Winter Cheese Board & Holiday Wine Box
The holiday season is here! With travel being extremely limited and typical holiday parties canceled or going virtual, we are left with small gatherings at home with only a few close family or friends. For some, this may be a breath of holiday fresh air, a calm holiday season, at home. Small doesn’t mean sacrificing less holiday spirit though! To help keep your holiday spirits high, we collaborated with Salut Wine Studio to bring you some holiday entertaining inspiration with a holiday cheese board and Spanish wine pairings to celebrate the season.
The Barcelona Edit Holiday Wine Box is 36€
Order yours now!
CLICK HERE
Available from December 2nd – February 2, 2021
*Note: Box does not include cheese.
How to Make the Winter Cheese Board
To create the Winter cheese board at home you don’t need a lot of items or to spend a lot of money.
- Large platter or large cheeseboard
- Small bowls
- Small jars or vases
- Green grapes
- Green apples
- Green olives
- Almonds or any variety of nuts
- 3 or 4 kinds of cheese
- Honey
- Baguette
- Variety of crackers
- White flowers
- Rosemary
- Wine
The Cheese Selection
1. Soft, fresh goat cheese
Recommended Pairing: Light, earthy red, like Mencia.
While rolls of soft goat cheese will do the trick, we really love an herb-crusted goat cheese that you can cut into pretty triangles. The herbs are a great pairing with Spain’s light, earthy reds (Mencia, anyone?) and they add great texture. Goat milk cheeses provide a nice acidity and often a floral character that pairs really well with cava and young aromatic white wines.
2. Creamy cow cheese
Recommended pairing: Oak-aged white, like white Riojas or Priorats
A rich, buttery Camembert provides the platform for a sprinkling of fresh rosemary leaves and pairs beautifully with our recommended white wines. If you want to stick to a Spanish cheese, we recommend trying something like Arzúa, which hits all the same creamy rich notes. These very soft cheeses melt quickly, so if you’re going to cut them, wait until just before serving.
3. Hard sheep cheese
Recommended pairing: Big tannic red wines
There’s no end to the options for this category! We’ve got tons of beautiful hard cheeses here in Spain, from Manchego to Mahón to Idiazábal. These are made from sheep’s milk, but also sometimes cow or goat or a blend. You can choose from softer, semi-cured options to the very aged cured versions, which are salty, nutty, oily, and rich. You can branch out into smoked and even truffled versions if you want to get fancy.
The Wine Selection
1. El Grillo y La Luna 12 Lunas Tinto 2017 – 52% Cabernet Sauvignon, 32% Tempranillo, 13% Garnacha, 3% Syrah – D.O. Somontano
We love the philosophy behind this winery which minimizes the use of pesticides and uses minimal intervention in the winemaking. This factor enables the life of the crickets (grillos) that live in the vineyard and give this winery its fabled name. The twelve moons refer to the lunar cycle. Their 12 Lunas tinto is a ‘coupage’ made from Tempranillo, Garnacha, Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon, in percentages that vary each year. This vintage has spent 9 months in second and third use French oak barrels, previously used in the aging of their first wine, Grillo. On the nose it is fruity, with toasted nuances from its barrel aging. Even so, it is fresh on the palate, with very good acidity. An easy wine for everyday drinking.
2. Editaria Via Edetana Blanc – 70% White Grenache & 30% Viognier – D.O. Terra Alta
Via Edetana Blanc is one of our bestselling white wines. Made from White Grenache grapes over forty years old and a small percentage of early harvested Viognier, it strikes a wonderful balance between fresh, creamy, and mineral. Half the wine is aged for four months in French oak, the other is frequently stirred with its lees to improve its texture in the mouth and extract the full aromatic potential of the grapes.
It has great aromatics, with stone fruit, candied cit
3. Coca i Fito Jaspi Negre – 45% Garnacha, 25% Cariñena, 15% Syrah, 15% Cabernet Sauvignon – D.O. Montsant
Jaspi is a great example of a young blend from Montsant. With its silky character, smooth tannins and a bit of spice, making it great for pairing for bold, winter dishes. It’s aged 3 months in French and American oak barrels plus one year in an underground cement tank. on the nose it’s full of fruits (strawberries, cherries, blueberries, raspberries), with notes of licorice and spices.
The Barcelona Wine Box is 36€
Order yours now!
CLICK HERE
Available from December 2nd – February 2, 2021
*Note: Box does not include cheese.
For more on Spanish cheese check out the Salut Wine Studio blog. You can also find more on choosing wines here.
