Cheese seeks wine

If you have to choose between milk and wine, you know it. But choosing between cheese and wine is impossible, you just want both. And then that cheese preferably next to your glass. Which one? And why?
Text: Marjolein Schuman | Image: Geke Minnema (Kaashuys Akkrum), Kaasfort Amsterdam

Cheese and wine make a magical combination. Both crafted by the farmer. The taste of the land, the terroir which we talk so much about in the wine world, is co-determining. You can get your cheeses from anywhere, often those from France, Italy and Spain capture the imagination, as do the wines. But Dutch cheese also belongs on the shelf.

Cheeseheads

What makes Dutch cheese so unique and loved worldwide? This has to do with production and taste. Three things are important. (1) Tradition and craftsmanship: many cheeses are still produced using artisanal methods, which ensures authentic taste and texture. Farmers swear by it, such as using raw milk and maturing in special maturing cellars. (2) Diversity: The Netherlands produces a wide range, from young, creamy cheeses to old, hard cheeses. The best known are those from Gouda, Edam, Leiden and Friesland. But each region has its own speciality and variations, which makes for a lot of choice. (3) Terroir and ripening: green is the grass in dairy country Holland. In the North Holland pastures, Holstein-Friesian cows graze, in Gelderland, for example, Jersey cows for Remeker. Besides the climate for base material milk, the climate in the maturing cellars affects the taste. The longer a cheese matures, the more powerful and complex the flavour becomes. 

Sun in Friesland

Lyanne Postma of Kaashuys Akkrum, whom we meet at a tasting of Bourgogne wine, explains that farmhouse cheese from raw milk can change flavour, with cheese from pasteurised milk less so. In summer there is fresh grass for the animals, in winter they eat silage (acidified by fermentation, to preserve, ed.) and you can taste it. 'The amount of sun also affects the grass. If the animals eat grass during sunny periods, the milk contains more lactose and the cheese tastes sweeter.' Together with her mother Sandra, Lyanne has run a cheese and delicatessen shop for more than a decade, on the same spot where her pake and beppe used to have a shop. Her tip for our picnic basket therefore comes from the region: 'Fresh sheep cheese, a seasonal product. This cheese is made after the lambs are born, from March to September. In Akkrum, the De Jong family is a producer. The cheese they make in the morning can be eaten in the afternoon, only rennet is added.' 

Sheep's cheese

How to combine them, we ask Lyanne. 'It is a very soft, creamy cottage cheese that we often eat here on rye bread. But it is also delicious in salads, with some mango vinegar, or on toast with some salt or herbs. The cheese is softer than mozzarella, with a different texture.'

She continues: 'As a bubbly cheese, a block of Terschellinger Reade Jutter is more suitable to take with you, which is a washed crust cheese. A Riesling goes nicely with that.'

We ask about other wine-food pairings because the shop also has a wine loft with port, dessert wine, cava and champagne. For example, what is Lyanne's own favourite? 'I like blue cheese best with rosé. For example, the mild blue Wolvega with Guillaume Philip's MIP Classic from Provence. And then some date-walnut bread with that. But that's my own taste, isn't it?'