Recommendations
Fresh goat cheese and grilled peach with Valdespino Moscatel Promesa
On the plate are peach halves that have spent ten minutes on the griddle with a little butter and brown soft sugar, with a scoop of fresh goat cheese beside them. The moscatel sets against it a wine made from sun-dried moscatel grapes that smells of the same stone fruit.
From the shelf
The bottle
Promesa comes from Valdespino and is a moscatel, made from Moscatel grapes from Chipiona on the Atlantic coast near the sherry region. Here too the grapes are laid out in the sun to turn into raisins, the asoleo, which concentrates the sugar and the raisin aromas; fermentation is then stopped with grape spirit. The wine ages for four years oxidatively in the system of criaderas and soleras, in old American oak casks that previously held amontillado and oloroso. The bottle is at 17 percent alcohol with 237 grams of residual sugar per litre and comes in 75 centilitres; the Consejo Regulador sets more than 160 grams of residual sugar per litre for moscatel.
The combination
Why this works together
This is the combination moscatel is on the Consejo's list for: fruit and cheese. The moscatel grape brings a fragrant, floral side that most other sherry grapes lack, and that side lies close to stone fruit; a grilled peach adds another layer with its caramelised cut surface. That way the plate becomes an echo of the glass rather than a counterweight. The fresh goat's cheese does the other work. It is mild but sour and lightly salty, and that sourness is exactly what 237 grams of residual sugar per litre need in order not to turn sticky; conversely, in taste research sweetness lowers the threshold at which salt is perceived, so the little bit of salt in the cheese comes forward more clearly. At 17 percent alcohol the wine stays light enough for a dish made of two soft elements.
At the table
The dish
- For 4 people
- Ready in 20 minutes
- Type cheese course
What you need
- 4 ripe peaches
- 10 g butter
- 30 g soft brown sugar
- 250 g fresh goat's cheese
- freshly ground black pepper
- a few leaves of fresh mint
- toasted bread, to serve alongside
How to make it
- Heat a griddle or ridged pan over medium-high heat.
- Halve the peaches and remove the stone. Peel them if the skin is firm.
- Melt the butter and brush the griddle plate with it.
- Lay the peach halves cut side down on the tray and sprinkle them with the brown soft sugar.
- Grill them for about ten minutes, until the cut surface is lightly caramelised without burning. Turn them halfway.
- Divide the fresh goat's cheese over four plates and add the peach halves.
- Grind black pepper over it, place a few mint leaves on top and serve with toasted bread alongside.
In the glass
Serving
Serve this moscatel lightly chilled at 12 to 14 degrees, in a white wine glass filled to about a third. That is the temperature the Consejo Regulador keeps for this style; colder actually mutes the floral aroma that forms the bridge to the peach. An opened bottle keeps well for a long time: for oxidatively aged sherry the Consejo reckons on about two months with the bottle closed and stored cool, and the residual sugar of 237 grams per litre helps.
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