phanaerozoic

Day 16 – California Pinot Grigio and Gouda with Red Pesto

The last tasting of Pinot Grigio was with Mediterranean Gouda on Day 5; Gouda with red pesto was previously tried with Chardonnay on Day 3 and with Raspberry wine on Day 8. So this is another match-up. Fruitier than the Chardonnay, much less sweet than the Raspberry, the P. Grigio was a fine match as well, sort of bridging between the other two, the fruitiness enhancing the sweet tomato and red pepper notes of the cheese, but not bringing them to the fore the way the sweeter wine had done, so this was an interesting group of pairings.

Tomorrow will be a week before Christmas Eve, our family’s traditional gift exchange day, so we will begin the cookie baking, a batch of labor-of-love-intensive Lebkuchen, and a batch of chocolate chip cookies, especially for brother-in-law Jay. The Lebkuchen dough needs to spend a day in the fridge maturing (a molasses-based heavy dough), so it will be assembled on Friday, then all the baking will be done on Saturday. Other specialties under prep by our daughter Lori and her husband Chris, lots of homemade cookies and candy, then our family tradition of pizza for Christmas Eve. Here is a photo of Lebkuchen from previous years just to whet everyone’s appetite. And a copy of the recipe just in case.

~Roy Beckemeyer, 16 December, 2021