Chateau St. Jean... and Irish cheese!

Hello everybody... How's December going?

Today I wanted to share a bit more from my visit to California a couple of months ago. One of the wineries I visited was the Chateau St. Jean in Sonoma.

It was founded in 1973 and is recognized as leader in "Vineyard Designated" wines in the region.

The place is spectacular!

Lots of beautiful gardens and terraces are all around.

They have samples of several kinds of grapes for you to compare.

Anywhere around is a nice spot to enjoy a glass of wine, or simply admire nature. They even have picnic area.

The chateau was built in 1920 as a Summer home for the Goff family. It's being kept as original and it is essential part of the enchantment of this place.

In Summer 2000 the new visitors center and gardens were opened to public. Thank God, because it's beautiful... and I had the opportunity to be there... and of course tasted wine....

We brought some bottles home. A variety of different grapes, actually. Recently we enjoyed two of them...

A 2008 Pinot Noir with the expected fruitiness of this grape, but kind of unexpected strength for me... It was really easy to drink and enjoy by itself, but I could possibly drank it also with fish or even a simple meat without too much spices or seasonings...

Then we opened a Merlot... exquisite! So fruity and delicious. You could tell it's a merlot because of its expected characteristics, but again, surprisingly versatile to drink by itself or with dinner.

By the way, we matched these wines with some smoked salmon, multigrain crackers and an irish cheese...

And I want to stop and talk about this cheese. I just love it! It's called Dubliner and we bought it at Costco. It's an Irish cheese.

It's a sweet mature cheese (to be called mature it's because it has been aged more than a year). I first discovered this cheese at a neighbor's gathering and I loved it.

And I must say I've had it with eggs at breakfast, with sandwiches, by itself, with crackers, and of course with wine... and the cheese is great anyways.

With wine, it's a cheese that kind of absorbs the attributes of the wine and you can savor or taste the wine through the cheese... Try a little piece of this cheese and when in mouth, drink wine and mix all together while tasting it... mmmmmm... you'll love it.

I read the cheese is manufactured by Carbery and it is named after the city of Dublin. It combines mature cheddar, Swiss cheese and Parmesan. The recipe was developed by a John Lucey. So... Cheers John Lucey! I love your cheese!

If you have read all this and you felt interested, thank you for reading... and thanks for your comments.. If you try any wine from Chateau St. Jean or try this cheese in the future, please let me know about your experience.

More information about the winery here: Chateau St. Jean.

And thanks again.. Have a wonderful day!