Jeez, Ma! All The Cool Kids Are Eating It And Drinking It!

We’re dying from the heat.

No, seriously.

Luckily, we recently ran into one of our favorite wine experts, Twin Liquors’ Tim Graham, who implored us not to forget to drink the white wine this summer.

“Tim!” we screamed at him with weak, limp voices. “What should we drink to ease the pain of this summer ache?”

Tim replied quickly, “Campustella Albarino from Spain. It’s not effervescent but it dances on the tongue.”

We asked him if there was anything else we should be on the lookout for this summer, because, seriously, we’re hot and we’re thirsty. “Anything sparkling and effervescent, sunny and bright,” he said, “like Cava, Prosecco and the like.”

Meanwhile, in Midtown, we love the new Mandola’s Market, but we haven’t forgotten our friends at the north Central Market. In fact, we visited with Central Market Cheesemonger Kelly Sheehan last week who guided us through some amazing choices for a small wine tasting we were hosting. After a few years studying art history at the Sorbonne in France, as well as teaching American English to businesspeople, Kelly came back to Austin a few years ago and landed at Central Market where she showcases her love and knowledge of the cheesy arts. We trust her implicitly, and so should you.

We couldn’t have been happier with her choices:

• Cravanzina, a three-milk cheese from Italy’s Piedmont region. Warm, mildly tangy and buttery fresh.

• Campo De Montalbon, a firm three-milk Spanish cheese in the vein of Manchego.

• Trugole, a semi-soft Italian cow’s milk cheese named after the only pasture the cow’s are taken to graze in the Asiago region. The cheese is made from only from Spring milk and all wheels are hand turned. The first cousin of an Asiago fresco, this one was our favorite.

We asked Kelly the most important thing about entertaining with cheese. “A cheese board should include three cheeses,” she said. “Consider different textures and different milks in lieu of looking at different colors or shapes.”

Or just ask Kelly.

Photo (c) Fatal Cleopatra