April 03, 2009, House & Garden Tour, By Jennifer Hamilton, Rare hunting prints, a Bedouin necklace and staircase with glass sides, Food & Wine, Mexico by the Glass, By Dick Avery, Choosing the right cheese for your wine

House & Garden Tour
Sun, Apr 5, tour departs at noon
Biblioteca Pública
Insurgentes 25
US$15 or 150 pesos
Breakfast at Café Santa Ana starts at 9am

House & Garden Tour
By Jennifer Hamilton

Rare hunting prints, a Bedouin necklace and staircase with glass sides

1. This tasteful home is located on a quiet street in Atascadero. Every room is filled with light from the plate glass windows and from large panes of glass placed in the ceilings. The house is filled with art and sculpture. A large kitchen contains a restaurant-sized stove, large skylight and blue and white tiles.

The formal dining room with its inlaid wood table and Mexican art offers a view over the nearby cactus-covered hills and the mountains to the west. The bar/breakfast area includes family caricatures and rare hunting prints from England. A large bedroom is bright and sunny, with a cantera fireplace and its own patio. It has a sizeable dressing room and the bathroom looks over a lush atrium. The upstairs master suite has an outstanding headboard, a living area, fireplace and patio. The lower floor has an independent entranceway and small kitchen, painted and decorated in bright Mexican colors and motif. A veranda has an outside grill and a stone water wall; two seating areas surround the pool. The mu
lti-leveled garden is planted abundantly with flowers, plants and fruit trees. An aluminum sculpture by New Orleans artist Lin Emery dominates the pool area.

2. This house has a great deal of beautiful carved cantera stonework, including door frames, fireplaces and columns. The antique cantera frame at the front door was carved in Puebla.

Prior to moving to San Miguel, the owners had lived in Saudi Arabia and the house reflects Middle Eastern touches, including Kabul rugs. Living and dining areas are “separated” by placing them at different angles. Woodwork is solid mesquite, including the large carved cabinet in the living room and shutters on the windows of the guest bedroom upstairs. The kitchen features rich, dark blue tiles and an arched ceiling. The master bedroom is romantic and cozy, with a framed Bedouin necklace and a plant-filled outdoor patio which leads to a casita.

3. This supremely elegant home is hidden behind the walls of an old cobbled street in Centro and is truly a magnificent example of modern architecture blending effortlessly with contemporary, antique and Mexican colonial touches.

The first floor is completely open, encompassing two salas, dining area and kitchen. Stretching two stories high and topped by an imposing white bóveda ceiling, the larger sala is flooded with light. A fireplace contains hand-blown glass pieces and is topped by a huge, intricately carved mirror. The highly polished black tiled floors offset the white walls and modern furniture with interspersed color accents. The most commanding vista is the prominent staircase with glass sides, an imposing and exceptional work of art in itself. The master suite contains two arched ceilings, a cozy seating area, modern art and a four-poster bed. A long corridor also with glass sides overlooks the sala below and leads to a second bedroom with a colorful tapestry-covered bed filled with pillows and ojo
de buey windows. Mellifluous archways abound, invoking a warm and inviting feel to this distinctive home. Stretching from the front garden is an open covered corridor for outdoor entertaining painted in eye-catching Mexican colors with brilliantly hued masks on the outside walls.

The House & Garden Tour thanks the following for opening their beautiful homes On Sunday, March 29, 2009

Roberto McLendon Agundis
Nicole Tarrare
Caren & Dave Cross

5th Sunday in March for 2008 224 visitors on tour

5th Sunday in March for 2009 176 visitors on tour

Year to Date 2008 3,575 visitors on tour

Choosing the right cheese for your wine

Love and marriage, horse and carriage, wine and cheese. OK, it doesn’t rhyme, but do they ever go together! It’s not surprising when one realizes how similar their production processes are. I’ll explore their affinities in the first of a series of wine and food matchups designed to entertain and enlighten readers.

Wine’s aromas, taste and appearance are a result of the winemaker’s skill, the wine’s terroir (agricultural environment) and the weather. It’s the same with cheese—with the additional factor of the producing animal’s habits or lifestyle.

Many wines and cheeses start out with a basic recipe and develop specific or varietal characteristics through the skill and artistry of the producer. In the case of cheese, there are essentially three types produced by three different animals: goats, sheep and cows. They have different compositions and very different flavors

Cheeses made from goat’s and sheep’s milk are lower in fat and cholesterol, contain no gluten and are easier to digest. Their flavors, on the other hand, tend to be tangier and nuttier—or, if you like, stronger and more acidic. Cow’s milk cheeses, higher in fat, can produce richer, creamier flavors. Also, cheese flavors and aromas intensify with a little time at room temperature.

Let’s get to the fun part and pair up some of these delicacies with a glass or two of the good juice. Since one may choose from literally hundreds of cheeses, and since many people already have their favorite wine-and-cheese pairings, I’ll skip such well-known varieties as parmesan, Swiss and cheddar and focus on less-well-known cheeses made by local artisanal producers. These are all natural, without hormones or additives—their flavors come from aging pasteurized milk.

The next time you pull the cork on a full-bodied wine like San Lorenzo Tinto, take a bite of a local version of a St. Paulin. Made from cow’s milk, it is rich, flavorful and a great counterpoint to the acids of the red wine. Or, as a change of pace, try a Panela, a goat cheese native to Mexico. This very light, fresh, Mediterranean-style cheese marries well with fruitier wines such as Chenin Blanc. You might also match a glass of the Monte Xanic Chenin Blanc/Columbard with some cow’s milk Manchego. It has a delicately pungent nose, a creamy, chewy texture and a nice finish.

Another flavorful matchup would be a locally made goat cheese—light, with an aroma as fresh as a daisy and a tangy, slightly puckery flavor that sings when paired with a glass of Pinot Noir. Or try a locally made sheep’s milk cheese, totally organic, aged for six months. A moderately pungent nose leads into a firm body that would marry beautifully with a full-bodied Chardonnay.

Totally native to Mexico is Cojita cheese, made only in Michoacán. I couldn’t find a wine matchup for this cheese, but mention it for its uniqueness and universality in Mexican cuisine. Made from cow’s milk and aged for six months, it has a crumbly, feta-cheese texture and a salty, tangy flavor. It doesn’t melt well, but is used as a garnish on enchiladas, frijoles and tostadas. The next time you have frijoles in a restaurant, notice the cheese garnish—it will be Cojita.

In the late nineteenth century, Mennonite missionaries settled in the state of Chihuahua, where they began making cheese and named it—you guessed it—Chihuahua. Made from cow’s milk, it has a light, unobtrusive aroma and melts well. Next time you sit down with a plate of quesadillas, you’re probably dining on Chihuahua. I would pair it with a full-bodied Chardonnay from Casa Madero.

At the other end of the smell-and-taste spectrum is a local version of a Pont Lévesque. Made by Patricia Hernández, it is the only Pont Lévesque made in Mexico. Big, aromatic, with a milder but still full-bodied flavor, it is a cow’s milk cheese that needs reining in by a “big red.” Pull a cork on a Petit Sirah (not Syrah), a big Zinfandel or a Malbec and the wine has met its match!

Special thanks to Mariana Peraza, Señora Hernández’s daughter, and her partner David Abel of Luna de Queso for their help in researching this article. Luna de Queso offers over 70 cheeses, of which over two dozen are made by local artisanal producers. Many of them cannot be obtained elsewhere.

Dick Avery is a freelance writer and head sipper at VinoClubSMA, a wine club devoted to the pleasures of Vino Méxicano. Email vinoclubsma@gmail.com or visit www.vinoclubsma.com.