say cheese

my first cheese review. i've had this book for a while and finally decided to try some new cheeses. whole foods is not far from my office, so off i went and picked out 5 to try. it doesn't look like it from the photo, but these are fairly small pieces, the back row (l-r) kaserei champignon brie with herbs and garlic, carr valley smoked fontina, and carr valley wild flower cheddar. front row is buttermilk blue and comte. i chose a rose' to drink with these since the book recommended light whites and reds for these- figured the rose' would be somewhere in the middle. so the tasting: the brie-wonderful: the garlic and herbs were just right. the smoked fontina-nice creamy with a touch of smokey flavor-better than smoked gouda. the cheddar-also very good, the expected cheddar taste but not overly sharp. the buttermilk blue-good, but better in a salad, needs to be eaten with something substantial like bread vs crackers. finally the comte was inspired to get this one after mary posted about it. think i'm in love! this was very nutty, and sorta mild but robust, the more of it i ate the more i liked it, especially with grapes. the texture and weight of parmesan cheese, but slices better. will get this again for sure. look forward to seeing what i can try next time.