Beach Picnics
by Leslie-Ann Sheppard
owner of The Cellar on Surfside Road.
Summer is officially here, and naturally, getting some quality beach time is a big part of living 30 miles out to sea on a spit of sand. It is wonderful to set out for the whole day early in the morning, bags packed with supplies for a good long stretch of soaking up the sun, salt air, and meditative ebb and flow of the tides. But perhaps the most special time of day to be a beachcomber is the late afternoon. The beaches empty of people, and the sun’s low angle casts thoughtful shadows on the trodden sand. The sky turns colors that seem more artistic than real. It is this time of day that beckons to me to put together a simple picnic and head for sandy serenity. The perfect ingredients of this picnic? You can’t go wrong with wine and cheese. Well, if you follow some general guidelines of pairing, you can’t go wrong.
To keep things simple, choose one kind of cheese and one kind of wine. Wine and cheese go hand-in-hand because the proteins in the cheese and the acidity, fruit, and tannins in wine work together to make each bite explode into a whole new dimension of flavor. But, not every cheese goes with every wine; the wrong combination can either bury some of the flavors, or create a kind of strange reaction, resulting in off-putting flavors. So, here are some tried and true winning combinations for your beach picnic:
Try soft, creamy cheeses like triple-crèmes with Champagne. There are several AOC (Appellation d’Origine Controlee) cheeses that are made in the Champagne region of France. One of my favorites is called Chaource. It is a cylinder about 4 inches high and 3 inches in diameter that comes in its own wooden box. You pop the cheese out of its box, and with a sharp knife, cut the top rind right off. You can then dip into the cheese with either a cheese knife or firm cracker, like a crostini. It has an edible rind and decadent, creamy interior. Its size is a hearty snack for two; perhaps more suitable for four to six people. But you could also cut it in half and save the second half for another day’s picnic. The richness of the cheese is cut by the bubbles in Champagne. One of my favorite Champagnes for this pairing is Duval-Leroy Brut Rose, made from mostly Pinot Noir.
Pair snowy goats milk cheeses with crisp whites like Sauvignon Blanc or Chenin Blanc. One standout cheese to try is Humboldt Fog from Cypress Grove Creamery in California. The cheese itself looks like a layer cake, with a line of edible vegetable ash in the center of its snowy interior. The exterior is covered with a bloomy non-edible rind, and just inside the rind is an incredibly creamy layer that has to be tasted to be described. The tanginess of this artisan cheese is heightened by the natural acidity of Sauvignon Blanc. This is a well-known match; one that is documented widely by foodies everywhere. Another classic example is France’s Loire Valley Chevrot, a gorgeous puck-shaped goat’s milk cheese, paired with Sancerre, Menetou-Salon, or Quincy—all appellations in the Loire famous for their wines made from Sauvignon Blanc.
Other “pressed” goats milk cheeses like Drunken Goat from Spain or Midnight Moon, also from Cypress Grove Creamery in the U.S., pair well with a light bodied red wine. Drunken Goat is given its name from being washed in a red wine bath for 30 days. The rind takes on a beautiful purple color, and the cheese only gets a hint of fruitiness, but a lot of complexity. I like a tempranillo based wine with this cheese. Midnight Moon is a Gouda-like cheese, wonderfully rich in flavor and intensity. A fruity red like a California Pinot Noir or a cru Beaujolais work very well with this cheese, as does a noble Riesling from Alsace, Austria, Germany, or Australia.
If you crave a fuller-bodied wine and cheese combination, try cheeses that are “bigger” in flavor. Farmhouse gouda—the artisanal kind made and aged in The Netherlands for 3-5 years—has an orangy color and a texture almost like candy. Older wheels become crystallized and show flavors of Scotch and caramel, the texture can even become slightly crunchy. This cheese works well with a full-bodied white like a fine California chardonnay or White Burgundy.
Red wines pair well with hard cheeses like Parmigiana Reggiano, aged Pecorino or Manchego, and soft, full-flavored cheeses like Epoisses. The former are eaten tapas-style in Europe alongside olives and sliced cured meats. Try Italian Dolcetto or Barbera, or Spanish Rioja wines with these cheeses. The latter—the famous Epoisses cheese—is made in Burgundy, France, and is a rich, gooey, golden, stinky little pot of Heaven. It is often found as an individual unit, in its own little wooden round box. This is a good cheese for a small crowd, as a little goes a long way! Drink full-flavored Burgundy wines—white or red—with this treasure.
Finally some tips for serving your cheese: First, let the cheese come to “room temperature.” In France, cheese shops generally do not keep their cheeses under refrigeration, which will camoflauge the true flavors and textures. Second, keep the accompaniments simple: no heavily flavored crackers needed. You want a “vehicle” for tasting the cheese, and perhaps a bit of a crunch to enhance the texture. Third, let your cheese breathe, as you let your wine breathe. Plastic wrap can suffocate the cheese over a period of time. Fourth, if your cheese has been hiding in your refrigerator and has developed a surface mold, it is usually just fine to eat after scraping the mold off. Mold is an organic occurrence, and if conditions are right, cheese is a desireable place for mold to form. Lastly, if you can’t decide which cheese to bring to your picnic, don’t limit yourself to just one.
A nice variety—a sheep, a goat, a cow, a blue, a firm, a soft—choose from these basic categories and go for some different color and intensity. Most of all, enjoy your moments of bliss, whether beachside, poolside, or wherever.
