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This is marjorie martin with some good news about food and wine last weekend I attended a new kind of party, a cheese and wine tasting. It was so pleasant. I recommend that you try it sometime. Three couples who live in our neighborhood had planned to meet

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for a glass of sherry and then go on to dinner. One couple who have recently come here from Denmark, offered their home as the meeting place and promised us a sample of true danish hospitality. Some cheeses from Denmark had just appeared in our supermarket and they

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wanted us to try them. They suggested that we pair them with wine the way they used to do in europe seems the danes are wine enthusiasts. They don't produce any wines of their own, so they import them from many different countries and make a practice of

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tasting and comparing them all. They didn't have a chance to taste the wines we produce until they came here to live. They tell us we should be very proud of our wines. They especially like those from California because they are made of the same classic grapes

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used in the wines of europe, another major wine areas of the world. We were all enthusiastic about the party idea and agreed to share the costs. They turned out to be amazingly low for the six of us. We bought about a pound each of five different

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cheeses and we selected four bottles of wine, all dry reds, all from California. There was a burgundy, a zinfandel, a cabernet and a pinot noir. We also bought french bread and rye crisp. When we arrived at six, everything was set out in buffet style. The cheeses

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were on cutting boards, the wines were opened and the bread was sliced. We'd been promised that this would be a party of discovery, and it truly was. We poured a little wine into our glasses and held them up to the light to see the color, and

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then sniffed the fragrance. Finally we tasted the wines alone and then with the various cheeses, trying to remember the characteristic flavor of each. There was much talk about which wines, each person like best and with which cheeses. We were so interested. We actually forgot about dinner.

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The hostess brought in some apples and grapes and we ate those. As we finished up the wine. We agreed that without ever intending to, we dined very well indeed. As we said, good night, one of the men remarked that we ought to do this again. He

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suggested that we taste white wines next time and have seafoods to go along with them. We'll set a date soon. There's a new little booklet on wine tasting parties that I think you'd find helpful if you're planning one of your own if you'd like a copy.

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Right wine tasting party on a postcard and send it to marjorie martin box 88 san Francisco. Next time we meet, I'll tell you about a little gourmet club whose most enthusiastic member is a former steak and potatoes man