A trip to Spain at Park City Creamery’s wine and cheese pairing

News News | Aug 25, 2023

Park City Creamery has become a formidable staple in the local cheese scene, headed by fromager Corinne Zinn, who continues to rack up awards for her Belgian-style cheeses. This “cheese made with altitude” is flavor-filled and versatile.

A partnership with Pamela Wood’s Park City Wine Club brings monthly pairing events which showcase what makes these cheeses so damn good.

For $70, guests are invited to Park City Creamery’s storefront in Heber City, where a long wooden table is set for an intimate evening, decorated with local flowers. For each event, Zinn and Wood use their years of experience to set a theme and collaborate on pairings which will highlight the Creamery’s various cheeses, and wines, which are available at local liquor stores.

The August event, to celebrate the “dog days of summer,” brought the experience of Spain and Portugal to attendees. In a unique twist, the Spanish wine selections also included a house-made sangria, a wine punch which is typically enjoyed in Spain and Portugal on the hottest days of the year, Wood explained. For Utahns, August is typically the hottest month, making the theme a suitable one.

“Spanish wines are some of the highest quality and most affordable wines you will ever come by,” said Wood. We started with a white wine, a Zarautz Txakoli Primo made with Handarrabi Zuri grapes. “This Basque region white wine is all about coastal mountain freshness,” said the menu, highlighting notes of melon, peach and lime. For our first taste, Wood walked us through the essentials of wine tasting — cleansing the palete with a quick swish of wine first, swirling, sniffing and then sipping to welcome its full flavor.

Paired with slices of Zinn’s most decorated cheese, a goat cheese dusted in vegetable ash named “Sliver Queen,” topping a crostini with a sun-dried tomato pesto, the food brought out the tart earthiness of the otherwise citrusy wine. Quickly finishing off the delicious white, we filled our glasses next with the sangria, a sweeter libation which brought new flavors out of our last bites of Sliver Queen.

With the rest of our sangria, we moved on to a small salad made with cilantro sprouts, green apples, edible flowers and an orange-juice-and-vinegar dressing. A slice of Zinn’s “White Nugget” goat cheese topped the dish. This was by far my favorite taste of the night; sweet and tart, the bite of the vinegar and sprouts were paired beautifully with the creaminess of the goat cheese. The cilantro flavor gave this cheese an almost queso fresco taste, while the orange in the sangria brought out the orange juice in the dressing. The room clamored for a recipe and Zinn humbly accepted the praise.

For the last few pairings, we were poured glasses of red wine, the first a full-bodied Garnacha with notes of dark cherry, plum and Mediterranean herbs. This was paired with a mini bell pepper stuffed with Zinn’s Mayflower feta, anchovies and a balsamic vinegar glaze. Creamy and lightly salted, the fresh feta tempered the spice of the bell pepper, purchased from the Park City Farmers Market, said Zinn. The heat from this bite brought out a subtle spiciness in the dynamic wine.

The remaining bites on our plates were paired with a Blau Red Blend, an almost-smokey wine. With tastes of the Creamery’s “Treasure Brie,” skewered with a wheel of chorizo and piece of artichoke heart, and its truffle-added counterpart “Hidden Treasure,” wrapped in a salty slice of prosciutto, our palates danced with an orchestra of different flavors.

Throughout the night, I found that the cheeses functioned as a steady balancer, keeping tastes from being too salty, too sweet or too sour. Their presence was essential, helping to round out the flavors around them. For my partner and I, the goat cheeses were especially remarkable in texture, taste and quality. The Silver Queen and White Nugget are certain to be long-time staples in our home.

The Table for Twelve events are hosted every month and are delightful evenings. After a break in September, Wood and Zinn will be back with the following dates and themes. Registration is posted online.

You can visit the Park City Creamery website at parkcitycreamery.com to learn more about their cheeses and where to find them. Learn more about the Park City Wine Club, their events and how to join at parkcitywineclub.com.

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Readers around Park City and Summit County make the Park Record's work possible. Your financial contribution supports our efforts to deliver quality, locally relevant journalism.Now more than ever, your support is critical to help us keep our community informed about the evolving coronavirus pandemic and the impact it is having locally. Every contribution, however large or small, will make a difference.Each donation will be used exclusively for the development and creation of increased news coverage.