VinoCamp & CheeseCamp 2009

This past Saturday afternoon gave a large room full of wine and cheese nerds an excellent excuse to gather.  VinoCamp & CheeseCamp 2009 , a new kind of social media conference “designed for people interested in technology, wine and cheese” was, by all accounts I was exposed to, a huge success. I did hear someone say that the only thing missing was “nudity”. Hmm, note for next year?

It appeared that most attendees were thrilled to be encouraged to tweet, blog, video blog, and photograph the event, and did they ever!

The day started off with keynote speaker Dr. Donna Senese (UBC Okanagan) talking about the Okanagan wine country having the allure that it does. It was an interesting start, but I couldn’t help be violently thrown back into my university days of lecture halls and overhead projected dates and maps and such, surrounded by others furiously taking notes as our instructor spoke. But, we were on UBC campus after all.

Then the group split, some going to VinoCamp and others across the hall to CheeseCamp. Now, my previous sensitivity to all things dairy would typically have made me grab the first available seat in VinoCamp, but in the past few months the tides have changed and I’ve found a few cow and sheep milk cheeses that are delicious and don’t seem to result in anything but a pure enjoyment of the food. CheeseCamp here I come!

The first talk at CheeseCamp was given by Sebastian le Goff ( Uva Wine Bar and Cibo) and Anthony Nicalo (Inevitable Table), and turned out to be a great choice as there was both wine and cheese.

We started by tasting a cheese that looked somewhat familiar to what one would typically see at a super budget catered event, or a cocktail party put on by someone who is not a foodie; in other words it was mass-produced, pretty much tasted like eating a rubber band, and was all ’round gross.

This was paired with a wine that was a perfect match to the cheese: boring, and poured into a label-less bottle to protect so as to not offend anyone. I couldn’t help but wonder why we were tasting gross wines and rubbery cheeses? Oh, because the pairings to follow were all pristine examples of amazing wines with delicious cheeses, if nothing more than to illustrate the plainness of what we started with. Brilliant!

The day continued on with a talk from Jonah Benton of Benton Brothers Fine Cheese on “Cheese & Terroir: How place affects cheesemaking”. I had no idea all cheese starts out with the same ingredients – milk, salt and rennet, yet there are so many crazy differences in the cheeses out there, largely due to the influences from where it’s made.

Sampled were Brie de Meaux, France (Ile-de-France), Comté Marcel Petite, France (Franche- Comté) and Bleu d’Auvergne, France (Auvergne).

By mid afternoon I was in a happy state of cheese drunk, with several pages of chicken scratch notes I am still trying to translate. I determined that Comté is my new favorite cheese, that a light pinot is so delicious when served chilled, and to never accept cheese served cold. Well done, VinoCamp & Cheese Camp organizers, well done. ~ Jackie Connelly

* Go here for the full list of what was poured and tasted for both Vino and Cheese Camps.