Paxton & Whitfield Cheese and Fizz evening London

For any cheese lover that has yet to hear about Paxton & Whitfield then you really must put this name on your radar and go investigate! Britain’s leading cheesemonger for over 200 years (since 1979), with proud Royal Warrants to its name and a wonderful selection of cheese, hampers, gifts, wines, Academy of Cheese training programme, cheese society and much more within four outlets across the UK (Jermyn Street & Cale Street in London, Stratford upon Avon and Bath).

Having experienced many fine cheese from Paxton & Whitfield it was really no hard decision to suggest that we hold a fizz and cheese tasting on their premises in Jermyn Street London with a selection of industry guests to include Michael Edwards, Andrea Rinaldi (UK Sommelier Association), Daniela Paiva (Brazilian food critic), Peter Fiori (exec chef Coutts Bank), Ali Vyse (Cubitt House pub group), Olivia Boodle (Berry Brothers & Rudd).

An impressive line up of guests within what many would see being the Willy Wonka’s Factory for cheese lovers thus called for some fine sparkling wines to compete with the glorious and rich flavours we were all about to sample – Cue Glass of Bubbly and some Award winning wines for pairing:

Wine	Cheese
Halfpenny Green Estate, Brut, 2014, England	Golden Cross   *Top match*
Pierre Trichet, Champagne, L’Heritage, France	Langres
La Montina, Millesimato Brut, 2011, Italy	Parmesan
No.1 Family Estate, Assemble, New Zealand	La Tur                  *Top match*
Medot Brut 48, Slovenia	Beaufort  (Caerphilly as well but the Beaufort worked better) *Top Wine*
Villarnau, Brut reserva, Cava, Spain	Gorgonzola Dolce

Most of the wines on show had gained a Silver Medal for the category of Gastronomic at The World’s Finest Glass of Bubbly Awards 2017 so this put us in good company for pairing with the array of cheeses on show. The combinations were mostly to die for with the rich and creamy cheese and the cleansing and fruity sparkling wine flavours sharing an orchestra of taste sensations in the palate. For me the overall winner for the pairing was the English Sparkling Wine and Halfpenny Green Estate Brut 2014 with the Golden Cross:

“The tasty and creamy cheese from Gold Cross works perfectly well when paired with Halfpenny Brut 2014 – The initial green and red apple burst of flavours from the wine hits you and then quickly fades away in to a creamy and fruity taste sensation both tempting you to taste more and cleansing the palate – A fantastic combination.” Christopher Walkey

The stand out wine for the evening getting most of the votes was the Slovenian Brut 48 sparkling wine from Medot:

“Here is a reason to explore Slovenian sparkling wines, Medot gives such a tremendous example of the flavours that can be gained from this somewhat yet undiscovered sparkling wine region. The biscuit and ripe yellow stone fruit aromas draw you in to the smooth and in depth flavours of the wine that reaches out at you with creamy, toasty, fruity notes.” Christopher Walkey

With such a successful launch Fizz and Cheese tasting at Paxton & Whitfield it is no wonder that we will now look to continue these unique events enabling guests to enjoy not only fabulous cheese, but also a variation each time of awards winning sparkling wines from around the world – Interested in joining us for the next event? Please get in touch via: info@glassofbubbly.com