Cheese expert Cecilia Smith and I had so much fun filming this spot for Balderson Cheddar.
Of course, we had to be thorough with our research and played with various wine and cheese pairings throughout the day of the shoot.
This spot airs on, and is posted with permission from: The Food Network, The Lifestyle Network, Home & Garden Television, W Network and other channels.
I was fascinated with the production behind a 30-second spot: it took all day. The film crew were pros. Although I was ready to drop at the end of the day, it was so worthwhile.
Lots of camera angles, lighting scenes and other nuances. The hero, of course, is the cheese!
The wines on set above.
The end of a happy day and the beginning of a new friendship.
More cheese and wine matches.
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M. Chapoutier Collection Bio
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San Pedro 1865 Single Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon
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Fonseca Late Bottled Vintage Port 2009
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Alcohol: 20%
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Divine Dessert Wine
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Score: 90/100
Balderson Cheddar Cheese and Wine Pairings: Spot On!
Cecilia: My name is Cecilia Smith, I’m a fromagere. I teach about cheese, I sell cheese, I made cheese.
Natalie: I’m Natalie MacLean; I’m a wine writer and sommelier. I’m also the editor of Canada’s largest wine review site.
Cecilia: I’m very excited to meet Natalie today. She writes wonderful wine books that are so accessible.
Natalie: I’m really excited about meeting Cecilia, this woman knows cheese and I really want to know her thoughts on the cheeses and how we can put those together with the wines.
Cecilia: So Natalie, I’m putting together today a vertical cheeseboard. A vertical cheeseboard is when you take one type of cheese and you may have different ages or you may have them slightly differently flavoured.
Natalie: I love that idea Cecilia because in the wine world we do the same thing.
Cecilia: And these here are made for white wine and red wine.
Natalie: I love that idea.
Cecilia: So great.
Natalie: Yes.
Cecilia: So I’d like you to taste them and I want to see what wine do you think would go with them.
Natalie: Sure let’s do that.
Cecilia: So let’s give you a little piece here, this is Balderson’s Vintner for white wine.
Natalie: Thank you.
Cecilia: And this has been aged for 20-months.
Natalie: Very creamy, very mouth coating. I’ve got a wine for that, what I’m thing of is this would be perfect with a chardonnay that has that same texture, creaminess. Give it a try Cecilia and see what do you think how it might work with this cheddar.
Cecilia: Gorgeous.
Natalie: Alright.
Cecilia: Absolutely beautiful. So I would pair with that some nuts.
Natalie: Okay.
Cecilia: It also has that kind of nutty flavour.
Natalie: Sure.
Cecilia: You know I love to put some walnuts on here and I also think some apricots as well.
Natalie: Nice.
Cecilia: So we can just dress up the board like this.
Natalie: That’s great.
Cecilia: I decide to use Balderson cheddar because they have such a wide variety of ages and styles of cheddar. So this beautiful mild cheddar that is lovely and orange has a lovely creamy milky flavour without that kind of tang that some people find is too much. So it’s great for people who are getting into cheddar, for young children.
Natalie: I’m thinking a nice fresh Niagara Riesling.
Cecilia: Okay.
Natalie: So let me pour this one for you, see what you get and see if you think that it goes with the cheese. You have spring meadow probably small little field flowers. Give that one a try.
Cecilia: Thank you.
Natalie: You want a wine like a Riesling to cut through that creaminess.
Cecilia: This is very light.
Natalie: Light and yet on the palate it has that racy acidity.
Cecilia: I’m going to put some beautiful fruit with the mild cheddar.
Natalie: Okay.
Cecilia: So I thought we could use some figs.
Natalie: Sure.
Cecilia: Because these are fresh and natural.
Natalie: Look at the colour.
Cecilia: And they look gorgeous on the board and they’re not going to fight with the flavour. It’s so simple.
Natalie: It is.
Cecilia: Yes.
Natalie: It’s beautiful.
Cecilia: It’s very easy.
Natalie: Presentation, flavour we have it all.
There’s nothing better than tasting cheeses or wines side by side. It’s only then that you see the incredible spectrum of flavours.
Cecilia: I have this beautiful aged cheddar. It’s a premium aged cheddar from Balderson, they have them 2, 3 and 5 year old. It has a beautiful creamy cheddar taste to it and you get that saltiness.
Natalie: And the sharpness.
Cecilia: It has lots of flavour.
Natalie: Wow! I love that.
I would suggest for this a full-bodied red from France.
Cecilia: Okay.
Natalie: So a Syrah would be excellent.
Cecilia: So this will go with that nice crumbliness that you get.
Natalie: Right.
Cecilia: When you said it’s often crumbly that’s natural because the proteins and the fats have been breaking down, you get more salt and it’s beautiful.
Natalie: Absolutely, that is the same thing that happens with wine. The wine almost becomes more itself.
Cecilia: Just beautiful, it’s like you can smell the cheddar.
Natalie: Yes.
Cecilia: Absolutely lovely.
Natalie: Alright.
Cecilia: So the other thing I would put with this is some fruit bread. So this has nuts on it and it has fruit on it. So you end up with the sweet and you have the salt, one for pairing very easy.
Natalie: That’s perfect, looks beautiful too.
So I thought cheddar was just sort of basically one type of cheese with one set of aromas and flavours. It starts at mild and it goes all the way up to well-aged and smoked. It’s incredible and what that does is open up a world of wine pairing choices, very exciting.
Cecilia: So to complete this board.
Natalie: Alright.
Cecilia: Place this here and look at that.
Natalie: It’s all come together, hasn’t it?
Cecilia: Lovely.
Natalie: There you go.
Cecilia: Thank you.
Natalie: Alright, cheers!
Cecilia: Cheers!
