Cheese Louise

Join Master Sommelier, Angelo Tavernaro for a 20 Session Wine Academy at Cheese Louise! 20 Evenings of exploring the wonderful world of wines and cuisines resulting to a Certified Sommelier Training Program.

Topics include:
History of wine in the world
Soils, Climate, Vineyards and Regions
...Varietals and Winemaking
Styles of Wine and Blind Tasting Techniques
Winemaking Regions of the World
Distilled Spirits and Liqueurs
Wine Serive and Decanting
The AVA's of Washington
Food, Cheese, and Wine Pairings
Dessert Wines of the world

This Course is Valued at $1500, but Angelo is offering it at an introductory price of $850. Class includes a signed copy of "Wine, My Life, My Passions and my perceptions," Detailed Handouts, Cheese, Breads, and wines.

This class runs on Tuesdays and Thursdays from August 31 - November 18th. (There will be a two week break in Mid October)

** Space is Limited. $100 Deposit is required to reserve your spot.

Cheese Louise is only HOSTING the event. To Register, please contact Debbie or Angelo Tavernaro at angelotavernaro@embargmail.com

For More Information Check out: http://angelotavernaro.com/

Heaven's Cave and Cheese Louise are pairing up for a night of wine and cheese tasting!

Heaven's Cave will be featuring their Syrah, Riesling, and their brand new Tempranillo!


2007 NOBILITY | late harvest Riesling | $14
Named to honor the noblest of grape varieties.  This bright, crisp wine opens to fresh honeydew and ripe melon aromas.  Hand-harvested at 25.9° Brix.  Botrytis cinerea (Noble rot) was present in over 20% of the grapes giving the wine its characteristic honeyed flavor.  5.3% residual sugar after fermentation. Pairs beautifully with Thai food, dessert or just a glass | 295 cases produced


2007 THE DWELLER | Syrah | $28
97% syrah, 3% Viognier in Hungarian oak makes for a very smooth finish.  On the nose, pronounced berry and musky game notes gracefully intertwine with aromas of sweet, smoky toast and char.  The palate reveals rich blackberry fruit flavors marked by subtle and pleasing notes of anise and spicy black pepper. | 100 cases produced


2007 PURPLE DIAMONDS | TEMPRANILLO | $39
Stone fruit and jammy cherries on the nose, this wine displays flavors of spice and smoke, with lively tartness on the mid-palate.  Soft tannins add structure and reveal the beautiful fruit flavor on the long finish.  This Tempranillo will be a treasured gem in your cellar.  | 50 cases produced

Come and hear about these wines as well as taste some fabulously paired cheeses! It will be a night of fun and frivolity.

$20 per person or $35 for a couple.

Please RSVP by either calling Cheese Louise (509) 420.4222 or emailing Cheese Louise.

We look forward to seeing you here!

By Murphy Felton, Cheese Mongrel

I have recently discovered a cheese that literally made my knees go weak. They went weak, not because of poor taste or smell, but because the moment all of my senses caught up to the taste of this Vintage 5 year old, Gouda the only thing left my body could do, was go limp. I have a term that I like to call this reaction, but you may have to come into the store and taste it before you could truly understand.

I personally love full bodied, full flavored cheeses. I also understand my current love for this particular cheese could also lend itself to an "obvious" choice for more seasoned cheesemonger. Part of my attraction to this cheese is also the exclusivity of obtaining it. Most Goudas are only aged 2 - 3 years. So to find a 5 to 6 year old Gouda is a sure treat.

Because of the age, the cheese has an amber to a burnt orange color. When first placing this cheese on your palette it reflects a Parmigiano-Reggiano texture, but ends with bursts of bold flavor with a rich finish. One of my favorite aspects is the large flavor crystals waiting inside of almost every bite.

This Dutch Gouda would be a great cheese for grating as it is beautiful as it caramelizes. If you are looking for a wine pairing a full bodied red wine is needed to balance out. Although, this cheese is also worthy of a rich beer.

When this cheese was first presented to me the statement was, "You can really only probably handle a little bit." I don't know about you but full flavored cheeses call my name and there's no such thing as a "little bit." So, if you are looking for a cheese to make your entree pop or rock a cheese tray, this 5 year old Vintage Dutch Gouda is the way to go.

I’ve heard the jokes and comments ad infinitum. Cheese has aromas: some of them strike us as unpleasant. Mostly, though, they are fragrances of fruit and nut and mushroom, of toast and chocolate and caramel.

But really cutting the cheese requires some thought and care. “French children,” writes food historian Margaret Visser in The Rituals of Dinner, “are carefully taught never to serve themselves by cutting off the point of a triangle of cheese: in something like a Camembert or Roquefort this would be to take the delicious centre for yourself, under the noses of the furious other guests.” That center is sometimes called the “heart of the cheese” and it is often prized by cheese aficionados. Visseroffers other cheese cutting and handling protocols: hand cheese to another person with a knife, except Gruyèreand cheddar. These latter two should be pierced with a fork, she writes, and then offered to the other person.

Some commonsense says that cutting hard or semi-hard cheeses goes easier when the cheeses have reached room temperature; softer cheeses cut easier when they are cool. The Cheese Lover’s Companion advises use of a “strong thread or unflavored dental floss” as a make-shift cheese wire for cutting chèvre.

Some of my most memorable experiences with cutting cheese have come as I have opened large wheels of cheddar or Parmigiano-Reggiano. The smallest of these wheels typically weigh 50-60 pounds. Wheels of Parmigiano-Reggiano weigh 95-105 pounds. I use large, two-handled knives that afford me pretty good leverage. I also use a couple of small wedges. With a cheese fork, I perforate the cheese wheel along the line I’m going to cut. Then I begin to roll the blade of a large knife into the body of the cheese, starting on one side and working the blade into the cheese toward the center. After making that cut about an inch and a half deep, I move the knife to the other side of the wheel and repeat the process from that direction. I force my wedges into the cheese through my knife cut and resume cutting on the side where I started. I usually reach a depth of about four inches through this alternating process.

Then with my largest knife, I work the blade into the center of the cheese and begin to drive it downward. About an inch later, I can feel the wheel start to give. I twist the knife handles with enough torque and firmness to encourage the cheese to open, and violá!

At that moment, the wheel opens like a flower blooming. Itdoesn’t crack; it unfolds. And the fragrance arises and tantalizes the nostrils with the fruity, rich, cheesy aroma. Cutting these wheels open can be a bit of a work-out, but the rewards are stunning.

At home, for serving your own cheeses, remember a few simple rules. First, wait to cut cheeses until you ready to serve them. Leave rinds on. Let your guests nibble around them or in some cases such as chèvre or Brie, let them eat the rind if they wish. Cut a cheese like manchego into thin wedges and fan the wedges onto a plate; most other cheeses that come in similar small wheels benefit from wedged-shape cutting too.

I think that Cypress Grove’s Midnight Moon is a wonderful goats’ milk cheese. Aged six months or more, it is a pale, ivory color, firm and dense and smooth with the slight graininess of a long-aged cheese. The flavor is nutty and brown-buttery, with prominent caramel notes. The wheel is finished in a beautiful black wax and it has a label that shows a young woman dressed in a peasant style. The cheese is made in Europe exclusively for Cypress Grove Chevre; Several years ago, I heard that Cypress Grove cheesemaker Mary Kuehn had planned to perfect the cheese in Holland and then bring it to California where she makes most of her other cheeses. This seemed odd to me because cheese making relies on its terroir in much the same way that wine making does. The atmosphere, the water, the feed

and grasses and the soil that the grasses grow from have an important effect on the cheese made in those circumstances. So attempting to make the same Midnight Moon in the US would be very difficult, probably impossible. And this cheese has gotten some really impressive recognition—2002 and 2003 Best of Show at the New York International Fancy Food Convention. You don’t want to mess with a winner!

And it has been a winner with the public. Even people who usually dislike goats’ milk often enjoy Midnight Moon, and people who like Merlot usually find that it pairs exceptionally well with Midnight Moon. It also pairs well with Syrah and Sangiovese and Riesling and Gewuerztraminer among the
whites. Semi-hard goats’ milk cheeses often pair well this way, but Midnight Moon is exceptional.

As much as I have enjoyed Midnight Moon by itself or with wine, one of my favorite qualities of the cheese is the name that Cypress Grove has given it. I think that the folks at Cypress Grove really have a wonderful sense of humor. They are situated in Humboldt County, California, once a hot-bed of the drug culture, and there make Purple Haze, a chevre with fennel and lavender, Humboldt Fog, a delicious semi-soft, mold-ripened cheese, and Lamb Chopper, an aged sheep’s milk gouda that they advertise as a cheese that was “born to be mild.” And they produce Midnight Moon with the young woman on its label. They have given the young woman a name; she is Bella–Bella DeBall.

Gjetost comes from Norway and sometimes contains a combination of the two major milks—goat and cow. Ekte Gjetost is all goat.

It is wonderful with fruit, especially apples and pears. In Norway, people place a container or a piece of gjetostnear the fireplace where it can warm and soften. Then they dip slices of fruit into it and enjoy the caramellytaste that compliments the fruit. People who see gjetostfor the first time often think that it is some kind of caramel or fudge. This fudginess occurs because to make gjetost whey is simmered until the moisture evaporates and the milk sugars caramelize.

Whey is the watery part of milk which is separated from the curds or the solid part of the milk in cheese making. Whey is nutricious and may be made into “whey cheese.” And there’s plenty of material to use for making it. Twenty pounds of milk will produce about two pounds of cheese and about fifteen pounds of whey. The whey may be used to create various whey cheeses like ricotta, manouri, Sérac, and the Norwegian whey cheeses, mysost, primost, flotøst, and gjetost.

Gjetost comes in a wide range of colors, consistencies, and flavors, and it is widely produced throughout Scandinavia where it is so common that, according to one of my Norwegian friends, they call it simply, “brown cheese,” brunost.

A woman named Anne Hov is believed to have made the first gjetostas it is known today. In 1864, Hovadded cream to whey to create a richer, firmer version of the ancient recipe. Hov lived in Norway’s Gubrands Valley where Gudbrandsalsost, a very highly regarded gjetost, is still made.

I like the combination of gjetost, apple and pear slices, and Riesling or a medium-dry Chardonnay, some hazel nuts, and a rye cracker or crusty rye bread.