The July Edition
To existing members, it’s lovely to see you again and to the new, welcome!
It finally feels like summer and we’ve built this box of off-the-beaten-track wine, interesting farmhouse cheeses and craft charcuterie around that.
This month, we are diving into and celebrating some of our favourite producers and of course their tasty produce from Italy.
Based around a super exciting wine, these products are fresh and fit for the sunshine, so we hope you enjoy! (and that the sun stays out).
Whack the playlist on with the button below and let’s get going.
Wine Tasting
How to taste wine
The first step of assessing wine is looking at it
Wine snobs like to talk about the legs of wine. In all honestly, this is a bit of a waste of time.
The wine legs (or tears of the wine as the French refer to them) can give an indication of the alcoholic content of the wine. But it’s so difficult to be accurate with a reading from legs,
So we say just read the label!
For appearance, we only ever find it useful to note something if the colour is completely out of the ordinary i.e. it’s a really dark rose
The next step is to smell your wine.
Swirl the wine in the glass. Looks poncy but does release some aromas, and helps it not just smell like alcohol.
Broadly, smells can be broken into three categories.
Primary Aromas: grape-derivative and include fruits,
herbs, and floral notes.
Secondary Aromas: from winemaking practices and easiest to find in white wine. Examples include beer, cheese rind, or nuts.
Tertiary Aromas: from aging in bottle or oak. Normally savoury. Examples include roasted nuts, spices, vanilla, autumn leaves, tobacco, and leather.
Start broad. Is it fruity?
Red wine? Think of red, blue, and black fruits.
White wine? Think of citrus, orchard, or tropical fruits.
Once you’ve identified a scent such as citrus, you can now think if it’s more apple than lemon or more orange than lime.
This is all pretty personal to your own nose.
The same principle can be applied to floral and herb scents, but in our opinion, not many people can tell you the specific scent of geranium.
If you can detect herbs or floral notes, it’s a great start.
Wine Tasting
How To Taste Wine
Finally you get to actually taste the wine. Funnily enough though, tasting is predominantly to detect the structure of the wine.
Body: Think how differently skimmed milk, full-fat milk and cream coat the mouth.
Acidic: How much does it make your mouth drool?
Tannin: An annoying word but an easy one to detect. Imagine sucking on a teabag and how dry it would leave your mouth.
That’s tannin.
Dry or sweet? Tannin can trick you to think there’s no sweetness in a wine. Stick the tip of your tongue in as the best detector of sugar (probably not the done thing to do in a restaurant).
The final part of tasting a wine, is to come to a conclusion about it.
What type of wine did you just have and did you like it?
Was it too acidic or just a bit meh?
If you’ve just tried, for example, a Barolo, log that experience with that wine in your mind so that the next time you have a Barolo, you have a foundation of knowledge to judge it against.
The only way to really educate yourself is to drink more. Poor us.
Wine
Perusini Pinot Grigio Ramato
Name: Perusini Pinot Grigio Ramato
ABV: 14.5%
Grape: Pinot Grigio
Country and Region: Italy, Veneto, San Biagio
Winemaking: Organic
Not your standard pinot grigio!
A four-day long pre-fermentation cold maceration (soaking in tanks) enables Perusini to extract the colour from the grape skins while keeping the delicate fruity flavours intact.
Tasting notes of Strawberry, Tropical Fruit and Minerals.
Medium bodied with intense fruit flavours and fragrances. Specifically, notes of strawberry and freshly picked tropical fruits.
Sweetness (dry to sweet) 1-5: 3
Acidity (low to high) 1-5: 3
Tannin (low to high) 1-5: 2
Body (light to full) 1-5: 3
Producer
Perusini
Run by 3 brothers in the North East of Italy!
Right on the Slovenian border in North East Italy, 3 brothers (Carlo, Tommaso and Michele) run the Perusini winery making some of the most elegant, subtle and certainly gastronomic wines you’re likely to find.
This wine comes from the grapes of their most precious plot located on the top of mount San Biagio, which has a north-east exposure.
A four-day long pre-fermentation cold maceration (soaking in tanks) enables Perusini to extract the colour from the grape skins while keeping the delicate fruity flavours intact.
When the Pinot Grigio grapes are crushed and the skins are allowed to spend time with the juice, a coppery colour results in a distinct wine style called ramato. ‘Ramato’ comes from the word ‘rame’ which means ‘copper’ in Italian.
Cheese 1
Tartu
Age: 30 Days
Country + Region: Italy, Valtaleggio
Milk Type: Cows
Pasteurised: Yes
Strength Of Cheese: 3
Style Of Cheese: Semi-Soft
Vegetarian: No
Texture: 2
Tina and Marco Arrigoni tell their story of the family business:
“When most of the farmers moved to the plains in the 70s, our father continued to work in the Taleggio Valley and mature cheese in our small home cellars. He refined a method, working on excellent quality local products.
We learned this job from him and we have always been trying to improve ourselves. We are strongly convinced that we can do something important together, both for us and for the Taleggio Valley”.
Although on the outside Tartù resembles the best known of washed-rind Lombard cheeses, the inside of this unique cheese conceals a precious secret: truffles. The unmistakable and unique avor of black truffle blends perfectly with the aromas and flavours of aged cheese to grant this traditional cheese a unique twist.
The slightly yellow paste is dotted with morsels of truffle. Delicate and supple on the palate, this cheese represents a balanced combination of intense and sophisticated flavours.
Cheese 2
Casatica
Age: 8 Weeks
Country + Region: Italy, Bergamo
Milk Type: Buffalo
Pasteurised: Yes
Strength Of Cheese: 2
Style Of Cheese: Semi-Soft
Vegetarian: No
Texture: 2
Produced by the Gritti family in Bergamo, Italy.
In the hilly landscape of Parco del Serio, Bergamo, you can find Bruno Gritti and the Buffalo farm of Quatttro Portoni.
Where there is Buffalo, one would normally think of Mozzarella, but here Bruno has created a small range of modern buffalo cheeses inspired by their traditional cousins.
The subtle creamy flavour has a distinctive sweet-meatiness that is both delicious and moreish!
A semi-mature cheese (around 8 weeks old), with a supple, almost ‘springy’ texture and a taste that is rounded but still delicate and creamy, thanks to the gentle water buffalo milk from which it is made.
Cheese 3
Yorkshire Pecorino Fresco
Age: 30 Days
Country + Region: United Kingdom, Yorkshire (oops)
Milk Type: Ewe
Pasteurised: Yes
Strength Of Cheese: 3
Style Of Cheese:
Semi-Soft
Vegetarian: No
Texture: 2
Produced by Mario, this is what he has to say:
“Hi, my name is Mario. I was born in Vienna to an Italian father and an Austrian mother. From 6 months old I was brought up by the sea in Sardinia. My Papa is a fisherman who has always encouraged my love of good fresh produce.
At Yorkshire Pecorino we are a small scale, award-winning artisan cheese maker. You will not find us in your large super markets. We genuinely do want our focus and dedication to be on each of our cheeses, made to perfection on an individual basis, where quality really does come first. I get up at around 3am each day to start the process of making the cheese, in small batches then individually moulded and cared for until they are ready to be enjoyed. Nothing is rushed. I ensure we only use the very best ingredients, where possible sourced as local to our dairy in Leeds as possible. I personally hand pick the supplier of our Ewes milk, to ensure that they feel as strongly about the welfare and wellbeing of the animals as I do. If the Ewes are well cared for, it shows in the quality of the milk, which in turn ensures the cheese I can supply to you is as good as it can be.”
Yorkshire Pecorino Fresco, is a young cheese from the producers’ range. This one is an award winner. Through the reduced ageing process, this cheese is creamy soft with a yoghurt flavour. They allow the Yorkshire Pecorino Fresco to mature for 30 days using pasteurised local ewes milk and animal rennet.
This Yorkshire Pecorino Fresco has won numerous awards, not least: Super Gold World Cheese Awards; Gold International Cheese Award and Gold Artisan Cheese Award. This is one sure to please any cheese lover.
Charcuterie
The Deli Society Italian Trio
The Deli Society partners with artisan producers that put animal welfare first.
Country & Region: Italy, Emilia-Romagna
The Deli Society partners with artisan producers that put animal welfare first. Produced in partnership with a fourth-generation family-owned business.
Prosciutto di Parma is special for lots of reasons. It can only be produced from the hind legs of specially selected heritage breed pigs raised to the highest standards, on which they are monitored, inspected, traced and approved by the Consorzio.
Producers can only be located around Parma, within the Emilia Romagna region of Italy, where the mountain air is unique and gives a sweet, dry and aromatic flavour to the hanging hams.
The Coppa is obtained from the neck fillet, cured for at least two months, which develops subtle but unique characteristics.
Salame Brianza is another safeguarded recipe, controlled by a consortium to ensure its quality. Wine, pepper and garlic create this truly moreish salami.