Grady says of the collaboration that matches cheeses made from 100 per cent Canadian milk with wines from the Mission Hill Family Estate in B.C.’s Okanagan Valley.
How best to prep cheese for serving?
“Take it out and let it temper — covered so it doesn’t dry out — maybe half an hour before serving,” advises Quebec-raised, Okanagan-based cheese specialist David Beaudoin.
Here are their pairings:
Pinot noir and brie: Beaudoin likes Natural Pastures Comox Brie, from Vancouver Island. Brie’s buttery texture gives this earthy wine a long, elegant finish.
Chardonnay and wash-rind cheese: The wine’s notes of spice and light oak are complementary to the cheese’s woodsy flavours and nutty aroma. Beaudoin picks Fromagerie La Station de Compton’s Alfred Le Fermier from Quebec.
Cabernet merlot and cheddar: This is a rich and full-bodied pairing. The cheese’s firm texture softens under the wine’s robust tannins. Beaudoin likes Cows Creamery Extra Old Cheddar, from P.E.I., with the Five Vineyards cabernet merlot’s vivid notes of wild sage, sweet grass and vanilla.
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Add locally grown goodness to your B.C. Day brunch menu. Small-batch jams are easy to make. This one incorporates delicious B.C. blueberries, in season now through September. See more recipes at allyouneedischeese.ca/summerjams.
Blueberry Jam with Canadian Aged Cheddar
Ingredients
3 cups B.C. blueberries
1/2 cup maple syrup
1 small sprig of fresh rosemary
1 oz. Canadian aged cheddar per person
Directions
In a saucepan, mix together all the ingredients except the cheese. Bring to a boil and cook on medium-high heat for 15 to 20 minutes.
Transfer jam to a warm homemade or store-bought crumpet topped with aged cheddar.
