phanaerozoic

Day 10 – California Riesling and Double Gloucester

The Johannisberg Riesling grape is a wonderful berry, yielding a fragrant, delightfully fruit-filled wine that can run from dry to semi-sweet to sweet, but always a special treat. This California Riesling proved to be true to the variety, slightly sweet, a pale light lemonade color, deliciously fruity, with a tinge of that apricot-nectar flavor I particularly treasure in Rieslings. I am most familiar with German and Washington State Reislings, but found this example from California very pleasant. That apricot fruit hint fit as well the lovely apricot color of the Double Gloucester cheese. A bit of sunshine on a mostly cloudy December day. This was my first taste of Double Gloucester but won’t be the last. A slightly firm exterior, giving way to a texture that was creamy on the verge of flaky, very satisfying both in mouthfeel, fragrance, and taste. A right proper pairing to explore further in other incarnations of milk and grape and locality or origin.

We set out for our walk today with visions of the high 60s temperature I had experienced as I returned from my doctor’s office trip, only to find the cold front had just arrived, with blustery north winds and temperature already in the 50s. A quick duck indoors for a hoody and sweater, and we were off again. Our path takes us south first, so that initial brawling brute had moved on by the time we turned back north and our trip home was much more pleasant. Bracing, as the Brits might say, as here we and Old Earth went on, pirouetting towards the year’s shortest day.

~Roy Beckemeyer, 11 December 2021