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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Patit Creek Cellars debuts cheese case

If you’re looking for holiday wine-and-cheese pairings, Patit Creek Cellars aims to ‘demystify’ the experience

Story By Adriana Janovich

Wine and cheese make a natural pairing, and now both are available at Patit Creek Cellars.

The Walla Walla-based winery debuted the cheese case at its downtown Spokane location this fall and now regularly stocks some 65 varieties from all over the world. Wedges are available by the ounce to go – or to enjoy with a glass or two of wine in the tasting room.

And if you’re not sure where to start, Rachel Mace-Crum is there to help.

“Cheeses are very much like wine: There’s a huge variety,” she said. And because of that, “the wine world and the cheese world can be kind of intimidating. We’re hoping to kind of demystify it.”

Mace-Crum recently became a certified cheesemonger at Murray’s in New York City, where she attended a weeklong cheese course.

“They were 10-hour days. It was pretty intense,” she said. “I ate 3 pounds of cheese in three days.”

But now, “I can taste a cheese and pretty consistently tell you what part of the world it came from.”

She can also answer questions about any of the cheeses in the case at Patit Creek Cellars or lead first-time fromage tasters through the $15 guided wine-and-cheese pairing plate.

“There’s no wrong way to taste,” she said. “Taste is a personal thing.”

That said, Mace-Crum offers some advice. After swirling and smelling and taking two sips of wine – the first to cleanse the palate, the second to start to saturate it – “You’re going to savor the flavors and let (the cheese) warm up,” she said.

“Push it up against the roof of your mouth and the back of your teeth, then take another sip of wine and swish them together. At the third sip, you get the full flavor.”

First up is a 2012 chardonnay – “tropical in front, butterscotch in the middle” – with Cambozola, a double-cream cow’s milk blue cheese from Germany.

“It’s sort of Brie-like in consistency,” Mace-Crum said. But it has the rich creaminess of Camembert and the sharp, salty bite of Gorgonzola.

Up next is a 2013 rosé called The Brooke paired with Leonora, a lush and lemony soft goat’s milk cheese from Spain. It’s followed by the winery’s 2012 signature red blend, The Creek, with Piave, an almond-y Italian goat’s milk cheese, which Mace-Crum describes as “sort of like a young Parmesan.”

Cheese offerings at Patit Creek Cellars come from as far away as New Zealand and as close as Chattaroy. They’re all served with the winery’s house-made sea salt and thyme crackers.

So far, Spokane is the only of the winery’s three locations to offer a cheese selection. But, “things are going well, so that may change,” said Mace-Crum, noting the winery sold 35 pounds of cheese during its first cheese weekend.

Since then, sales have been steady. Mace-Crum sends cheeses for special events to the other two locations in Walla Walla and Woodinville and places orders each week to keep the case full. About half are rotating seasonal varieties. The rest are favorites.

Wholesale rates are available for restaurants with no minimum order. Customers can also order custom cheese platters to go for holiday parties and other events.

There are no membership fees for the cheese club, which offers shipments of about 1 pound for about $35 to $40 each, three, six or 12 times per year. (There’s a wine club, too.)

Otherwise, cheese typically sells for $1.25 to $4 per ounce.

Some of the more expensive cheeses include chevre noire, an aged goat’s milk cheddar from Canada, and a rare late-summer Comté from France.

Wines are $7 to $12 per glass. And, other than the $59 ice wine, bottles run from $19 to $44.

Mace-Crum pairs the $9 glass of the 2012 Trinité, a light, woodsy and peppery Rhone-style red blend, with an aged Pecorino speckled with peppercorns.

“It’s nice and dry, and it’s got a good nuttiness and, of course, that pepper is fantastic,” she said.

The $12-per-glass 2012 Red Zinfandel – with notes of black cherry and sandalwood – makes a lovely match for Up in Smoke, a smoked soft goat’s milk cheese wrapped in a smoked and bourbon-soaked maple leaf from Oregon.

“It’s delicious,” Mace-Crum said. “This is the first cheese I brought home as a cheesemonger. I have a special place in my heart for this one.”

Mace-Crum, 24, started working at the winery – where her husband Cody Crum is a distributor – in August. By September, she opened the cheese counter.

She had begun working with cheeses at Spokane’s Chocolate Apothecary, which specializes in gelato, chocolate and cheese.

But back then, Mace-Crum hated cheese. Hated it. In fact, she said, “I was really displeased when my manager told me I had to eat all the cheese.”

She was especially upset about having to sample the blue cheese because of the smell and the mold.

“We didn’t grow up on fancy cheese,” she said. “We would get Jarlsberg” – the supple, mild and buttery cow’s milk cheese – “for special occasions. But we didn’t do a lot of cheeses.”

Now, she does the 2010 Columbia Valley Cabernet Sauvignon with Pyrénées Brebis, a nutty and caramelly French sheep’s milk cheese from Pays Basque, or Basque country.

And she does the 2010 Walla Walla Cabernet Sauvignon with WeinKase, a creamy cow’s milk cheese from northern Italy – not Germany, as the name might suggest – that’s aged in local wine, pepper, garlic and herbs.

In fact, she pretty much does all cheeses now.

“I will eat almost anything, and I love all cheese,” Mace-Crum said – even the “stinky” ones. “I like them, too.”