Inspired with our friends as Jasper Hill Farm (check out their Cheese Baller kit for the perfect match!), we've put together 5 wines meant for sharing and pairing.
[split]
The Wine Baller
The following are our pairing picks for each wine in the Cheese Baller set:
-
Rev 7th Addition NV - Old Westminster - Pair with Cabot Clothbound. The sweet-savory balance of the Cabot is going to crush with this Cab Franc, Cab Sauv, Chambourcin blend that spent 36 months in oak barrels!
-
Sauvignon Blanc/Chardonnay - Limited Addition - Pair with Harbison. This creamy, gooey delight is begging for a creamy wine that had a good amount of malo and this Sauv Blanc/Chard blend not only fits the bill but adds a lovely tropical notes that is to die for with this cheese!
-
Pet-Nat PRS - Vivanterre - Pair with Bayley Hazen Blue. I'm always looking for some residual sugar for my blue cheeses, since dessert wines are always my favorite pairing here! But, another great direction is a bit of RS AND bubbles! This Vivanterre pet-nat is perfect on both fronts.
-
Weissburgunder Trocken - Seehof - Pair with Whitney. This is a perfect raclette cheese which makes me want to put it with Alpine wines like this Weissburgunder!
- Juicy - Vinyes Tortuga - Pair with Willoughby. This cheese is screaming for juicy red carbonic goodness and this wine perfectly delivers on all fronts!
As Featured In
About Natural Wine
Great question! There are a lot of definitions for natural wine with the main term you'll hear being that it has had minimal intervention. To be more specific, our definition is that the wine must first be sustainably farmed, which typically means it was organically or biodynamically farmed.
Then, in the cellar the natural winemaking process has some differences as well! The wine is typically unfined, unfiltered, and goes through spontaneous fermentation with native yeasts. If you want to know more about what natural wine is, we have an entire guide under our reference section!
The short answer is that natural wine can taste like any other kind of conventional wine (we like to call these stealth natural wines) or it can taste quite a bit different, as production methods can vary and potentially be lighter, or in a style you've never had before (like orange, pet-nat or amphora).
The natural wine community is also more accepting of some qualities in wines that conventional would consider a flaw, like Brett, some oxidation, or volatile acidity. We would consider these in high amounts to also be a flaw, but in many cases a touch of these qualities can ultimately improve their flavor and texture and be happily accepted in a natural wine.
To find out more about what natural wine tastes like, check out our full blog and podcast on the topic here.
The short answer is, no! But many are. Glou-glou describes winesthat are easily chuggable, impossible to put the glass down, and seductively delicious! They tend to be young and fresh, designed to be drunk early with an average ABV of around 10%. Check out different styles or glou glou natural wine here on our site.