Cheese and Wine Pairing with Baetje Bloomsdale, Goat's Milk Style

Today,I'll be your cheese and wine pairing guide! A couple weeks ago Miss Cheesemonger and I got together to make paneer (you might remember her gorgeous pictures of the fluffy pressed cheese or the recipe link to her blog). Well, we had so much fun we decided to team up again.

Baetje's Bloomsdale: Goat Cheese and Wine Pairing

We decided that Vero would match Bloomsdale to whatever snack the cheese's heart desires and since I'm a wine girl, I would be your booze lady. Cool thing is, this pairing also pays it forward.

Baetje Bloomsdale

Since Baetje's Bloomsdale is a classic example of a Loire Valley goat cheese, today's cheese and wine pairing can also be applied to most Loire Valley friends and many soft, rinded goat cheeses, and the same goes for Miss Cheesemonger's picks.

Now for Bloomsdale.

Bloomsdale's maker, Veronica Baetje, makes cheese in a Mennonite community in Sainte Genevieve County, Missouri. As the NY Times reported when they covered the creamery after a recent World Cheese Award win, Baetje is an inspired creamery. Bible quotes grace her labels and the Baetje considers themselves devoted followers. Yet she's very modern and not afraid to stray from the course. From driving her used Porsche through Mennonite sedan-country to making time-consuming goat cheese that could topple over a Valency in a cheese competition, Veronica is not afraid of doing things her own way.

Bloomsdale getting ready for its cheese and wine pairing party

Her cheese shows this. That little number above is made in the traditional Loire Valley goat cheese style. Meaning it's a lactic-acid set cheese covered in a thin layer of vegetable ash over which a thin white layer of Penicillium Candidum mold grows.

Which brings us to goat cheese and wine pairing. There are two things to mind with this little Bloomsdale when pouring a glass of juice.

1.When pairing soft- in this case lemony and sometimes lightly grassy- flavors with wine, keep it simple. Cheesemakers work hard to preserve those lovely subtle notes in their cheese and you don't want to pick a wine that overwhelms them. Don't go too big.

2. Bloomy rinds are fussy, and their lists of annoyances are as long as Kanye West's. They dislike a lot of oak- doesn't let them stay the star of the show. They don't like tons of red fruit- gets in the way of the PC mold. And when left in a room together bloomy rinds and tannins dry the mouth and have been known to get into a slapping fight (it's embarrassing, really).

Cheese and wine pairing, on.

Goat Cheese and Wine Pairing Picks: Bloomsdale

The type of wine to focus on for a cheese like Bloomdsale is a wine like Chasselas from the Savoie region of France, pictured in the third photo above. Though un-oaked, it's lightly creamy mouthfeel mimics soft Bloomsdale. Sur lie-style Muscadets (made with the Melon de Bourgogne grape) and light sparkling cremants would have a similar effect.

Another way you can go is go citrusy and zippy. Not surprising because it's from the same region as any Loire Valley cheese, Sauvignon Blancs make a perfect goat cheese and wine pairing. You can extend this to a lean Chablis too. But stay away from uber-fruity wines. They will overwhelm.

If you need to go red for your cheese and wine pairing, try a Beaujolais or Cabernet Franc. Most are zippy and have low oak and tannins (see consideration #2).

I've left a glass on the table for you.

Head on over to Miss Cheesemonger's blog to see the second part!