Every Saturday morning I make the trip out of the city to Russos to buy fresh produce. I wish I could say that I go there for the inexpensiveve fruit and veges, the great Italian deli, the freshly baked bread, or the selection of imported olive oil. And I can say this, because it's true. But the real reason why I drive out of the city to shop instead of finding a more convenient place in the city is to visit Mark, the head cheese guy at the front of the cheese counter.

Mark is passionate about his cheese. Every week I show up, and even when he's busy, he invites me over. "Hey, I got something really cool in, you gotta try this," he'll say.

This week was especially interesting. I went in wanting to learn a little bit about blue cheese, and he must have read my mind. "We've got some great American blues in this week," he said without prompting. He let me try two cheeses from Jasper Hill Farm Cheese in Vermont.

The first, Bartlett Blue Cheese, was a blue based on the Wensleydale recipe. It was firm and peppery, but also had a dominant creamy texture as well. The second, Bayley Hazen Blue, was drier, more crumbly, and noticeably more tangy and peppery than the Bartlett. It is based on the Stilton recipe. Both cheeses exhibited the characteristic nutty and slightly sweet, fruity qualities of quality of the Ayershire cow's milk -- the cow of Stilton and Wensleydale. 

I paired both cheeses with a fantastic German Riesling -- the 2006 St. Urbans-Hof Piesporter Goldtröpfchen Riesling Kabinett. It had a honey, almond, and fig aromas underneath wet stone, with strong minerality and a incredibly balanced sugar, acidity, and fruit flavor. This was one of the best German Rieslings I've tasted in a while, and the cheese pairing was exquisite.

Image credit: Jasper Hill Farms