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Saint Joseph is an easy wine to pair with food. It has the acidity to pair with heavier fish, the boldness to compliment the gamiest meat, and the structure, and complexity to carry a charcuterie board. Saint Joseph is a Syrah-based wine from the northern Rhône valley, that displays its fruit prominently, and impresses on the palette a gentle peppery nuance, clove and black licorice flavor. It's affordable, not super nuanced, and comes compete with a dynamic sense of power, and place.
Like any French wine region, it's important to select your producer wisely. The Northern Rhône is an expanse of vines just to the west of the alps, where the powerful alpine wind, the Mistral rips through the terraced hills and vineyard chaff claiming victims of vines unsuitably anchored. The airflow protects them from mold in the humid summers, but creates a steressful problem at the chang erof season. Saint Joseph itself is a bit bloated as a region, stressed well beyond its original boarders upon amendment after amendment to the original outline of the region, eventually expanding it's portly belt line from Cornas to Condrieu, or vice-versa. The first came in 1971, but by 1994, the region was capped at its current size.
All of this space means, of course, a dilution of the substance - not necessarily in the raw power of Syrah, but in flabby, nuance-lacking, overly-fruity, hot, rich, terroirless and unquaffable mass-produced junk. With an extended land mass able to bottle Saint Joseph, it means an inevitable drop in quality. Fortunately, a lot of very good producers are making incredibly good value, afforable wines in this stretch of land. Saint Joseph, strangely, is not a place like many other appellations. The AOC was established in 1956 and and was actually named after a famous old vineyard in the nearby area; a favorite of the courtiers of Louis XV.
Saying that Saint-Joseph is totally devoid of difficulty when pairing is a bit of a misnomer, as today we are going to be looking at pairing it extremely well - and there are a few pitfalls when pairing a juicy wine like this with food. Specifically, we are going to delve into the world of cheese. There are a lot of cheeses that traditionally work well with Saint Joseph, so we’ll explore why they work so well, and then I’d like to perhaps investigate pairings that are similar, but more interesting than traditional pairings for this special wine. Pictured to the side is Delas Les Challeys Saint Joseph. Delas is an incredibly highly-regarded wine house in the northern Rhône, they make a smashing bottle that expresses the distinct typicity of the area. We will focus on pairing this particular bottle of Saint-Joseph.
With a striking wire of minerality, this fruit-forward blast of cola-like cassis, and fresh blackberry is a well-balanced ode to power, and grace. Delas really makes even this inexpensive red with care, giving incredible leeway to balance. There are notes of saddle leather, black pepper and prosciutto, with hints of rosemary. The wine is nuanced and intricate, and all of the flavors are timed well. This truly is a wine of power and structure.
Due to its very large presence, it’s often wise to pair this wine with a cheese that is equally strong or musty, and avoid cheeses that are light, and honeyed, or fruity, as the strength of Saint Joseph is going to blow them out of the palette.
I like an earthen pairing of cream truffle brie, and I think that Wegman’s Cave-Ripened Savory Brie is a good fit. This savory brie is the most traditionally acceptable pairing, and a regional favorite. The clove flavors in the wine a brought about by the creaminess of the brie, and the mushroom, muddy flavors in the wine are complimented by the truffle-treebark flavors of the cheese.
One other thing to note with this particular pairing is the salt in the cheese, and how that affects the fruit in the wine. Salt is a tool that we use in the kitchen to draw flavors forward from dishes, and the same applies here, both the powerful wine and the cheese will have new broad flavors. You may notice some red fruit in the wine that you hadn’t before, or perhaps a not of pair that was seldom palatable prior.
Using the same logic, let me suggest a more interesting pairing of Cotswold cheese. Cotswold is a hard cheddar, but it’s sharp, steely, and loaded with onion and herbaceous flavors. Cream brie is obviously a cream cheese, so this differentiation in texture should be a very nice break from business as usual.
If you like sharp cheeses, cotswold has plenty of acid to boast, which is great because Saint Joseph is one of the more complicated fruit-forward wines that France has to offer, and is also one of the few besides maybe Cahors, or Bordeaux that could withstand such an offensive onslaught. Saint Joseph’s rich dark fruit nature is a settling match for Cotswold, as cotswold tastes great with blackberries and blackcurrant, and Saint Joseph has generally a lower acid profile, so it could use a boost of salt and acid from the cheese.
The herbaceous, onion-y nature of Cotswold works well with the earthiness of the wine, better so, the firmer cheese is easily washed away by the caress of tannin. Burgundy could never handle a cheese like this, though it is perhaps a better fit for savory brie.
St. Joseph is commonly paired by its tannin, and one interesting match made in heaven is and aged Gouda. Beemster makes quite a nice five year Gouda that would fit the bill. That is, if you’re willing to shell out the cash. Gouda is a honeyed cheese with lighter nuttier flavors, but because of its aged earthy presence, and firmness, it will stand up to Saint Joseph, and even add some new, and interesting light fruit notes to the concerto.
It is a salty cheese, one of the saltiest bar none. This, again, draws out the delectable candied fruit aromas in the wine. The peppery flavor in the wine should also get a nod due to the saltiness of the cheese. You may even taste a bit of green in the wine due to the honeyed nature of the cheese.
Now for a more interesting pairing: Try and young Manchego, maybe a nine-monther. Don Juan makes a fabulous nine-monther from sheep's milk. Now before you say,
“I thought we were supposed to be looking at older, brasher cheeses, and avoiding delicate cheeses?”
To that I would answer, yes - but if the all qualities are a match, you’ve found a boot that fits! Just like the gouda, this light-white beauty of a cheese, is salty, brash, herbaceous, savory, and strong, because, of course, it’s aged sheep cheese.
Sheep cheese when its a soft cheese is very delicate with ample proteins, and is not at all cut through. When it’s made into Manchego, the aging process breaks down those proteins into much more acetic, salty esters, that often bring about the flavors of strong honeyed melon.
With Saint Joseph we see bursts of red fruit, lightened by the wash of the proteins in the cheese. Fig-like burnt rubber, and arugula flavors should also come about as well as a captivating assortment of tannin.
The youth of the cheese is important, because unlike in gouda, goat cheese Manchego tends to be a little duller later in its life resembling more of a parmesan, than a full-bodied orange gouda. I go for a younger cheese, not too young, or you run into a lack of salt. Nine months is ideal, one year is also good, then you get the firmness, and salt without the crumbling.
Speaking of young cheeses, Raclette is a rather non-traditional pairing. Raclette has a lovely softness, and good body, but is as pungent as gym socks after a trough workout, and ten-mile run. Some enjoy uncooked Raclette, I, for one, do not, but I certainly can appreciate it melted with a charcuterie board, or on a monte-cristo. It has a nutty, oaky, mildew flavor. Its hearty, oily, earthen, and bold. Raclette’s toasty, nuttiness goes great with the peppery flavor of Saint Joseph. This is a great pairing, especially if you love toasted cheese.
Emmi's Raclette also makes a fantastic substitute for gruyere, as well, which is another great pairing for Saint Joseph. Now, I think I’ve saved the best for last here, but guyere is another obvious match. The one I like is Le Guyere, from Switzerland. It’s dynamic and complicated, though a fantastic melting cheese on the top of your onion soup.
Very similar to Raclette, this gruyere is a lot milder when eaten cold. It still as a mild sour flavor but much more honeydew, and oily flavors. It blends nicely with Saint Joseph as the racy dark fruit flavors, and the acid in the gruyere. It's also less offensive, if you don't like pungent cheeses. You miss out on the forefront expression of sweaty saddle which is pronounced in the Saint Joseph, but, it may be worthwhile to try adding a mild pâté for a fantastic oveall combination.
All of these items, wine, and cheeses are available at your local Wegman's Grocery Store.
That's all,
~K