Wine Country

Holiday Pairs

The best of the best at Christmas

By Angela Sanchez

The Christmas season is a cornucopia of traditions, great and small, and food and wine are among them. Children learn to leave cookies out for Santa as soon as they can walk. Revelers have been buying, making and drinking eggnog for hundreds of years. For my family, it’s wine and cheese on Christmas Eve.

When pairing wine with cheese or a dish, I find it is much easier to pick the food first. A cheese tray is one of the easiest and best ways to start a meal. Building a tray is an activity you can share with others — one person slicing cheese while someone else cuts salami or drains a container of olives or pickles — all the while enjoying one another’s company. In our family I choose the cheeses, meats and other accompaniments. My mom picks her favorite platter and together we slice the cheese and meats. My brother and nephew decide which jams or chutneys work best with the cheeses and which mustards bring out the flavor of the meats. One of our favorite soft choices is Lenora, a bloomy rind, soft Spanish goat cheese. For a classic cheddar I like Beecher’s Flagship Cheddar from Seattle. Both of these pair well with a nice fig spread. Our blue cheese this year is the “king of blues,” Stilton. Only six producers are allowed to produce Stilton in England, a traditional style of blue. A local friend of ours makes Miss Kelly’s Jelly Christmas Jam. It’s bright with a little acidity and allspice notes and goes well with the rich, robust punch of Stilton. For something special add Red Lion, a young English cheddar that has whole-grain horseradish mustard and Welsh brown ale added. Bold and full of flavor, it pairs well with all types of charcuterie, from speck (smoked prosciutto) to salami Milano with white wine and black pepper.

Now that we know the cheeses, the wines are much easier, and will accompany the meal itself. Because it is Christmas, I lean toward the best of the best. This year for white wine, we will be drinking Southern Right Sauvignon Blanc from Walker Bay in South Africa. It’s clean and crisp with tropical notes and a flinty finish and is great with soft cheese, hard cheese and seafood appetizers. My rosé preference is Italy’s Dama Rosé of Montepulciano, a deep pink rosé with a rich berry and cherry palate — perfect for all cheeses, balancing the spicy bite of Red Lion and the richness of cream-based dishes like casseroles and au gratins. For red, my choice is a bold cabernet from Angulo Innocenti, a rustic, Old World-style cab, from La Consulta, Mendoza, Argentina. The high elevation and cool nights of the Andes Mountains growing region produce a beautifully balanced cabernet with ripe briar fruit, tobacco and leather notes. It’s a natural to pair with prime rib. For our sparkling wine, we’ll be drinking Champagne. It is Christmas after all. Taittinger Brût La Française from Reims Champagne, France, is a classic, traditional negotiant style Champagne that is 40 percent chardonnay, 35 percent pinot noir and 25 percent pinot meunier. Elegant, round and with a structured backbone, it can carry all cheese pairings and is perfect with chocolate desserts and cream pies.

There is always time to try something new, but at Christmas keep it traditional. The time with friends and family is the best tradition of all.  PS

Angela Sanchez owns Southern Whey, a cheese-centric specialty food store in Southern Pines, with her husband, Chris Abbey. She was in the wine industry for 20 years and was lucky enough to travel the world drinking wine and eating cheese.

Wine Country

Thanksgiving Bounty

Be grateful for the cheese and wine

By Angela Sanchez

When I lived away from Moore County, I came home for the holidays with all kinds of wines and cheeses I wanted to share with my family. At Thanksgiving I’d arrive with a bag full and nothing ever hit the fridge or shelf before we sampled it. At Christmas I came bearing gifts: a nice basket of cheese, crackers, olives with chutneys and jams and a case of mixed wines wrapped with a bow.

Thanksgiving was always a big deal for us. As Southerners we had to have at least two meats. Just a turkey wouldn’t do, so we added a ham or possibly venison if my brother had been lucky on the hunt that year. My mom taught me more is better when it comes to sides and dessert. As I got older, I loved cooking with her, preparing the meal for the family and entertaining. We started with appetizers from the array of items I brought home — six or seven cheeses, always a mix of hard, soft, blue and bold, domestic and imported, with one or two types of charcuterie, olives, pickles, crackers and an exotic jam. We sipped wine as we snacked and cooked. I like to start with bubbles, so a nice bottle (or two, or three) of Cava or Prosecco would get us going. Later with dinner, we’d sit down with two bottles of wine, a white and a red. The white would be light, a dry Riesling from Alsace, France, or Germany, or a white Burgundy like Chablis or Meursault. The red would be a nice Burgundy like something from Domain Vincent Girardin. I am particularly fond of his Santenay, perhaps not as well known as other appellations in Burgundy but packing great quality for the price. And there was always French Champagne for dessert because nothing is better with cake and chocolate than Champagne.

Christmas was more traditional. My dad was Catholic and, until he became too ill to go, we went to midnight Mass on Christmas Eve. It was just my parents and I so we would unwrap the cheeses and other foods I brought home and bust into the case of wine, which was a beautiful mix of my favorites from around the world. There was enough to enjoy after Mass when we opened the gifts, sipping a red wine, most likely Italian or Rhône, at that time of night. Brunch with the rest of the family the next day started with sparkling wine again, usually mimosas with baked Brie.

Today things are much different. The day before Thanksgiving is a workday, one of the busiest days of the year, and so is the day after. That shortens our holiday a bit but we celebrate with cheese and wine just the same. The lineup is less complicated, more to the point. This year we’ll be enjoying a delicate and delightful Cava, Mistinguett. It has bright acidity with lemon and pear notes and finishes dry, a must if you want to make it through the rest of the day. Garrotxa, a goat’s milk cave-aged cheese from the same region of Spain, is a good companion. The delicate white paste and grassy, mellow flavor are a great way to start off. Perrin Reserve Rosé, with strawberry and light watermelon notes from the southern Rhône Valley, goes well with everything. It will be around all day and make another appearance as a dinner choice. Now we include a few craft beers like Southern Pines Brewing Oktoberfest, golden hued with notes of clove and marzipan. It pairs well with Goat Lady Dairy’s Snow Camp and honey. Snow Camp is a combination goat and cow’s milk camembert-style made in North Carolina. The honey will be in the comb from R2 Apiary right here in Moore County. Some salty Marcona almonds roasted in sunflower oil make a nice compliment. The meal is a bit different, too, with fewer sides but still two meats. Rolling up with the turkey and ham this year will be K.Martini & Sohn Riesling from Alto Adige in the north of Italy. Aromatic and vibrant floral, with lime and peach stone fruit and nicely balanced acidity, it’s one of the best I’ve had in quite some time. This year I’m really feeling Italy and a great grape like Montepulciano is just the right weight, not too light, not too big to pair with ham, turkey, venison and potatoes in all forms. Marramiero Dama Montepulciano DOC 2016 has a nice balance of plum, briar berries and licorice with medium tannins and just enough oak aging to keep it bright and add structure.

Enjoy the wine and cheese with the people who really matter and, above all, be grateful.  PS

Angela Sanchez owns Southern Whey, a cheese-centric specialty food store in Southern Pines, with her husband, Chris Abbey. She was in the wine industry for 20 years and was lucky enough to travel the world drinking wine and eating cheese.

Wine Country

The Chardonnay Way

Finding the right fit for fall

By Angela Sanchez

There are as many reasons why so many people, in so many places, love chardonnay as there are, well, chardonnays. It’s highly adaptable and easily grown in many soil types and climates. It’s easily influenced by where it’s grown and by the winemaker’s hands, with as many styles and price points as its broad range of appeal would suggest. But does anyone really know what chardonnay should taste like? If we compare chardonnay-to-chardonnay (like apples-to-apples), there are styles ranging from Golden Delicious to Pink Lady to Granny Smith. If you like big, rich, round and citrus; or bold, oaky and tropical; or lean, mineral lemon-lime characters (my favorite), there is a chardonnay for you. Oak bomb, butter bomb, or classically elegant and restrained, chardonnays in all these forms, and more, are out there.

Chardonnay’s origin is in the Burgundy region of France, where I believe it’s at its very best. Burgundy is where you find chardonnay based on true terroir. In Chablis, a cool climate with limestone soil, the chardonnay is crisp, lean and clean. Minimal oak aging is used. Those who like Domaine Dauvissat use it as a complement to the natural flavors of chardonnay and to round out its natural acidity, pronounced by Chablis’ cool climate. Others, like Domaine Louis Michel & Fils, use no oak on any of their chardonnays, leaving them in their pure form, racy and mineral driven. A mix of soil types and elevation in Burgundy make the malleable chardonnay grape show different characteristics from one growing region to the next. In Meursault, chardonnay is rich, buttery with some honeyed notes, while in the neighboring region of Puligny-Montrachet, hazelnut, lemongrass and green apples are the primary characteristics. North of Burgundy in Champagne, we find chardonnay used as a blending grape in styles like brut and sec. Or it can stand alone in its yeasty, nutty, racy beauty in blanc de blanc, a 100 percent chardonnay. In regions with cooler climates and limestone-driven soils, chardonnay lends structure and backbone to the blends and bright, focused acidity to the blanc de blancs.

Chardonnay is grown all over the world, in warm climates, cool climates and those that have heavy coastal influences. Each country and region produces a chardonnay of a different flavor. Add the light or heavy hand of a winemaker and chardonnay becomes something else altogether. California chardonnay is a great example. Cooler climates in Northern California, like Carneros, produce chardonnay with higher acid and more structure than those from warmer climates in the south around Santa Barbara and Santa Lucia Highlands. Whether naturally higher in acid or more round and lush (depending on the growing region), the winemaker can greatly influence the wine as well. For many years winemakers in the New World were heavy-handed with oak “treatments,” or aging in barrels and manipulating the fermentation process, creating wines that were overly weighty, with buttery notes and vanilla, or predominantly oaky. Big, mostly over-the-top California chardonnay became the norm. Nowadays winemakers show more restraint with their influence on the wines, resulting in cleaner styles that allow consumers to taste a difference from region to region based on elevation, climate and soil — the terroir. The trend is due both to consumers’ move to a fresher, lighter style of chardonnay and to their consumption of imported chardonnay from areas like France and Italy. Winemakers are also keen to let their region, vineyard and their own house style show through rather than producing and manipulating chardonnay to be oaky, buttery and slightly sweeter.

Something about chardonnay has always reminded me of fall; maybe it’s the golden-hued color, like the turning leaves and afternoon autumn sun. With cooler weather, I still like to drink white wines, maybe just not as crisp and light as in late spring and summer — something with a bit more weight and viscosity. Enter chardonnay. As a personal preference I choose to drink Burgundy. If I’m going big on spending and style, I’ll choose a Chablis or Puligny Montrachet or, for something more budget-friendly and offering a lot of wine for the money, a selection from the Mâconnais or Côte Chalonnaise. As always, I add a cheese to snack on with the wine. Stick to the old saying “if it grows together it goes together.” Triple cream Brie, with fresh cream added during the production process, produces a spreadable butter-like cheese that matches nicely. Brillat-Savarin cheese made in the Burgundy region is a classic example of the triple cream style. Small wheels, about one pound in weight, made from cow’s milk with a bloomy white rind, resemble perfect little cakes when whole and fresh. Cut into them and you’ll find a delicate soft cheese with sweet butter and slightly nutty notes. A little stronger cheese, but still with the same elegance and beauty, is Delice de Bourgogne. The addition of cream fraiche to the cheese makes it even more decadent and luscious with added notes of mushrooms and earth. Not to mention it is a dream companion with Champagne.

As you ponder the rows and rows of chardonnay at your local wine shop, or the wine list at your favorite restaurant, be bold and try something new. If you always drink California chardonnay, try Burgundy. Or vice versa. Grab some triple cream Brie and you just might find a chardonnay style that’s right for you.   PS

Angela Sanchez owns Southern Whey, a cheese-centric specialty food store in Southern Pines, with her husband, Chris Abbey. She was in the wine industry for 20 years and was lucky enough to travel the world drinking wine and eating cheese.

Ask Me Another, Please

Here are a few of the usual suspects

By Angela Sanchez

Being a sales person in the wine industry for almost 20 years, and now working with my own wine program, I have fielded quite a few questions over the years. Here are a few of the most common:

What is your favorite wine?

I almost always drink rosé, almost every day, all year long. Mostly because, to me, it is the perfect balance between red and white wine and goes with just about anything you want to eat. My favorite red varietal is grenache. Whether it’s full-bodied, deep and full of the aromas of pencil lead from Priorat in Spain or blended to give Southern Rhône wines roundness, fruit forwardness and generosity on the palate, I love it. Anytime I am in the mood for a red wine to have with a nice steak or lamb dinner or just to have a nice glass, following rosé, I choose a nice grenache or a wine blended with it. Also, I always drink bubbles on Sunday. If not Champagne then something more budget-friendly, like Italian Prosecco or Cremant from France or dry styles of California sparking. Look for them to say brut on the label. I do have my favorite producers and regions for my favorite wine styles, but I always keep an open mind and eye to try new ones.

What wine should I serve at my party?

I like parties and wine and fun and, together, parties and wine are fun. I suggest wines that are crowd pleasers, that don’t need a lot of discussion and are easily enjoyed. Keep it simple. You want guests to have something they can feel comfortable with. Something sparkling because nothing says party, or fun, like bubbles. A red and a white. For the white, I recommend an easy drinking style with little or no oak used to age the wine. My favorites come from regions where you can find great value these days, like sauvignon blanc from South Africa or Chile, or a nice blend, usually grenache blanc and viognier, from the South of France. As far as red goes, I prefer something that has not seen a lot of oak aging. Great value areas where you get a lot of bang for your buck are Chile, Argentina and Spain. Try an Argentinian malbec, Chilean cabernet or Spanish grenache. For bubbles, the best bets for quality and price come from Prosecco from Italy and Cava from Spain. Also a nice choice, but a bit higher priced would be a sparkling wine from Napa, California, made using the traditional méthod champenoise.

How long will my wine last?

Are we talking about the bottle you just opened; the bottle your boss gave you for your birthday; or that bottle of 1996 Screaming Eagle Cabernet? If it’s the bottle you just opened, in my case, it wouldn’t last past tonight. If it’s the bottle your boss gave you as a gift and you aren’t familiar with the name, Google it. The winery will have a description and most likely tell you if it’s ready to drink now, within the next year, or hold, and for how long. If it’s a bottle of 1996 Screaming Eagle, it’s ready to drink, so drink it. If it is another bottle worthy of aging and collecting, please make sure to keep it somewhere cool, dry and out of direct sunlight. Aging times vary based on the varietal, style, vintage and producer. Some varietals naturally need longer to develop their full potential — think cabernet and merlot-based Bordeaux. The vintage and producer usually dictate aging. A great producer makes good wine even in a bad vintage, but a bad vintage can make lesser producers struggle to make a wine that can last over time and, as a result, it would need to be consumed young, or as a critic might say, now.

I am always happy to answer questions. I ask a lot of them myself. These are just a few of the frequent flyers. They have one common theme — drink what you like, when you like, and you won’t be disappointed.  PS

Angela Sanchez owns Southern Whey, a cheese-centric specialty food store in Southern Pines, with her husband, Chris Abbey. She was in the wine industry for 20 years and was lucky enough to travel the world drinking wine and eating cheese.

Summer’s Perfect Pairs

Taking advantage of August’s garden treasures

By Angela Sanchez

Summer is an abundant time, especially in the Sandhills. There’s an abundance of sun, heat, humidity and yummy produce. How amazing is it to eat a fresh, vine-ripened tomato in season? Heat-loving basil and oregano grow so rapidly you can’t pick them fast enough before they bolt. There’s sweet corn on the cob, lots and lots of zucchini, and yellow squash growing like weeds. Don’t forget the beautiful peaches so sweet and juicy we have to race the bugs for them. One of my personal favorites, the cucumber, is perfect this time of year, picked just before it gets too big and loses its sweetness. I love the way it protects itself from the blistering sun by hiding under its broad leaves and prickly vines.

My love of delicious, local summer produce is only equaled by my love of great wine and beer. So, naturally, I try to pair them as often and as well as possible. The following are some of my favorites, made with the goods we haul off our family farm, and using the cheeses and wines we love. They are simple and easily prepared without cooking. Let’s face it, who really wants to stand in the kitchen with an oven set at 450 or over a blistering outdoor grill when it’s already 95 and the humidity is 80 percent?

The summer tomato is one of nature’s most perfect fruits. Full of sweet, juicy flesh with a bright acidity, it needs a rich cheese like burrata, a fresh mozzarella with whole milk cream added. The rich and creamy fattiness of the cheese is a complement to the bright bite of the tomato. Slice the tomatoes and cheese thick and stack them or slice the tomato into pieces and set it alongside the burrata whole. Drizzle the best olive oil you can find over it. I suggest an herbal-infused or arbequina from Spain, with a pinch of sea salt like the solar-evaporated Sea Love Sea Salt from Wrightsville Beach. Add a crack or two of fresh ground black pepper. You can also use a flavored salt like smoked pepper or a citrus blend. The finishing touch is fresh basil and oregano cut and sprinkled to lend freshness and a peppery earthiness to the dish. Although not growing in season right now, you can toss in some of my favorite olives like the buttery green Castlevaltrano from Sicily to add a meaty richness. The accompanying wine needs to be clean, crisp and light. Gavi di Gavi of Italy has some weight and an almost oily mouthfeel along with a backbone of acidity. Some bright lemon and citrus notes make it a perfect pairing.

Zucchini can seem boring, but it can make a beautiful summer salad. Get it fresh and of the right size — at least the length of your hand and about 3/4 to 1 inch in diameter. A sharp vegetable peeler is all you need to make long slices, the more uneven the better. Lay them out on a large platter and drizzle with the same great Spanish olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper and top with basil and oregano. I like thyme here also. Shave Parmigiano-Reggiano over it, the more the better. Use Italian Parmigiano, not an imitation. A cheese planer is the easiest tool but grated is another option. For a wine pairing I prefer rosé. French or Italian is always good, but for this I like a Spanish rosé with a bit more weight, like Mas Donis. It is a blend of grenache and tempranillo, rose-violet in color, fruity and herbal but clean. It holds up nicely to the richness and saltiness of the Parmigiano-Reggiano, but it’s not too heavy to overpower the delicate zucchini.

Last but not least, the cucumber cannot be denied when it is at its peak in season. You could pickle it, but why not try it with feta and a great marinade? Slice into 1/4-inch slices and toss in an olive oil marinade with garlic, salt, pepper and herbs. You can make the marinade in a jar and shake to mix. Pour it over the cucumbers and let them sit for 30 minutes to an hour. The feta should be top quality like the goat’s milk feta from Paradox Farm. It can be cut into cubes and marinated the same way, tossing them together. If you prefer, switch out the cucumbers for ripe peaches. No need to marinate them. With the cucumber and feta I prefer a light, easy drinking beer like Duck Hook from Southern Pines Brewery. With either version — cucumber or peach — a delicate and balanced sparkling wine such as 1928 Prosecco from Italy with just a hint of sweet fruit and a dry finish is just right. If you want something a bit drier, the 100 percent pinot noir, Jean-Baptiste Adam Cremant Sparkling Rosé from the Alsace region of France is yeasty and vibrant and tastes like summer, with strawberry and peach notes.

As we meander our way through August’s heat, be sure to enjoy its abundant produce and try something new while doing it. Drink well and think about keeping it light and refreshing, but stylish enough to add to the flavors of the season.  PS

Angela Sanchez owns Southern Whey, a cheese-centric specialty food store in Southern Pines, with her husband, Chris Abbey. She was in the wine industry for 20 years and was lucky enough to travel the world drinking wine and eating cheese.

Wine Country

Wine Uncorked

It can be simple, easy and eco-friendly

By Angela Sanchez

Why not drink wine out of a can? Why not drink wine from a bottle with a screw cap or Stelvin closure? Maybe, even a keg? Before all of you confirmed cork devotees get too upset, I’m not talking about grand cru Burgundy or first growth Bordeaux or single vineyard California cabernet from Screaming Eagle. I’m talking about wine that is made to be consumed young — what some people refer to as table wine — without oak or bottle aging. It’s the stuff we everyday folk consume on a regular basis. It’s what we take on boats and road trips and keep chilled for the backyard barbecue and camping in the summer. It’s the wine we have in the fridge and on the rack in the kitchen for when a friend drops by and needs a friendly ear. Nothing serious, just a good bottle we enjoy.

Like a lot of people these days, I want convenience that’s also eco-friendly, but my primary reason for exploring alternative closures and vessels for wine is the cork itself. Harvested from cork trees grown in Portugal and then crafted into fitted closures for wine bottles, the cork contains living organisms that can go bad and “taint” the wine. It can happen as often as one in every 12 bottles. According to thekitchn.com, fungi which naturally reside in cork can come into contact with bleaches and other sterilization products found in wine cellars, tainting the wine and rendering it “corked.” Have you ever opened a bottle of wine that smelled and/or tasted like wet cardboard or gym socks? At home you might suffer through it and never purchase that wine again. At a restaurant you paid double, sometimes triple, the actual cost of the bottle and probably just decided you didn’t like the wine or simply chose the wrong bottle. But, no cork, no taint.

This, of course, doesn’t apply to high-end premium wines, single-sourced or from small, highly acclaimed biodynamic vineyards. I’m talking about that bottle you pick up for under $15. If you’re headed to the beach, boat or backyard this month, you want something that tastes good, fits in a cooler, chills quickly, stays that way, and is easily disposed of and recycled. And since you can’t ask the waiter to bring you another bottle, it helps if it’s not tainted. Convenience, taste and an eco-friendly container can all be achieved from wine with a screw cap, in a can, keg or even a box. Studies show, and I have confirmed through years as a wine professional, that screw caps and Stelvin closures keep wine fresher longer, creating less waste. You might even want to avoid the bottle altogether. No glass on the beach or by the pool, and who wants to dig around for a wine tool? One can of wine is equivalent to a half bottle. Coolers are made for cans and, at the end of the day, cans are recycled at an 80 percent rate compared to 20 percent for glass.

Let’s face it, wine can be snobby. A lot of people don’t even like to drink beer out of a can. To each his own. If nothing but a bottle with a cork will do, fine. But it is summer, so don’t be afraid to try something for fun that’s also convenient and friendly to the environment.

Keep your snacks simple too. Easy wine and summer outdoor activities require cheese with great flavor but not too serious aging or washing. Snacking cheese, not thinking cheese. Try a great aged cheddar like Tickler from England with a bit of crunch from whey protein or a Southern classic like pimento cheese. All Southern cooks have their own recipe, usually a blend of cheddars, pimentos, Duke’s mayonnaise and maybe pickled jalapeños or olives. Easily shared and great with simple crackers or used as a dip with celery, pimento cheese is the perfect summer snack. Whatever you choose, it’s July, summer is here, keep it simple and easy.  PS

Angela Sanchez owns Southern Whey, a cheese-centric specialty food store in Southern Pines, with her husband, Chris Abbey. She was in the wine industry for 20 years and was lucky enough to travel the world drinking wine and eating cheese.

A Sense of Place

Savoring the heart and soul

By Angela Sanchez

If you, or anyone you know, has ever traveled in Europe, you may be familiar with the feeling that the wine and food seem to taste better, certainly different, than if you mimicked the same thing in the United States. It may be because you’re on vacation or with special people in your life, but it’s also that you are enjoying a tradition of food or wine original and unique to that place. That is terroir, the French word for earth, land, even soil. It is the component that is the heart, the soul, the makeup of where the grapes are grown that eventually make a wine what it is. Wine expert Hugh Johnson describes terroir as an essential part of what makes a great wine. It is the character and personality, combined with weather and winemaking techniques, that are distinct and apart from wines of other regions produced from the same grapes. The same can be said for other agricultural products that are unique to a place. Both wine and food can have terroir, but does it matter if they do?

If you want a sense, or taste, of where the wine is produced — a feel for what that particular area is like — then terroir matters. If you simply want to enjoy a good quality product, then it probably doesn’t. Terroir acts as a point of reference, a standard. It’s a way to delineate a wine made from chardonnay grapes anywhere in the world, at any price point, from one that is specific to a place, as distinctive as the artist who made it. Some of the best, and best-known, examples of terroir are the wines of Burgundy. Chardonnay from Burgundy, France, is full of terroir. Puligny-Montrachet, Chassagne-Montrachet and Chablis are all produced from the same grape but could not be more different. Chablis is limestone and vigor, and Chassagne is round and lush. Any great chardonnay from any other growing region in the world will use the wines from this area as a model for their wine. If allowed to be a true product of their environment — the vineyards are not over-cropped and the winemaker doesn’t have a heavy hand — these wines will also exhibit terroir. Two great examples are Chateau Montelena Chardonnay from Napa, California, bearing classic lemon vibrancy and cream, and Hamilton Russell Chardonnay from Hemel-en-Aarde, South Africa, which is hugely influenced by the sea and elevation. Both are beautiful expressions of their own place. They distinguish themselves from others based on their environment, soil, climate — their terroir. Wines rich in terroir are often small production and carry a hefty price based on the fact that they are produced from very specific areas, often one vineyard that could be only a few acres.

Does a wine that is produced for sheer enjoyment and to fit a “crowd-pleaser” style or a consumer-friendly price make it any less of a wine? No. It’s like a tomato produced in a hothouse in winter or a cheese produced in a factory. Each serves a great purpose — widespread, reasonably priced enjoyment. They don’t, however, have the terroir of a fresh burrata cheese crafted in the Puglia region of Italy or a San Marzano tomato from Sicily. These accessible wines have a “style,” often an imitation of an original, that has been adapted to make it more approachable both in taste and price. Nothing wrong with that. But, it’s important to recognize and appreciate products with true terroir, if for no other reason than to experience something of their craft, made from the land, with a true sense of place. It’s a way to connect to tradition and small farms. You don’t have to look far to find them. There are some affordable examples produced from single-vineyard sites in California, Oregon and Washington.

You can find great examples of terroir in food, too, like grass fed beef from Argentina and John’s Island South Carolina tomatoes. Two of my favorite cheese examples are Meadow Creek Appalachian from Virginia and Humboldt Fog from California. The first is a natural rind tomme-style cow’s milk cheese exhibiting grassy, herbal buttery flavors with a bright yellow hue. The second is a bloomy rind goat’s milk cheese from Humboldt County made by Cypress Grove. It is famous for its distinct blue vegetable ash and it’s tangy earth sharpness. Both exhibit nuances from the land where the herds graze.

Terroir does matter. Sometimes it’s expensive and hard to find, but always worth the search.  PS

Angela Sanchez owns Southern Whey, a cheese-centric specialty food store in Southern Pines, with her husband, Chris Abbey. She was in the wine industry for 20 years and was lucky enough to travel the world drinking wine and eating cheese.

Celebrate Sauvignon Blanc

Drink your herbs, minerals, melons or limes

By Angela Sanchez

I love all types of wine. Rosés, whites and reds. For several reasons, one of my all-time favorite whites is sauvignon blanc. I like dry tart fruit, minerality, acidity and interesting flavor profiles in white wine. I also like a wine that is a chameleon, widely different in style depending on where the grapes are grown and the wine is produced.

Sauvignon blanc, meaning “wild white,” originates in the Loire Valley and Bordeaux, in France. Today it is grown all over the world with some 250,000-plus vineyards from France and Italy to New Zealand, South Africa, Chile and the United States. It is distinguished in character from other well-known white wines because of the many styles it takes on and flavor profiles it gets from aromatic compounds, called pyrazines, found in the grapes themselves. In regions where the grapes are picked early, the flavors are more lime, Granny Smith apple and malic acidity. If they’re picked later when the grapes are riper, it produces more melon, apricot and pear aromas and flavors, rounder with a bit more structure.

Growing regions that give the wines short oak aging produce sauvignon blancs with a hint of vanilla and coconut aromas. In France, a sauvignon blanc from the Loire Valley, which has a continental climate, is racy, herbaceous with lime and tart green apple flavors. It is also distinguished by its minerality that comes from the chalkiness of the soil. The climate, soil and location give it its “terroir.”

In New Zealand, the wine can range from having lime, asparagus and green apple notes to melon and white peach with an underlying herbaceousness of dill and basil. The best are those that blend grapes from both the North and South islands that vary widely in geography and distinguishing characteristics. Think of painting on a blank canvas. If you used all one color — a vineyard that produces grapes with racy acidity and lime character — you would get a nice painting. If you use a blend of similar colors that all possess something that makes them distinctive — a coastal vineyard offering peach and bell peppers and a vineyard from a high elevation that offers gooseberry — you get a painting that has depth and contrast.

Travel to South Africa and you will find one of my favorite sauvignon blanc characteristics, capsicum, the green bite in jalapeños. Wine maker Neil Ellis says it is a result of the minerals and compounds in the soil that was once an ocean bed, coupled with the cool days and high elevations of the vineyards. Lemongrass and basil are common characteristics, too, making these wines great with the Cape Malay style of cuisine — a blend of Indonesian, Malaysian and East African cooking. Think super aromatic curries from spice and herb blends.

So, what pairs with this crazy chameleon of a wine? Believe it or not, asparagus. Good thing it’s fresh out of our Sandhills farms this time of year. Grilled chicken and pan-roasted halibut with herb sauce made with dill and basil are great pairings. Zucchini, spring onion and dishes with a little spice are perfect. As for my favorite, cheese, try an aged English cheddar. A more classic pairing is goat cheese made with an eatable bloomy rind tasting of earthiness and grass with a tangy bite. A little age gives this style of cheese a softer, creamier, spreadable texture. North Carolina-made examples are Paradox Farm Hickory Creek and Goat Lady Dairy Sandy Creek. The former is a beautiful labor of love resulting in a creamy camembert style; the other bears a distinctive vein of blue vegetable ash under the rind and down the middle.

The first Friday of May is International Sauvignon Blanc Day. Grab some friends and a few bottles of sauvignon blanc from around the world, pair it with delicious goat cheese from right here in North Carolina and enjoy.  PS

Angela Sanchez owns Southern Whey, a cheese-centric specialty food store in Southern Pines, with her husband, Chris Abbey. She was in the wine industry for 20 years and was lucky enough to travel the world drinking wine and eating cheese.

Rosé and Chèvre All Day

The perfect pairing for spring

By Angela Sanchez

Spring is upon us. The colors are changing and the earth is waking up. The air is warmer and the days are longer. We want to enjoy nature and embrace the change of season. No matter if you are an old friend of rosé or meeting one of my favorite wines for the first time, it’s the perfect choice to embrace this time of year, representing something new, approachable, fresh, clean and light.

Rosé (France), rosato (Italy), rosado (Spain) — depending on what part of the world you are in — has been produced for centuries. It can be from a single varietal, like grenache or pinot noir, or a blend of two or more like cabernet and tempranillo. It ranges in color from a nearly clear pale pink to something darker, almost a fluorescent orange. In style, it can range from bone-dry, crisp and clean with a hint of minerality, to medium sweet or even sweet. The color will be lighter or darker depending on the amount of time — from just a few hours to no longer than a day — that the skins come into contact with the fresh pressed juice, a process known as maceration. Sometimes a less common method called saignée is used when lighter colored juice is removed from a red wine in the early stages of production and made into rosé. There is also a blending method where red and white wines are combined to make rosé, but it’s common only in the making of rosé Champagne or sparkling wine. A key component of rosé production is the lack of aging. It is made to be consumed young and fresh, perfect for spring when the new vintages start to arrive.

The history of rosé is long and varied. Until modern-day winemaking techniques were widely practiced, most of the world’s red wines were rosé in color rather than the ruby red we know today. One of the world’s most famous rosé producing regions, Provence, in the south of France, has been producing rosé for centuries. In the late 19th and throughout the 20th century Provence’s rosé production increased along with tourism and the culinary renown of the region. Today, the classic Provençal style of rosé is becoming more and more popular throughout the winemaking world. Extremely food-friendly, it’s dry, pale and almost skeletal in structure, with notes of dried apricots and brier fruit — strawberry and tart raspberry — with hints of thyme on the finish. Highly versatile, it’s perfect for a brunch of quiche and pastry; for snacks of cheese, olives and charcuterie; or with a dinner of spring greens salad with pea shoots, sweet peas, chèvre and mountain trout or young lamb roasted over a fire with new potatoes in bright green olive oil. This drier, cleaner, lighter-in-color style is currently the trend for rosé and it can vary widely in the varietal makeup of the wine. A decade ago a winemaker from a famous southern Rhône wine-producing family told me rosé should only be made from grenache grapes, or at least grenache should be the dominate grape in a blend. In the south of France, grenache yields those beautiful brier fruit, black cherry, dried herbs and spice notes and makes a great varietal for blending (especially with heavier varietals like syrah — also grown widely in the south of France), adding generosity and lightness to the wine. In Spain, tempranillo makes a slightly heavier style rosé on its own or when it’s blended with grenache. It’s dry and crisp with notes of orange and lime peel and different fruit markers like mandarin orange, kiwi and watermelon along with the familiar strawberry. In California the colors still vary from lighter to darker and varietals can range from grenache to pinot noir to cabernet sauvignon. Pinot noir-based rosés offer tart cherry and peach while a blend based on grenache will have a bit more acidity and notes of grapefruit and melon. Chile and Argentina are producing rosés from pinot gris to malbec. Varying widely in color and style, they range from light and crisp with a note of capsaicin to rich and dense with darker fruit notes like plum.

Of course rosé is great on its own but how much better and more fun is it to have with cheese? This time of year goat cheese, or chèvre, is at its best when sourced from small farms that let their herds graze on new tender grasses and leaves growing naturally. Spring means baby goats and baby goats mean milk. Mothers are birthing and feeding as well as providing for the farm to make cheese. The combination of a fresh spring diet and an abundance of milk makes for chèvre that has a tart, slightly herbaceous flavor with a light and creamy consistency. Rosé and chèvre are welcoming and made to enjoy while young and fresh. So grab a bottle of rosé, a bit of chèvre and find a blooming dogwood to sit under to enjoy the tastes of spring.   PS

Angela Sanchez owns Southern Whey, a cheese-centric specialty food store in Southern Pines, with her husband Chris Abbey. She was in the wine industry for 20 years and was lucky enough to travel the world drinking wine and eating cheese.