WINE PAIRING: Seven Sisters X Figgie Daniel
Our resident wine expert, Katherine Dart from Grape & Nectar, takes us through her pairing suggestions for May’s hero cheese - Seven Sisters by High Weald Dairy.
When selecting a wine to go with the Seven Sisters, I wanted to find something that would work well with the semi-soft texture and gentle nuttiness of the cheese, as well as the salty tang of the seaweed. After trying a couple of options, I settled on Sharpham’s delicious Figgie Daniel Col Fondo 2022.
Sharpham are located in Devon and have been making wine for over 40 years and this wine is a little more unusual for an English Sparkling wine.
Col Fondo is an Italian term, traditionally applied to Prosecco that is fermented in bottle and aged on its lees (similar to Méthode Ancestrale). Col Fondo broadly translates as ‘with the bottom’, thus you will find the lees in the bottom of bottle. The wines are also Frizzante in style, so in essence, they are less fizzy, with a smooth, gentle mousse.
At Sharpham, the base wine is fermented in stainless steel and a second fermentation at a lower pressure occurs in bottle. Then, as per tradition, the lees are not disgorged. In fact, it is recommended that you give the bottle a gentle shake before opening, to disperse them through the wine.
This wine is a blend of 80% Madeleine Angevine and 20% Pinot Blanc and the yeasty notes work well with the nuttiness of the cheese and the gentle spritz provides the perfect foil to the texture and richness. Fruit characters nod towards lemon rind and fresh herbs, which complement the tanginess that the Seven Sisters possesses.
If you want to try a non-alcoholic option, I highly recommend a traditional Kombucha. My favourite with this cheese is Sambucha Kombucha Vintage Original - a tangy blend of oolong and white tea that is double fermented, with no added fruit. This is real Kombucha, it is raw, naturally effervescent, and handcrafted in small batches. Sam has stripped back the Kombucha recipe to its essence, utilising fermented, certified organic and fairtrade tea, with less than 0.5 grams of organic unrefined sugar per bottle.