Last Thursday, I was with the bloggers at the 51th wine and cheese tasting event. These events are organised by ASBO (Association of the Bloggers in Oltenia) and DictionarCulinar.ro.
The wines were presented to us by the owner of Vinju Mare domains, mr. Ion Girnita, and the matching cheeses were introduced by Daniel Botea, authorized cheese taster, initiator and organiser of these events.
Vinju Mare winery is located in Mehedinti county, which is in the south-western corner of Romania, just above the Danube. They have started their activity in 2000 and in 2001 they had their first harvest. And yesterday we had the pleasure to taste a wine from their 1st harvest.
We also found out that in the good old times, the soil in the area was sandy and perfect for white wines. But over time the clima has changed significantly and so now the soil is perfect for red wines. The interesting thing I found out about the winery is that their wines won silver medals in Portugal and USA.
On Thursday, we were delighted to sample 4 wines from the “Prince Vlad” series: Chardonnay, Feteasca Neagra (Romanian Incense), Merlot & Cabernet Sauvignon.
In other words, we sampled 1 white and 3 red wines. That’s a first for me, with mostly red wines. Anyway, they were each paired with the right type of cheese:
- Prince Vlad Chardonnay + Havarti Castello
- Prince Vlad Romanian Incense + Kashkaval Delaco Sofia
- Prince Vlad Merlot + Grand Blue Delaco
- Prince Vlad Cabernet Sauvignon + Grana Padano Delaco D’Exceptie
My favourite combination this time was the 1st pairing: Prince Vlad Chardonnay & Havarti Castello. I actually liked the 4th pairing pretty much as well but, given the chance, I will always choose a white/rose wine over a red one. I will be very surprised if I will ever choose a red wine over the white/rose ones, and I mean reallllly surprised :)).
The Chardonnay was cultivated for the 1st time at Vanju Mare. Their Chardonnay wines will delight you with their special suppleness, fruitiness, well-integrated oak notes, harmonious composition and a good balance between components. It’s a dry wine, light and green-ish yellow in colour. It can be associated with any kind of dishes, starting with those based on fish and seafood, white meat, pork, desserts.I loved it, both by itself and paired with the Havarti cheese. But also in combination with the grilled chicken and coleslaw salad.
Havarty Castello is an aged cheese, which is my favourite type of cheese. So now im glad I’ve added another cheese to my favourites list.
It was created by Hanne Nielsen, a Danish woman who travelled throughout Europe to learn cheesemaking techniques. When she returned home, she created a washed-rind cheese and named it “Havarthi” after her family farm. She is said to have also created the Tilsit cheese with cumin, for King Christian IX of Denmark.
Made from fresh cow milk and aged for minim 2-3 months, after the ageing process the cheese becomes a little harder, crumbly and crunchy. It’s pale yellow in colour. The texture is rich and creamy, and it has some tiny delicate holes. Havarti’s aroma is of fresh butter. It can be both sliced and grilled and, except for wine, it can be paired with fruits. They say that, as this cheese ages, it produces more of a hazelnut smell. Maybe if I knew about it I would have noticed it, otherwise I can’t say I noticed a specific smell to it, except some acidity. I would say the taste is also buttery, pretty round and slightly acidic too, which matched very well the smoothness of the Chardonnay wine.
The event took place at the same place as last time, Milano C House, a nice restaurant in the center of the city. I liked the salon where we met. Stylish, green, lush and spacious, with big windows letting in the natural light during the day and allowing you to admire the city’s lights in the evening. Their menu is varied and rich, offering something for basically everyone no matter what wine they choose. This time I had grilled chicken breast with coleslaw salad. Ah, and this time I also stayed for desert: a great cake with fresh apple, wall nuts, whipped cream and crumble.
The whole evening was very socially active, non-stop talking and liaising. And so I must admit I kind of missed taking pics of the food I ate. Or any pics for that matter :)).
My main reason for going to these events is hardly ever the wine or the cheese, obviously. But always to joy of being with my fellow bloggers, friends and colleagues. And so I always make sure to savour these evenings. Here is a pic to record these moments:
Hoping to see you on the next one, I say “CHEERS” to you all and let’s all have a great month of May (even though I started it with the flu :()!
Positive-Mind-4-Life 