Parmesan Wheel Cutting Ceremony - Come out and watch us cut open a 100 pound wheel of 2 year aged Parmesan Reggiano

"I was in love with a beautiful blonde once. She drove me to drink; that's the one thing I'm indebted to her for."  W. C. Fields in Never Give a Sucker an Even Break

I have been touting the quality of a freshly opened wheel of Parmesan Reggiano ever since we opened the wine bar when we cracked the first wheel open.  The experience is unlike any other with this cheese as soon as you open the wheel the cheese starts to oxidize and harden so the freshly opened wheel is so buttery and creamy it is unlike any Parmesan you have ever tasted. 

We will be offering freshly cut 24-month aged Parmesan Reggiano for $25 per pound this evening and you know that the wheel was just cut today!  If you make it to the tasting, you also get to sample the goods before you buy!  Of course, we will be offering six wines to compliment the cheese and we will be serving a special menu prepared with the freshly cut cheese as well.

This is the first time we are hosting this event as a walk around Happy Hour style event as opposed to a seared event and included with your ticket price is 1 pound of the freshly cut Parmesan Reggiano so everyone leaves with a pound of cheese!

There are only 50 spaces available for this event and the fee for this tasting is $120 + tax, for reservations call 954-523-9463 or e-mail andy@winewatch.com. 

If you can’t make the event you can place an order on-line or over the phone and have your cheese delivered locally with your wine order, but we will only be delivering to the tri county area on the days we are out delivering wine.  

24 Month Aged Parmesan Reggiano Wheel Cutting Cheese Sale

Wednesday, February 26th

6:00pm

1lb 24 Month Aged Parmesan Reggiano

Price: $25.00

Of course, we will be serving a few wines to accompany the cheese!

2022 THE CALLING CHARDONNAY DUTTON RANCH RUSSIAN RIVER

Price: $27.50                       Your Price: $22.00

Balanced and medium-to-full-bodied with aromas of honey, stone fruit, and lemon. Notes of Gravenstein apple, honeysuckle, and jasmine.

2014 Gary Farrell Rochioli-Allen Vineyard Chardonnay Russian River Valley

Price: $59.00                       Your Price: $47.20

(95 Points)  Dark yellow in color, this wine shows tangy green apple and a richer, more concentrated element of applespice cake, with supportive, balanced acidity. With a bright, lifted finish, this less-expensive offering compared with many of the producer’s single vineyard designates never lets up on complexity or deliciousness.  Review Date: 02/2017  Wine Enthusiast

2013 Cote Bonneville Carriage House Red

Price: $50.00                       Your Price: $42.50

(91 Points) The 2013 Dubrul Vineyard Carriage House is another outstanding wine, and in 2013 it’s 57% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot and the rest Cabernet Franc. Brambly herbs, red and black fruits, spice and a touch of graphite all emerge from this rich, beautifully textured, elegant red from winemaker Kerry Shiels. Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

2019 Palazzo Left Bank Red Cuvee Napa

Price: $48.75                       Your Price: $41.44            Quantity in Stock: 44

(91 Points) The 2019 Left Bank Red Cuvée is 50% Cabernet Sauvignon and 25% each Cabernet Franc and Merlot, all aged 20 months in 60% new French oak. Gentle herb nuances bump up against cherries and raspberries on the nose, while the medium-bodied palate is suave and supple, ending in a wash of soft, powdery tannins. Wine Advocate

2021 FERRARI CARANO TRESOR, SONOMA COUNTY, USA

Price: $49.00                       Your Price: $41.65            Quantity in Stock: 59

WINEWATCH TASTING NOTES:  Always a blend of the classic five Bordeaux varietals this 2021 is 71% Cabernet Sauvignon, 8% Malbec, 8% Merlot, 7% Cabernet Franc, 6% Petit Verdot.  Dense and rich bouquet of dark currant and black cherry and cassis like fruit on the nose with dark coco, cedar, graphite, tobacco spice and espresso to compliment the intense fruit.  Big and chewy on the tongue with rich berry fruit, thick and chewy with ripe round tannins, a firm hand of acidity and a host of that spice and earth notes from the nose lingering through the finish, this wine is one of the best values that I have tasted this year!  It is even better on the second day and will last a decade or two in the cellar.  Finish 50+.  TASTING DATE 6/24/24. MOST EXCELLENT

1999 Fattoria Montellori Salamartano Toscana IGT

Price: $60.00                       Your Price: $51.00            Quantity in Stock: 28

(90 Points) An interesting red, with complex aromas and flavors of smoke, currants and cherries, and hints of flowers. Medium- to full-bodied, with fine tannins and a fruity, minerally aftertaste. Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. Best after 2004. 2,000 cases made. –JS  Wine Spectator  Issue: Sep 30, 2002

1997 Terreno Chianti Classico Riserva

Price: $65.00                       Sale Price: $57.20             Quantity in Stock: 27

A blend of 90% Sangiovese, 10% Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Canaiolo, made by the same consulting enologist that works with Fontodi and Felsina, Franco Bernabei. This wine is fully mature with notes of red cherry fruit, dried tobacco spice and fresh earth, truffle mushroom like notes with dried meat and herbs, nice complexity and development on the nose. Smooth as silk on the tongue with light red berry fruit and silky smooth tannins this is a real crowd pleaser with fully resolve3d tannins and wonderful freshness and balanced acidity. Finish 35 Excellent

2020 Bodegas Palacios Remondo Finca La Montesa Rioja DOCa Spain

Price: $25.00                       Your $21.25

(93 Points) They are going for lower yields and less bottles of the 2020 La Montesa and slowly putting prices up, as they feel the wine is more serious than what the perception of the affordable price makes it. 2020 is a powerful vintage; it's structured and textured, the oak is very nicely integrated (12 months in barrel, but the powerful wine absorbed it completely), and it's powerful with 14% alcohol and a pH of 3.55, a little darker than in previous years. The tannins are very fine with a subtle chalky texture.  Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

2021 Teso La Monja Victorino Toro

Price: $76.50                       Your Price: $65.03

Variety: 100 % Tinta de Toro, ungrafted and pre-philoxeric.

Vineyards: Proprietary vineyards situated in Valdefinjas, Toro and Villabuena del Puente (Zamora). Head-trained in goblet. 35 Has.

Average age: from 45 years up to more than a hundred years old. Altitude: 750 - 900 m. Integrated viticulture, respectful of the environment and in harmony with the rhythms of nature. Organic fertilization.

Elaboration:  Traditional method, 100% de-stemmed.

Traditional foot press three times a day during fermentation and light pump-overs. Malolactic in new French oak.

The wine is submitted to an ageing of 18 months in new Bordelaise barrels of French oak.

2015 Sierra Cantabria Gran Reserva, Rioja DOCa, Spain

List Price: $50.00                               Your Price: $42.50

(93 Points) I hadn't tasted a Gran Reserva from Sierra Cantabria since the 2012, and the 2015 Gran Reserva follows the same traditional style: mostly Tempranillo with 2% Graciano matured in American oak barrels, 25% of them new, for 26 months. It's ripe at 14.3% alcohol, with the powerful and velvety house style, but it shows the effect of the warmer and powerful years, especially in the tannins that are more abundant and a little drier. It's a concentrated year that might need more time in bottle.  Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

2011 VINEDOS DE PAGANOS EL PUNTIDO RIOJA GRAN RESERVA

Price: $120.00                    Your Price: $102.00

The Eguren family produce El Puntido Gran Reserva from a selection of higher altitude, sloped, and lower yielding parcels of the El Puntido estate vineyard. The wine is produced every vintage but in significantly varying quantities depending on the conditions of the vintage. All of the wines from El Puntido display a distinctly mineral, fresh, and savory character emanating from the limestone quality in the soil. This wine displays all of the savory and developed character expected of a great Gran Reserva married with the freshness, fruit, structure, and ageability of the great Gran Reservas of yesteryear.

Menu

Prosciutto De Parma

Fresh Cut 24 Month Parmesan Reggiano

Mushroom Flatbread with Parmesan and Lemon Citrus Zest

Crispy Chicken Bites with Alfredo Dipping Sauce

Parmesan Steak Fries

Cheese Tortellini with Bacon Dust and Parmesan Crème

Fig and Date Cups with Parmesan

Butternut and Sage Quiche with Parmesan

This is not a seated tasting and is limited to 50 tasters and the fee for this event is $120 + tax, which includes 1 pound of freshly cut 2-year aged Parmesan Reggiano.  For reservations call 954-523-9463 or e-mail andy@winewatch.com

A bit about Parmigiano Reggiano

Parmigiano Reggiano is produced exclusively in the provinces of Parma, Reggio Emilia, Modena, Bologna to the left of the Reno river, and Mantua to the right of the Po river: this is the area hosting the farms where the cattle are fed on locally grown forage. The feeding of cattle complies with the norms of a strict specification that bans the use of silage, fermented feeds and animal flour.

The milk from the morning and the previous evening is poured into the traditional upturned bell-shaped copper vats. It takes about 550 litres of milk to produce each wheel of Parmigiano Reggiano. The milk slowly and naturally coagulates with the addition of rennet and a whey starter, rich in starter cultures, from the previous day’s processing.

The curd which forms is then broken down by the master cheese-maker into minuscule granules using a traditional tool called “spino”.

This is where fire comes into the picture, in a cooking process which reaches 55 degrees centigrade, after which the cheesy granules sink to the bottom of the cauldron forming a single mass.

After about fifty minutes the cheese-maker removes the cheese mass which will give rise to two twin wheels.

Cut into two parts and wrapped in the typical linen cloth, the cheese is then placed in a mould which will give it its final shape.

A casein plate with a unique and sequential alphanumeric code is applied to each wheel: it is its identity card which makes it possible to trace its entire production back to its origins, anytime and anywhere.

After a few hours, a special marking band engraves the month and year of production onto the cheese, as well as its cheese factory registration number and the unmistakable dotted inscriptions around the complete circumference of the cheese wheel.

After a few days, the wheels are immersed in a saturated solution of water and salt: it is a process of salting by osmosis. This last passage closes the production cycle of Parmigiano Reggiano and starts its maturation period.

The story of Parmigiano-Reggiano is a long one, and also a slow one, following the natural rhythm of the seasons.

In fact, the minimum maturation time is 12 months, the longest among all the PDO cheeses, and only at this point can it be decided if each individual wheel is worthy of the name it was given at its birth, and therefore continue the maturation up to 24, 36, 40 months and more.

After 12 months, the Consortium experts carry out a test called “quality inspection” on all the wheels: each wheel is tapped with a hammer and the trained ear of the quality inspector recognises any defects inside the cheese that may compromise quality.

The conforming wheels are marked with the hot-iron brand thus becoming Parmigiano Reggiano. All identifying marks and signs are removed from any wheels which do not meet the PDO requirements.

The quality control identifies three cheese categories:

“first-grade” Parmigiano Reggiano: the cheese that fully complies with the production specifications. It is marked with the hot-iron brand.

“medium-grade” Parmigiano Reggiano: the cheese that shows minor or moderate defects in the structure of its paste and/or on the rind, yet that do not alter the typical organoleptic characteristics of the product. These wheels are marked with the hot-iron brand, but they can be recognised through the parallel grooves engraved all around the cheese rind.

“de-rinded” cheese: the cheese that shows major defects is downgraded by eliminating the marks of origin through the removal of the rind (a few millimetres). Therefore, this cheese cannot be called Parmigiano Reggiano and refer to the PDO in any way.

Starting from the 18th month of maturation, dairies may request the Consortium to affix an additional mark on first-grade Parmigiano Reggiano:

PREMIUM or EXPORT mark: it gives trading companies and consumers a further indication of the quality of Parmigiano Reggiano.

These marks can be affixed also on the packaging of the cheese selected in this way.