Totally cheesy tasting with a very English flavour
We are often asked about pairing our Poulton Hill Vineyard wines with food. Although we are great advocates of drinking the wine you like with any type of food (or on its own) we thought we would challenge ourselves to find some good matches. This was, I must say, great fun, very delicious and we ended up with some surprisingly fantastic pairings.
Our “Think Local, Drink Local” motto meant that we wanted to focus heavily on pairing our English wines with English produce. To kick things off, we started with all things cheese. We lined up Poulton Hill’s Rosé, Bacchus, Arlington White, Special Reserve and Phoenix wines and paired them with a variety of English cheeses.
We started with our award-winning Bacchus white wine. It has grapefruit at the forefront and hints of lychee on the palate. The Devon Blue cheese paired deliciously with the citrus and tropical notes of the Bacchus, which brought out hints of caramel and occasional spicy notes in the cheese. We also found that the Bacchus was a great match with the well-known, semi-hard Cornish Yarg. The wine’s zippy acidity was able to cut through the fatty nature of this crumbly cheese.
Our Arlington White wine is medium dry and brings out the richer and creamier flavours of cheese. This made it a great match for the Dorstone Goats Cheese, which is light and fluffy in texture with bright, citrusy flavours and gentle acidity. Dorstone was also a great match for our Rosé.
Poulton Hill’s Special Reserve is reminiscent of a classic French Sauvignon. Its lychee, nettle and gooseberry notes were able cut through the flavour of St Jude – a cow milk cheese with a dense lactic core – without being overwhelmed.
Our Phoenix white wine is crisp and wonderfully balanced, bursting with gooseberry, pear and creamy apple. It paired really well with Royal Basset Blue, which is made not far from the vineyard, in Wiltshire. This soft cheese is packed with flavour but not overpowering, it was simply heaven.
The Rose and Crown in Clapham also held a wine and food tasting, using solely Poulton Hill Vineyard Wines. To see which English food they paired with our wines, take a look at the menu in the picture.
If you would like to talk to us about our wine, why not pop in to see us at the Cellar Door or email info@poultonhillestate.co.uk.
