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Anorak News | Cheesy Does It

Cheesy Does It

by | 20th, January 2006

‘“QU’IMPORTE le flacon, pourvu qu’on ait l’ivresse” (never mind the bottle, as long as you’re intoxicated”) – Alfred de Musset, a 19th-century poet.

KNOWING fine wine, being a ‘nose’ as those doyens of the drinks trade put it, is something that smacks of pretension and a deep and pervasive sense of inadequacy.

Studying the wine menu at the most happening eatery in town ingests you with all the cool of Peter Stringfellow considering which girls assembled before him will dance in his naff club. Young boys crave it; vainglorious, middle-aged men and would-be James Bonds do it.

If you’re in any decent place, let the sommelier (he’s the wine wallah) choose the wine for you. And don’t be shy about telling him how much you want to spend – this is, after all, a man who wears a silver, bowl-sized medallion for a living. He needs you to be honest with him.

Although when he asks what wine you’d like to accompany the flob-sized and textured piece of cheese you’ve selected from the board tell him to bring anything.

Bring Chateau de Battery Acid ’87 – it doesn’t matter: researchers at the University of California have discovered that whatever you drink with cheese will be drowned out. Crikey! Order the Blue Nun.

The study, carried out by Berenice Madrigal-Galan and Professor Hildegarde Heymann, sought to establish whether any cheeses complemented red wine really well.

Having given tasters a selection of wines, ranging from vin ordinaire to the good stuff, the plonk was then given a cheese prelude. And the cheese made all the wine taste pretty much the same.

Of course, we wily English already knew that all wines taste alike. For most of us wine is the unisex alternative to beer.

If you doubt it, the next time you’re in the local Indian restaurant take a look at the couples ordering wine to accompany their vindaloo curry à la mode…’



Posted: 20th, January 2006 | In: Reviews Comment | TrackBack | Permalink