Garlic and Yellow Wine Cheese

Cancoillote is not really a cheese. It is a preparation made from a cheese. But it is common to find it as part of the cheese selection at fine restaurants in Eastern France. Cancoillote starts life as metton, an almost inedible hard cheese sold in quarter and half kilogram paper sacks. I’ve only seen one brand and that only at professional food stores. Once the metton is transformed into the unctuous mass called cancoillote, it becomes highly edible and very desirable. /The other important ingredient in cancoillote is the vin jaune—yellow wine. This is a unique wine made from a grape variety called savagnin grown in the Jura. The grapes are harvested late in the year so their sugar is fully developed. Once the fermentation is terminated, the new wine is aged in oak barrels for a minimum of 6-1/4 years without being opened and topped off. As the wine in the barrel slowly evaporates, a veil of yeast is formed on its surface that transforms it slowly into vin jaune while protecting it from oxidation. The color becomes bright yellow, like rich straw or gold with tinges of amber. The bouquet develops a surprising strength and, despite its high alcohol level of 13 or 14%, the taste of walnut continues to develop.

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