if he has a recreational interest in the wine, too.The Ports were the usual commercial tasting selection of the First Estate Ruby Reserve, the 2004 LBV, 2001 Vargellas and the 10 y/o tawny. I'll attempt to post some tasting notes about them, but what struck me was how much nicer the Ruby Reserve is than the LBV. Both on the nose and in the mouth it is much more vibrant a fruit-filled, almost reminding me (on the nose) of a young VP, whilst in the mouth there is little of the excessive heat which can mar other Rubies. The LBV was, by contrast, underwhelming and definitely not worth the premium. The Vargellas was quite disappointing, but then I haven't tried anything from 2001 which I have liked.
The pairings all seemed pretty good to me and were as follows (with apologies to the real cheese aficionados on
for my notes):Ruby: Tunworth, a Camembert-style soft cow's milk cheese from Hampshire and the 2006 Supreme Champion cheese of Great Britain. I liked the texture and the creaminess but there is a strong flavour of cabbages which appealed less to me.
LBV: Dorstone, an ashed-rolled soft goat's milk cheese from Herefordshire produced by Neal's Yard. Quite a mellow cheese (notably un-"goaty") but with strong acidity, slightly nutty from the ashes. Caroline, who is quite serious about goat's cheese, thought that this was fantastic.
Vargellas: Colston Bassett Stilton. This was a Neal's Yard variation of their standard recipe which, apparently, is pierced less and so is less blue. I saw some sense in this since the none-blue parts of the cheese are quite nice but I just find Stilton to be too salty to be really enjoyable.
Tawny: Montgomery's Cheddar. This was my favourite: a fantastic texture; slightly creamy, slighty crystalline and with a flavour that was not too overpowering but subtle and nutty. Great stuff; is anyone up for a Port and cheddar evening when we eat our way through a whole one?
