Wine and Cheese

I picked up the grape pumice last Wednesday. Got Claire excited to go to the winery with the toys. That and she can look at the big bathtub (Senaca and Cayuga lakes). We got 2 buckets of Pinot Noir seeds and skins. Smelled great. Marty offered Reisling pumice too (they make a great one), but I'm thinking there has to be a reason that the cheesemakers used only reds. Tannins maybe?

I made four tomme wheels. I brined them a little longer with the idea that the pumice will suck some of the salt out of it. I will brine normal and then dry salt for the Cabernet Franc.

We will open the pails/crocks just before Christmas and see what I made. Hopefully it will not be grape soup.

I talked to Steve at the Brewster Inn. He figures that the cheese cave will be the next wine cellar. I think he is right. A little smellier, but a great complement to the wine cellar.

I am trying to think about the best way to tackle the white wine rind treatments. A couple of ideas. One to wash the rind like in the Appenzellar, or I read about this goat cheese where they pour the wine in the bottom of a glass jar and place the cheese on a rack above it. I'll have to do both and see which one is the best. A vidal blanc, ice wine or something in that vein will be the choice. Marty says they bottle or break into the new wines in a month or so...

A tomme is a tomme. Every cheesemaker in the US seems to have one. I am trying to do something with my tomme that is very NY. Like wine and cheese. Maybe I'll go to Beak and Skiff and wash with their awsome cider... Mmm. My mom will like that one... Apples and cheese...