Light Reading: Cheese & Wine Book by Janet Fletcher
June 2, 2008 by Rachel Segal
Filed under Drinks
Want to impress your friends? Step up from the same old chips and dip at your next soiree? Not a problem – with Janet Fletcher’s Cheese & Wine: A Guide to Selecting, Pairing, and Enjoying, side effects not only include salivating while looking at the lovely photos (keep a napkin next to you, let’s not drool on the book) but also being totally inspired to whip up a spread of cheese and crackers fit for royalty.
For those of you already well versed in the intricacies of wine and cheese pairing, you might be a little bored with the bulk of this beautifully put together overview of this craft. However, if you think Humboldt Fog sounds like bad weather conditions and Cashel Blue is a pastel paint chip, then you need this book.
Highlights…
- Wine suggestions for 70 different cheese types
- Tips on how to plan, serve and achieve cheese course “harmony”
- Six decadent cheese “themes” such as Salute to Spain and Aging Gracefully
- Easy to understand definitions for Bloomy, Natural and Washed Rinds that will make you sound like an expert in no time
The only thing that could have made the book more enjoyable/useful? A theme or two that puts the wine center stage (maybe one red, one white?). Instead, wine plays the cheese sidekick on nearly every page. But that’s a small point – overall, the book is loaded with useful information and I simply can’t say enough about the lovely visual imagery.
