Palate-Pleasing Parties for Wine and Cheese lovers

Last Wednesday, I was drinking my first cup of coffee and watching Martha Stewart Living on TV, when she presented an idea that made me wonder (as I so often do) exactly WHO actually manages to create the projects she comes up with. The occasion was her Tuscan Wedding Buffet - a beautiful table, decorated with mason-jar candleholders hanging from branches and champagne grapes in rustic urns, filled with a variety of appetizing foods, and groaning under the weight of (here it comes!) a $1,200 wheel of cheese!

Yes, you read that right. One thousand two hundred US dollars (or about five million Canadian dollars, give or take, at current exchange rates) will buy you a huge wheel of Parmigiano Reggiano, which you simply have to cut in half with very large knives before letting your guests have their way with it. Now, while I do love Parmigiano Reggiano, this seems like an awful lot of money to spend on a one-cheese cheese course!

Still, Martha has a point. Cheese is, as she would put it, a very "good thing" - and we can savor many of the wonderful flavors of Mediterranean cheeses, without re-mortgaging the house. Here are some suggestions (drawn from my time spent working in the wine trade) for a Mediterranean wine and cheese party - a great way to spend a cool fall evening with friends.

THEMES AND DECORATIONS

First, decide on a theme. Do you want to stick with the wines and cheeses of one country, or would you rather experiment with products from a variety of places? France and Italy are easy to plan and purchase for. Spain and Greece are slightly more difficult, because there are fewer cheeses from these countries available outside Europe. Still, by doing a little research and some selective shopping, you should be able to find a wide variety of European and European-style cheeses. If you live in a rural area and can't find what you want, there are some good mail-order sources for European foods - check the advertising pages of Gourmet or Bon Appetit magazines for some ideas.

For some good information on cheeses, check out some of these sites:

Cheesenet's World Cheese Index at http://www.wgx.com/cheesenet/wci/ - this is a fascinating, detailed site, and I had a hard time getting away from it to work on my writing!

Cucina Online's Cheese Page at http://www.cucina.italynet.com/formaggi/default1.htm

The cheese page at the Wines and Food from France web site: The copyright of the article Palate-Pleasing Parties for Wine and Cheese lovers in Italy is owned by Sonia Michaels. Permission to republish Palate-Pleasing Parties for Wine and Cheese lovers in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.