But taking that pairing a step further are two Central Otago businesses, who are not so much matching their cheese with wine, they are actually combining the two. One handcrafted cheese, some local Pinot Noir – and voila you have a classic combination in one mouth watering product. It’s the best of both worlds, a cheese that not only has the marbled effect of being combined with the wine, but also the taste of two distinctive products all in one.
Given the tough times the wine industry has undergone in recent years, it is not surprising that winemakers have begun looking outside the square for new marketing tools. For John and Chris Cockroft of Clyde Village Vineyard overlooking the mighty Clutha River, they have discovered an extremely novel one.
The Cockrofts learned, through family, of a wine-soaked Italian cheese being sold in the world-famous Borough Market near Southwark Cathedral in London. They discussed the feasibility and technique with Robin Greer, who with his wife, Lois, is the proprietor of Retro Organics at Tuturau in Eastern Southland. He believed he could produce a cheese made with Pinot Noir wine and not just by soaking the cheese over a long period.
The Greers have no problems dealing with new concepts. They have come from sharemilking to now operating their own organic dairy foods plant and marketing their dairy products all around New Zealand.
While the method developed to produce marbled Pinot Noir cheese is still a secret between the Greers and the Cockrofts, Robin does admit that the Cockrofts’ Clyde Village Pinot Noir is added to a specially selected cheddar cheese.
Robin himself describes the end product as “a real wine lover’s cheese”. And despite the warnings he had from experts he talked to, he found the process of blending a lot easier than he had been led to believe.
The cheese takes about six months to mature before it is ready to be eaten. By that stage, it is marbled throughout with the distinctive colours of Pinot Noir and what is more important, there is a real wine flavour—and not just a hint on the palate.
Retro Organics are now marketing the cheese throughout New Zealand and the Greers believe there is a market for it among selective cheese consumers and wine buffs. They expect it to also appeal to consumers, wanting “something different”.
