Graham's Cheese Moment - La Tur

Graham's Cheese Moment - La Tur

It's the beginning of another month and of course another year, so it's about time we wheeled Graham out of his cupboard for another cheese moment. So without further ado, here's the man himself with this month's cheese, La Tur. I don't usually make New Year's resolutions, but I made one this year. Foregoing all of the obvious ones I decided upon "trying more cheese" as my resolution. And no, that doesn't mean an extra slice of cheese on toast for supper; I want to expand my palate for cheese, the way I have with wine. And whisky. And gin. My cheese moment this month is all gooey and Italian - I've chosen La Tur. La Tur La Tur cheese hails from Alba in the Alta Langa part of the Piedmonte region in the north west of Italy. It is produced by the Merlo family owned Caseificio dell'Alta Langa and is quite a unique cheese in that it is made from pasteurised milk from three animal sources - cow, ewe (sheep) and goat. As a style, it can be categorised with the Brie family of cheeses, but it doesn't have the pungency that is more commonly associated with Brie.
La Tur La Tur
As a triple cream cheese it is wonderfully rich and, well yes, creamy. The delicate, bloomy rind has a straw colour and the centre is milky white. On the nose there is a slight sourness and mushroom character, due to the ewe's and goat's milk, but on the palate the cow's milk brings through the buttery and grassy notes with the ice cream texture. This cheese goes very well with our Fine Cheese Co Chive Crackers but to fully immerse yourself in my cheese moment, you should really think about some wine. This we can help with! To pair with the La Tur, I'd suggest the following two wines: Cantina Mesa Vermentino di Sardegna A crisp and dry Italian white from Sardinia. Bags full of minerality and lashings of elderflower and orange blossom notes make this an exceptionally more-ish wine. A great partner to creamy, brie-style cheese Terrapieno Foscarino Soave Classico A cheeky little Soave. Lovely balance of honeysuckle, orange blossom and citrus notes with an underlying honeydew melon character. Fresh acidity making this great with creamy cheeses like this one! And that's it for this moment on tine, so until I've saved up all my cheese super-powers for next month's moment, brie happy! Graham