Perfect pairing of cheese and wine, naturally
The first ‘natural wine’ and cheese lounge has just opened its doors in my hometown of St Andrews.
Following the success of the Mellis family’s Edinburgh cheese lounge, they are now hoping to entice Fife foodies with their new artisan cheese and wine experience – with further plans to open a Glasgow lounge in the autumn.
“We want our cheeses to take centre-stage, but we feel the freshness, youth and vibrancy of natural wines complement our cheeses particularly well, as they don’t overpower,” says Rory Mellis, eldest son of IJ Mellis cheesemongers’ founder.
It was whilst visiting Rory in Spain during his Erasmus year, that Mellis senior discovered natural wines.
“My dad loved the handcrafted nature of natural wines made by small scale producers with minimal technological intervention – and felt they had the same ethos as his own artisan cheese suppliers. He was inspired by the Basque people serving cheeses and charcuterie alongside natural wines,” says Rory.
Now every Friday and Saturday evening the Mellis family convert their compact St Andrews store into a bustling 20-cover cheese ‘lounge’ with a distinct Parisian feel – with high stools, marble tabletops, candlelight and atmospheric music.
The menu is very simple. A five-cheese board (£12), charcuterie platter (£11), Scotch egg (£5.50) and breads – with evening specials like warmed runny St Felicien cheese with honey and pears (£11) or Humphrey Errington’s Sir Lancelot cheese with honey and oatcakes (£10). There are no cheese or wine descriptions on the list.
“One of my dad’s gripes is that you don’t describe the cheese – you need to taste it. This is because his vast range of farmhouse cheeses from around the world can vary from batch to batch – a bit like natural wines,” he says.
Eleven natural wines are available by the glass or bottle – focusing on France (mainly Loire and Rhône) with three from Abruzzo in Italy. What I liked about their tiny range of white, red and rosé was their focus on lesser known grapes like pecorino, melon de bourgogne, roussanne and montepulciano. They also sell a French ‘Pet Nat’ (petillant naturel) by the bottle – a trendy style of spritzy sparkling wine based on the ancient ‘rurale’ method.
Natural wines are almost always unfined and unfiltered so they can appear hazier than conventional wines – and tastewise they can also have quite funky wild feral flavours, which can match rather well with riper cheese.
As a rule of thumb, when pairing, the Mellis’ use contrasting flavours such as creamy Driftwood goats cheese matched with high acid fresh vibrant white wine like pecorino – or with harder cheeses they go for a similar flavour profile with a firm cheese like Isle of Mull cheddar matched with fruity Côtes du Rhône.