Verdejo has three main styles \u2013 joven, lees-aged, and oak-aged. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Joven means young in Spanish and in the case of Verdejo, translates to approachable, light, bright-acid wines with hints of grapefruit, lemon, and lime. Think pinot grigio and sauvignon blanc with a Spanish accent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Lees-aged means the wine spends time on the spent yeast cells called lees. In turn, this takes the wine in a creamy direction giving it more body. The acidity of the grape remains, and in concert with the rich mouthfeel, inches into Chablis-like territory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Oak-aged is just that. The wines spend some amount of time in oak barrels or casks, and while not oaky, take on some of the spice and broadness on the palate that only oak can create. This oak aging is also a testament to the versatility of Verdejo. Very few white grapes can be released both young and aged \u2014 usually, it\u2019s one or the other. Not Verdejo, which excels at all ages and stages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In addition to being a super sippable wine, Verdejo sidles up to cheese like a cowboy to a saddle. It\u2019s a natural pair. Whether from Spain or the United States, cheeses of all kinds find comradeship with the many styles of Verdejo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Verdejo, meet goat cheese<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Humboldt Fog<\/a> is a prime example. Made by the company Cypress Grove in Arcata, California, this iconic American goat cheese is possibly the most wine-friendly cheese of any made in the world. It\u2019s somewhat lemony but not too much. It\u2019s earthy but not goaty. It\u2019s creamy and mouth-filling, yet it\u2019s light and bright. In other words, the characteristics of this cheese are the same as many you find in Verdejo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The same is true for MitiCa\u00f1a\u00ae Ca\u00f1a de Cabra<\/a> and Leonora\u00ae<\/a>, two of Spain\u2019s excellent goat cheeses. Like Humboldt Fog, both cheeses fall in the soft-ripened cheese category, meaning that the cheese gets softer just under the white bloomy rind as it ages. These too have lemony flavors and creaminess on the palate. Because of their bright flavors yet lingering mouthfeel, this style of cheese takes to the joven and lees-aged styles of Verdejo particularly well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Just to button up the Spanish goat cheese category, the relatively rare Monte Enebro<\/a> finds harmony with all styles of Verdejo and \u2013 bonus \u2013 some Tempranillos too. Its earthiness and thin blue mold on the exterior ensure this. In other words, try both!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Cream and the crop<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Because of Verdejo\u2019s flavor and textural range, goat cheeses aren\u2019t its only cheese pals. So too triple-creams. Take Cowgirl Creamery\u2019s Mt. Tam<\/a>. A little firmer than most triple-cream cheeses, this cheese is like butter in cheese form with an ever so slight tang on the finish. It\u2019s almost as if the cheese knows it\u2019s so rich it had better tame itself by ending on a high note. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The best wines are the same \u2013 proper acidity to balance the richness and fruit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In Verdejo-speak, a lees- and oak-aged version loves the butteriness in a cheese-like Mt. Tam. It also has the proper acidity to balance the cheese\u2019s richness. Call it anything you want \u2014 yin-yang, cream-to-my-coffee, salt-in-my-stew \u2013 but what\u2019s clear is that a richer style Verdejo and a cheese like this one are, well, two peas in a pod.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Firmly in the Verdejo camp<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Soft, creamy, and buttery cheeses aren\u2019t Verdejo\u2019s only friends. The lees- and oak-aged versions also pair with 6-month aged Manchego<\/a> (Spain\u2019s unofficial national cheese) and Wisconsin\u2019s Roth Cheese Grand Cru Reserve<\/a> \u2013 a close cousin of Swiss Gruy\u00e9re. While Manchego is made with sheep\u2019s milk and Grand Cru Reserve with cow\u2019s milk, they both share a nuttiness and long finish. They\u2019re also rich. Bring on the lees and oak-aged Verdejo, whose acidity will refresh the palate and whose medium-bodied texture will hold its own in the presence of the sturdy cheeses. <\/p>\n\n\n\n A happy marriage<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n If white wine and cheese isn\u2019t your thing, then Ribera del Duero Tempranillo and cheese will be. This region\u2019s Tempranillo runs the flavor gamut from fruity and immediately approachable to complex, balanced tannins, acidity, herbaceousness, and dark fruits. This range of flavors and medium- to full-bodied texture ensures there\u2019s a cheese for pretty much every style and age of Ribera del Duero Tempranillo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Like Rueda Verdejo, Ribera del Duero Tempranillo is made in many different styles, from young to aged. The official classifications go like this: <\/p>\n\n\n\n Crianza:<\/strong><\/em> The youngest of the three classifications, Crianzas are aged a minimum of 24 months with no less than one year in oak. These wines generally have brighter red fruit flavors, maybe a little black fruit too, and fresh flavors that come from the higher acid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Reserva:<\/strong><\/em> Reservas are aged a minimum of 36 months of which at least 12 months are spent in oak and the rest of the time in the bottle. Reserva wines tend to be more dark fruit-focused rather than the brighter red fruits in Crianzas, the oak is more pronounced, and the structure and tannins are firmer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gran Reserva:<\/strong><\/em> These are \u201cgran\u201d for a reason. For one, they are aged a minimum of five years. At least two of these years are in oak and the rest of the time is in bottle before release. The fruit in Gran Reservas is dark, sometimes compote-like, the oak structure is more prominent as are the oak spices, and the overall complexity of the wine is greater.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Cosecha:<\/strong><\/em> In addition to Crianza, Reserva and Gran Reserva, Ribera del Duero and Rueda wines include the category of Cosecha. This classification is hard to define, which is just how the winemakers would like it. Like Rueda Verdejo, Cosechas may be classified as Joven \u2013 young and usually unoaked; oaked \u2014 wines that are in oak for at least three months; and basically, a motley crew of other wines that don\u2019t meet the specifications of the other three categories. Perhaps surprisingly, some of the most heralded wines in the Ribera del Duero are Cosechas. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Given that Cosechas don\u2019t fall neatly into one category or another, pairing cheeses with them can be a wild ride \u2013 in a good way. The same principles of pairing Ribera and Rueda wines with cheese hold true with Cosechas, but finding the just-right pairings requires two things. The first is research. What style is the Cosecha? Where is it grown specifically? The soil type and climate may provide a window into the style. Are there details about the wine on the winery\u2019s website or in reviews? <\/p>\n\n\n\n Second, there\u2019s no substitute for tasting the wine. Once that happens, discovering its best cheese partners becomes a whole lot easier. Did we say fun?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Opposites attract<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Given the many styles of Ribera del Duero Tempranillo, it comes as no surprise that it has a lot of friends in cheeses. When it comes to one of the grape\u2019s better cheese companions, look no further than Spanish Mah\u00f3n Reserva<\/a>. Made in a part of Spain diagonally opposite from Ribera del Duero, this cow\u2019s milk cheese hails from the scenic island of Menorca off the southwest coast of Spain. The cheese, distinctive because of its square shape with slightly rounded corners and bright orange piment\u00f3n-rubbed rind \u2013 is aged about a year. In that time, it develops nutty, piquant, and even sweet flavors. <\/p>\n\n\n\n With cheese, age comes wisdom, and because of that, Mah\u00f3n has enough personality to stand up to the earth and fruit in Tempranillo but not so much that it dominates. The semi-hard texture of the cheese takes the pairing a step further by providing a textural contrast with the smooth, almost silky, body of the wine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Also opposite, in this case in flavor, not geography, is the matching of Tempranillo and blue cheese. This can be tricky because you don\u2019t want too powerful a version of the wine \u2013 one that\u2019s high on the oaky side or particularly acidic. In both cases, most blue cheeses will exaggerate those characteristics, which are essential to great wine but best when in balance. But when you find the right blue \u2013 one that\u2019s a little earthy, low on the pungent scale, has balanced salt, and a medium-creamy texture, well, that\u2019s a whole other story. <\/p>\n\n\n\n For instance, Point Reyes Farmstead Cheese Company<\/a> in Point Reyes, California, churns out the exceptional Bay Blue \u2013 a Stilton-like cheese that\u2019s not only delicious on its own but also happens to go perfectly with a medium-bodied, fruit-forward Tempranillo. Its earthy, fudgy, toasted nut, and sweet finish ensure this. Stronger, more pungent, and in some cases, gamy blue cheeses are best paired with dessert wines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Counting sheep<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Maybe some of the most natural cheese pairings for Tempranillo are sheep\u2019s milk cheeses. Like Tempranillo, most sheep\u2019s milk cheeses have a pronounced tang primarily on the finish. In addition, they are often rich, have just-right salt, are a bit grainy (in a good way), and balanced. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Take Idiazabal.<\/a> Hailing from the Basque country, this semi-hard sheep cheese with a hint of smokiness loves red wine, red fruit \u2013 basically anything called Tempranillo from the Ribera del Duero. It makes for a great after-dinner\/before-dessert cheese course, but really \u2013 it\u2019s good anytime, anywhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And then there\u2019s Zamorano<\/a>. Ribera del Duero and Rueda are part of Spain\u2019s largest so-called autonomous region \u2013 Castilla y Le\u00f3n. So too is Zamora, home of its namesake cheese. This raw sheep\u2019s milk beauty is often compared to Manchego but it is made with the milk of different sheep breeds than Manchego<\/a>. This is one of its main points of distinction. The result is a cheese with nutty, fruity, buttery, and sweet tones. It\u2019s one of the most delicious, balanced sheep\u2019s milk cheese made anywhere in the world, not just Spain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Given Zamorano\u2019s regional provenance, it should come as no surprise that Tempranillo is its natural wine partner. But it isn\u2019t just that it follows the axiom, \u201cWhat grows together, goes together.\u201d It\u2019s also that Tempranillo\u2019s darker fruit and bright acidity are the perfect foil for the uber-rich, buttery, and tangy cheese. Think sweet-savory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Cross cultures<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Tempranillo that\u2019s grown along the banks of the Duero River is as natural as the cheddar that comes from Vermont. While that doesn\u2019t necessarily mean the wine and cheese should go together, it so happens that in this case, they do. Really well, in fact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In particular, the cheese called Cabot Clothbound<\/a>, made by Cabot Creamery in Cabot, Vermont, and aged at the Cellars at Jasper Hill in Greensboro, Vermont, is the perfect mate for Tempranillo. The cheese\u2019s earthy notes find the same element in the Tempranillo, particularly the Reserva and Gran Reserva classifications, and the sweet protein crystals in the cheese love the fruit in the wine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The same could be said about Beecher\u2019s Flagship<\/a> cheese. Never mind the fact it\u2019s made in New York and Seattle, not Vermont. The result is a cheese that\u2019s often described as a cross between cheddar and Gruy\u00e9re, which is kind of hard to imagine until you taste it. The Gruy\u00e8re-like flavors lend a sweet nuttiness to the 15-month aged cheese and the cheddar element is savory, slightly brothy, but also sweet. Enter Tempranillo \u2013 the Reserva and Gran Reserva especially \u2013 whose fuller-bodied, complex layers love the sweet-savory characteristics of the cheese.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Putting it all together<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n If you didn\u2019t guess this already, Ribera del Duero Tempranillo and Rueda Verdejo love cheese. Luckily, cheese loves them back. Here\u2019s how you match them:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Red, white, Spain \u2014 and blue too. That\u2019s almost all you need to remember when it comes to pairing cheese with its perfect Spanish wine partners. The \u201calmost\u201d part is the fact the wines are not just any Spanish red and white wines. Instead, we\u2019re talking Tempranillo from Ribera del Duero and Rueda\u2019s premier white […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":114,"featured_media":44519,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"wprm-recipe-roundup-name":"","wprm-recipe-roundup-description":"","cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3334,26354],"tags":[2087,4344,14336,2344,14768,28005,1028,2398,4212,3335,149,1083,22192],"coauthors":[84,33823],"class_list":["post-44516","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sponsored","category-stories","tag-cheese","tag-cheese-and-wine","tag-cheese-and-wine-pairings","tag-cheese-pairings","tag-laura-werlin","tag-ribera-y-rueda","tag-spain","tag-spanish-cheese","tag-spanish-wine","tag-sponsored","tag-wine","tag-wine-and-cheese","tag-wine-and-cheese-pairings"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/culturecheesemag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/51536529619_1eebd14814_4k-scaled.jpg\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/culturecheesemag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/51535803706_5173912812_4k-scaled.jpg\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/culturecheesemag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/51536733420_a817391eb7_4k-1024x683.jpg\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/culturecheesemag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Tempranillo_cheese_table-1024x404.png\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/culturecheesemag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/verdejo_cheese_pairings-1024x343.png\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"