The classic Blues Brothers film has many great lines. One of my favourites comes from the scene where the band have stolen a gig from The Good Ole Boys at Bob's Country Bunker. Elwood asks 'what kind of music do you usually have here?' and is told 'oh, we got both kinds. We got country and western'.
Since taking an interest in wine I have on many occasions been asked whether it isn't simply enough for anybody to know whether they prefer red, white or no wine?
My answer is yes, it's enough. If to you all of music can be country or western, I am sure red or white will cover it.
It's enough, in the same way that it's enough for that person to know whether she prefers white or blue cheese. Or likes chocolate. Or bread, cakes, vegetables, or anything else where there are many possible variations concealed beneath a single word. Like beer.
For the purposes of this discussion (which you are free to make it, by commenting below), let's stick to the cheese.
How many different cheeses are produced around the world? Truthfully, I have no idea. However, if you look at www.cheese.com, you will find they have 642 varieties in their searchable database. There could well be others and I haven't tried to catch them out, but that's a big enough number to make the point.
Ask yourself this. If a friend invites you to lunch and asks 'would you like some cheese?', what do you imagine you would be presented with if you said yes? Don't think too hard. What is 'cheese'?
You might expect a firm, yellow block of stuff that can be sliced or grated and placed between two slices of buttered bread and garnished with (the world's best) pickle.
You would probably describe it as 'Cheddar'.
Let's assume for now that you are happy with that. The cheese provided equaled the cheese expected.
Now let's move forward a week and assume your friend enjoyed your company last time and has repeated the invitation. You are hoping cheese will be offered again, as last week's really hit the spot.
This week, you are presented with something different. It looks like this:
It is cheese, no question, but it is a different cheese. Your host, if you were sufficiently impolite to ask, may tell you it is Cheddar. In good faith, too, as that is what it says on the wrapper. It probably also says 'processed' somewhere on the same wrapper, but all cheese has to be processed in some way, doesn't it?
This is our first clue that not all cheese is the same.
Many years ago, in the early 1980's, I prepared for my first dinner party. I was 22 years old and had never really cooked much before. The starter was the obvious prawn cocktail, the main course grilled trout and the dessert is where I got my first clue that not all cheese is the same. And that what is written on the wrapper may not tell you all you need to know.
It took me a couple of hours to remove the rind and use a wide variety of utensils to cut, bash, mash, roll, pummel and otherwise abuse the rubbery substance, until I could satisfy the demands of the recipe.
Now, with the benefit of many years hindsight, I understand that a cheese made with full fat milk and described as creamy may come in more than one form.
What I needed was a recipe that told me to look for the word 'soft' alongside the others. The writer assumed I had been given enough information to make the right choice. My cheesecake was edible, even it did contain a number of small lumps of savoury cheese, but it wasn't the experience I had intended my guests to enjoy. I got away with it because one of my guests was Australian, one was my girlfriend and the other was my friend Bob, who once boiled a complete cauliflower head without cutting it up first and also gloss painted his ceiling.
If not all cheese is the same, there must be some simple choices that are easy to make? You should do the right thing, return the favour and invite your generous friend to lunch. You may want to play it safe and offer cheese, as we know your guest likes that. However, you enjoyed the unprocessed Cheddar better than the the processed, so go and get a nice block of that.
I will assume you buy your Cheddar in the supermarket. It doesn't matter which one as they all sell Cheddar cheese. In fact, they all sell a wide variety of Cheddar cheese and the choice is not just between processed and not.
You have plenty of choices: Mild, medium, mature? Farmhouse, vintage? Canadian, English, Welsh(!)? And on and on it goes. What choices do you have to make to repeat the experience you enjoyed at your friend's first lunch? And why do the prices vary so much, especially for all those 'Cheddar's that look the same on the shelf?
If your friend doesn't have a preference and would be as happy with the processed slices as you were with the more traditional cheese, then be happy and buy whatever takes your fancy. Probably the Cheddar that's 'on offer'.
And so it is with wine.
I have used Cheddar to illustrate only that simple choices can become complicated, if you are looking for something predictable that will allow you to repeat an enjoyable experience, especially if you have never considered that cheese comes in so many different styles. But I haven't looked any further into the database of 642 varieties. If I did I would find cheeses made from the milk of a surprising list of mammals. Cows, sheep and goats are the obvious ones. Buffalo may not surprise, but camel, reindeer, mare, yak and donkey all appear on the list!
I would also find cheeses from 60 countries and in styles as diverse as hard, soft, blue, unpastuerised, creamy, with or without a rind, aged, infused with herbs, smoked. And more. There's a lifetime's opportunity to explore right there, if you want it.
So to answer my original question, of whether knowing your preference of red or white wine is enough, I would still say yes, if you are happy with that.
I'm not. I want to know why wines, all made from grapes, vary so much in just the same way that cheese, all made from milk, does. I want to know the difference between Stilton, Mimolette and Gorgonzola, and to know which one I am likely to enjoy under which circumstances. I want to know which bottle to choose for the same reason that I now want to know which cheese I need to make my cheesecake. I want to understand the choices I am making. Which grape varieties? Which region? Which producer? What price?
If wine is just red or white, then cheese is just blue or white and all music is country or western. And it isn't.
And don't get me started on beer.
By the way: If you need convincing about the health benefits of cheese, please see the excellent 'Jen Reviews' page here: www.jenreviews.com/cheese.
Since taking an interest in wine I have on many occasions been asked whether it isn't simply enough for anybody to know whether they prefer red, white or no wine?
My answer is yes, it's enough. If to you all of music can be country or western, I am sure red or white will cover it.
It's enough, in the same way that it's enough for that person to know whether she prefers white or blue cheese. Or likes chocolate. Or bread, cakes, vegetables, or anything else where there are many possible variations concealed beneath a single word. Like beer.
For the purposes of this discussion (which you are free to make it, by commenting below), let's stick to the cheese.
How many different cheeses are produced around the world? Truthfully, I have no idea. However, if you look at www.cheese.com, you will find they have 642 varieties in their searchable database. There could well be others and I haven't tried to catch them out, but that's a big enough number to make the point.
Ask yourself this. If a friend invites you to lunch and asks 'would you like some cheese?', what do you imagine you would be presented with if you said yes? Don't think too hard. What is 'cheese'?
You might expect a firm, yellow block of stuff that can be sliced or grated and placed between two slices of buttered bread and garnished with (the world's best) pickle.
You would probably describe it as 'Cheddar'.
Let's assume for now that you are happy with that. The cheese provided equaled the cheese expected.
Now let's move forward a week and assume your friend enjoyed your company last time and has repeated the invitation. You are hoping cheese will be offered again, as last week's really hit the spot.
This week, you are presented with something different. It looks like this:It is cheese, no question, but it is a different cheese. Your host, if you were sufficiently impolite to ask, may tell you it is Cheddar. In good faith, too, as that is what it says on the wrapper. It probably also says 'processed' somewhere on the same wrapper, but all cheese has to be processed in some way, doesn't it?
This is our first clue that not all cheese is the same.
Many years ago, in the early 1980's, I prepared for my first dinner party. I was 22 years old and had never really cooked much before. The starter was the obvious prawn cocktail, the main course grilled trout and the dessert is where I got my first clue that not all cheese is the same. And that what is written on the wrapper may not tell you all you need to know.
My mother would often make a beautiful, light and tasty cheesecake, topped with mandarin segments. I decided to attempt the same. I found a recipe and set off to buy the ingredients. I needed 1lb of full fat cream cheese. I found a cheese with the necessary wording on the wrapper and returned home to prepare the meal. The recipe suggested I should 'put the cheese, zest, milk, and icing sugar into a bowl and blend using an electric mixer until smooth'. I had bought 1lb of St.Paulin.
It took me a couple of hours to remove the rind and use a wide variety of utensils to cut, bash, mash, roll, pummel and otherwise abuse the rubbery substance, until I could satisfy the demands of the recipe.Now, with the benefit of many years hindsight, I understand that a cheese made with full fat milk and described as creamy may come in more than one form.
If not all cheese is the same, there must be some simple choices that are easy to make? You should do the right thing, return the favour and invite your generous friend to lunch. You may want to play it safe and offer cheese, as we know your guest likes that. However, you enjoyed the unprocessed Cheddar better than the the processed, so go and get a nice block of that.
I will assume you buy your Cheddar in the supermarket. It doesn't matter which one as they all sell Cheddar cheese. In fact, they all sell a wide variety of Cheddar cheese and the choice is not just between processed and not.
You have plenty of choices: Mild, medium, mature? Farmhouse, vintage? Canadian, English, Welsh(!)? And on and on it goes. What choices do you have to make to repeat the experience you enjoyed at your friend's first lunch? And why do the prices vary so much, especially for all those 'Cheddar's that look the same on the shelf?
If your friend doesn't have a preference and would be as happy with the processed slices as you were with the more traditional cheese, then be happy and buy whatever takes your fancy. Probably the Cheddar that's 'on offer'.
And so it is with wine.
I have used Cheddar to illustrate only that simple choices can become complicated, if you are looking for something predictable that will allow you to repeat an enjoyable experience, especially if you have never considered that cheese comes in so many different styles. But I haven't looked any further into the database of 642 varieties. If I did I would find cheeses made from the milk of a surprising list of mammals. Cows, sheep and goats are the obvious ones. Buffalo may not surprise, but camel, reindeer, mare, yak and donkey all appear on the list!
I would also find cheeses from 60 countries and in styles as diverse as hard, soft, blue, unpastuerised, creamy, with or without a rind, aged, infused with herbs, smoked. And more. There's a lifetime's opportunity to explore right there, if you want it.
So to answer my original question, of whether knowing your preference of red or white wine is enough, I would still say yes, if you are happy with that.
I'm not. I want to know why wines, all made from grapes, vary so much in just the same way that cheese, all made from milk, does. I want to know the difference between Stilton, Mimolette and Gorgonzola, and to know which one I am likely to enjoy under which circumstances. I want to know which bottle to choose for the same reason that I now want to know which cheese I need to make my cheesecake. I want to understand the choices I am making. Which grape varieties? Which region? Which producer? What price?
If wine is just red or white, then cheese is just blue or white and all music is country or western. And it isn't.
And don't get me started on beer.
By the way: If you need convincing about the health benefits of cheese, please see the excellent 'Jen Reviews' page here: www.jenreviews.com/cheese.
I love your article. Interesting and absolutely true. congratulations. Susana from Buenos Aires, Argentina. http://winemmelier.wordpress.com
ReplyDeleteThanks, Susana. I also like the look of your blog. Best of luck!
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