Port pairing with Cheese
Posted: Wed Jul 18, 2007 6:05 pm
California Wine and Food Magazine
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American Restaurants Pairing Premium Ports and Artisan Cheese
March 26, 2007
Growth in sales and interest for premium Ports (Reserve, Late Bottled Vintage, Aged Tawny and Vintage bottlings) and artisan cheese in the U.S. have exploded in recent years as Americans refine their tastes for wine, food, and pairing them together.
“Today the origin of food and wine is becoming an increasingly important factor for the American consumer, with the rise of the ‘farm fresh, farm local’ ideal,” said cheese expert Raymond Hook. “Attendance at farmers markets is on the rise in major metropolitan areas and wine consumers are looking to specific regions that consistently produce quality wines, such as Portugal.”
Reserve Port is the category growth leader. It accounts for 30 percent of U.S. imports, which rose nearly 20% in 2006. Aged Tawnies showed the strongest growth during that same period, with shipments up 26 percent. Overall, Port imports were up nearly 13% in 2006 to total almost 470,000 cases.
Growth in demand for artisan cheese is also on the rise, with an increasing number of artisan producers and specialty cheeses being introduced annually. According to the California Milk Advisory Board, two-thirds of California’s more than 50 cheesemakers comprise the specialty, artisan and farmstead category. The number of artisan entries in The American Cheese Society’s Annual Competition increased 26% in 2006 to total 940.“The growth in artisan American cheese results from the emergence of the cheese course as part of fine dining in metropolitan restaurants,” said Phillip Tong, director and professor at California Polytechnic State University’s Dairy Products Technology Center. “Additionally, the increase of travel abroad educates and exposes Americans to different cultures and availability of specialty cheese for consumers in the marketplace.”
Dow’s Port, producer of true Port from Portugal for over two centuries, took the idea of a cheese course one step further in February 2006 by announcing a pairing partnership with two award-winning cheese makers, Point Reyes Farmstead Cheese Company of Point Reyes, California and Sweet Grass Dairy of Thomasville, Georgia. The trio is offering the Dow’s Cheese Course as a unique and delicious dessert alternative, and suggests Point Reyes “Original Blue,” aged six months, with its Late Bottled Vintage and Vintage Ports. The Sweet Grass “Green Hill,” a rich double cream cheese with a white bloomy rind that softens as it ages, is paired with the Dow’s Aged Tawny Ports, which are offered in 10, 20, 30 and 40 year bottlings.
“The Dow’s Cheese Course was developed to simplify the experience of pairing and serving Port with artisan cheese as consumption in both categories continues to rise throughout the U.S. Dow’s, Point Reyes and Sweet Grass have enjoyed excellent sales growth in the past year, with the former two up 28% and the latter up 38%, respectively,” said Rupert Symington, Joint Managing Director for the Oporto, Portugal-based Symington Family Estates which owns Dow’s.
Dow's has been producing top Ports in Portugal’s Douro Valley for over two centuries. One of the first companies to establish its own vineyards, Dow's acquired Senhora da Ribeira, located in the remote Upper Douro, in 1890 and Bomfim, which lies in the heart of the Alto Douro, in 1896. Their respective wines, Ribeira with its soft fruit and violet aromas, and Bomfim with its concentrated intensity, provide the backbone to the recognized drier style of Dow’s Ports. In 1912, Andrew James Symington became a partner in Dow’s and today, six members of the fourth generation Symington family own and manage this historic house.
Point Reyes Farmstead Cheese Company, founded in 2000, is the only classic style blue cheese made in California. The Giacomini Family, located in Point Reyes Station, handcrafts small batches of its “Original Blue” and “Monte’s Reserve” from the fresh, raw milk of the farm’s 300 Holstein cows.
Sweet Grass Dairy, also founded in 2000 and located in Thomasville, Georgia, is an American Cheese Society medal winning farmstead. Its nine cheeses are handmade in small batches at the Little Family Farm from the milk of their 550 Jersey and Normandaise cows from Green Hill Dairy
Editor’s note: Links to the websites of nearly all of California wineries, be they Zin makers or otherwise, can be found in the Resource Directory of Taste California Travel. Also in that directory are links to thousands of lodging and dining opportunities, all organized in an easy-to-use geographic sorting.
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American Restaurants Pairing Premium Ports and Artisan Cheese
March 26, 2007
Growth in sales and interest for premium Ports (Reserve, Late Bottled Vintage, Aged Tawny and Vintage bottlings) and artisan cheese in the U.S. have exploded in recent years as Americans refine their tastes for wine, food, and pairing them together.
“Today the origin of food and wine is becoming an increasingly important factor for the American consumer, with the rise of the ‘farm fresh, farm local’ ideal,” said cheese expert Raymond Hook. “Attendance at farmers markets is on the rise in major metropolitan areas and wine consumers are looking to specific regions that consistently produce quality wines, such as Portugal.”
Reserve Port is the category growth leader. It accounts for 30 percent of U.S. imports, which rose nearly 20% in 2006. Aged Tawnies showed the strongest growth during that same period, with shipments up 26 percent. Overall, Port imports were up nearly 13% in 2006 to total almost 470,000 cases.
Growth in demand for artisan cheese is also on the rise, with an increasing number of artisan producers and specialty cheeses being introduced annually. According to the California Milk Advisory Board, two-thirds of California’s more than 50 cheesemakers comprise the specialty, artisan and farmstead category. The number of artisan entries in The American Cheese Society’s Annual Competition increased 26% in 2006 to total 940.“The growth in artisan American cheese results from the emergence of the cheese course as part of fine dining in metropolitan restaurants,” said Phillip Tong, director and professor at California Polytechnic State University’s Dairy Products Technology Center. “Additionally, the increase of travel abroad educates and exposes Americans to different cultures and availability of specialty cheese for consumers in the marketplace.”
Dow’s Port, producer of true Port from Portugal for over two centuries, took the idea of a cheese course one step further in February 2006 by announcing a pairing partnership with two award-winning cheese makers, Point Reyes Farmstead Cheese Company of Point Reyes, California and Sweet Grass Dairy of Thomasville, Georgia. The trio is offering the Dow’s Cheese Course as a unique and delicious dessert alternative, and suggests Point Reyes “Original Blue,” aged six months, with its Late Bottled Vintage and Vintage Ports. The Sweet Grass “Green Hill,” a rich double cream cheese with a white bloomy rind that softens as it ages, is paired with the Dow’s Aged Tawny Ports, which are offered in 10, 20, 30 and 40 year bottlings.
“The Dow’s Cheese Course was developed to simplify the experience of pairing and serving Port with artisan cheese as consumption in both categories continues to rise throughout the U.S. Dow’s, Point Reyes and Sweet Grass have enjoyed excellent sales growth in the past year, with the former two up 28% and the latter up 38%, respectively,” said Rupert Symington, Joint Managing Director for the Oporto, Portugal-based Symington Family Estates which owns Dow’s.
Dow's has been producing top Ports in Portugal’s Douro Valley for over two centuries. One of the first companies to establish its own vineyards, Dow's acquired Senhora da Ribeira, located in the remote Upper Douro, in 1890 and Bomfim, which lies in the heart of the Alto Douro, in 1896. Their respective wines, Ribeira with its soft fruit and violet aromas, and Bomfim with its concentrated intensity, provide the backbone to the recognized drier style of Dow’s Ports. In 1912, Andrew James Symington became a partner in Dow’s and today, six members of the fourth generation Symington family own and manage this historic house.
Point Reyes Farmstead Cheese Company, founded in 2000, is the only classic style blue cheese made in California. The Giacomini Family, located in Point Reyes Station, handcrafts small batches of its “Original Blue” and “Monte’s Reserve” from the fresh, raw milk of the farm’s 300 Holstein cows.
Sweet Grass Dairy, also founded in 2000 and located in Thomasville, Georgia, is an American Cheese Society medal winning farmstead. Its nine cheeses are handmade in small batches at the Little Family Farm from the milk of their 550 Jersey and Normandaise cows from Green Hill Dairy
Editor’s note: Links to the websites of nearly all of California wineries, be they Zin makers or otherwise, can be found in the Resource Directory of Taste California Travel. Also in that directory are links to thousands of lodging and dining opportunities, all organized in an easy-to-use geographic sorting.
