Spokane Food Blog

Now that a selection of cheeses has started to trickle in to Main Market, we picked up Roth Käse’s Gran Queso, a “Spanish style” cheese not many miles from a Manchego flavor wise. You would think they would have called it a “Manchego style cheese” in their marketing material — the main difference between the Gran Queso and a Manchego is that the former is made with cow’s milk, while the latter with sheep’s milk –  seeing that there is a wide array of Spanish cheeses out there, but there you go. The Gran Queso is made in Wisconsin after all, so who cares if they do things their way.

And more importantly, this is a very good cheese. The color is ivory and the feel of it is firm, while the smell is lightly nutty. Flavor wise it is dry and robust, yet with a nice sweet finish to it. This is definitely a cheese you can bring out if you want to impress your beret-clad friends while watching El Topo.

I’m not much of an expert wine-pairer, but if my opinion was asked — and let’s face it, I can write pretty much what I want here, no matter how poorly my opinions are backed up — I’d go with a nice Rioja to complement the flavor-kick of  the Gran Queso. That’s just how I roll.

The Gran Queso is nice. Very nice. Check it out, unless you’re a cheese purist.