This is always the time of year when I start to crave heat: the calendar says June, and I’m itching for sunshine, warm nights, and spaghetti straps. Living in the reality of summer in San Francisco, I’m vicariously enjoying the heat as we celebrate Spanish and Portuguese cheeses this month at the Market.  Many of you know (and love!) Manchego, but the Iberian Peninsula’s cheese offerings are so richly diverse, why stop there?  Come taste a few of our featured cheeses this month.

Valdeon is a mixed milk blue cheese, made with cow and goat milk, and oh-so-Spanish!  It’s beautifully wrapped, and begging for either a savory tomato salad or a drizzle of something sweet like honey or fig jam. I admit, mixed milk cheeses pull on my heart strings, and the Tres Leches is a fantastic blend of goat, sheep, and cow milk that’s interesting and easy to enjoy before dinner.

For those who prefer a pure sheep milk cheese, check out Roncal, Spain’s first DOP cheese, and one I think of as Manchego’s more austere and reserved cousin.

Vare is an equally lovely first cheese made of goat’s milk and balanced between sweet and tangy notes. Gardunha is classic Portuguese – rather than traditional animal rennet, a thistle flower is used as a coagulant. This imparts a distinct vegetal quality to this goat cheese; a fun contrast to its unctuous texture.

And though cow’s milk cheeses make up a minority of Spanish cheeses, Mahon Reserva is a treat with a little bit of bite!

Kenny Likitprakong’s winemaking career has been one of constantly moving exploration. “From skateboard to vineyard,” as one local paper wrote, from conventional to natural winemaking, and from traditional CA varietals (Zinfandel and the like), to thoroughly modern styles like skin-fermented Chenin Blanc. He started his career studying at UC Davis’ wine program and spent two years managing their organic vineyard. As Kenny moved into the world and began making his own wines, he took for granted the potions and tricks that most winemakers used to doctor their wines. A six-month stint in France opened his eyes to the possibilities of natural winemaking.

Fast-forward ten years, and Kenny uses only organically-grown fruit and native yeasts, and he assiduously sources vineyards far and wide in order to find the best fruit available. Chenin blanc from Mendocino? Gewurtztraminer from Monterey County? This stuff is no Napa Chard, but each wine has a sense of place. By letting the wine make itself, by intervening as little as possible into the wine “making” process, Kenny is able to offer a lineup of wines whose common thread is like a neighborhood of old Victorians – each with a different façade and paint, distinct and beautiful on their own.

2012 Banyan Gewurtztraminer  -  $11.99
Banyan is Kenny’s homage to his Southeast Asian heritage. When he discovered an old Gewurztraminer vineyard in Monterey County, he decided to produce a wine that would pair well with the foods he loved to eat, both in flavor and in price! This Gewurztraminer is a killer value and is full of exotic tropical fruit aromas including pineapple, lychee, and lemongrass. The palate is dry and crisp, with great white pepper and honeysuckle flavors. A surefire match with any spicy Asian dish!

2012 Folk Machine Jeanne d’Arc  -  $16.99
Folk Machine is Kenny’s line of Central Coast, cool climate wines. This savory, skin-fermented white might fall into the “curiosity” category if it weren’t for the fact that it is so darn delicious. It’s 100% Chenin Blanc that’s had 20 days of skin contact giving it an enticingly hazy orange hue. Notes of apples, pears, and cinnamon combine with a cider-like intensity of texture for a food-friendly experience. Try with a hunk of Camembert cheese and just let it wash over you.

2012 Folk Machine Pinot Noir  -  $19.99
Kenny’s Folk Machine Pinot Noir is made from grapes sourced mostly from vineyards in the Central Coast with a splast of Mendocino fruit. The focus here is cool climate, early-picked Pinot. Juicy red fruits, bright acid, and a beautiful light translucence. Serve this lightly chilled with a summer lunch of little gem lettuce salad and Taleggio grilled cheese with caramelized onions.

2010 Ghostwriter Santa Cruz Pinot Noir – $24.99
It’s no wonder that this wine made the list in Jon Bonne’s Top 100 in last year’s SF Chronicle lineup. Ghostwriter Wines are Kenny’s wines from the cool-climate Santa Cruz Mountains. His Pinot Noir has a density of fruit that will please lovers of CA Pinot, but enough earth and forest floor herbal aromas to woo those Burgundy-philes too. It has a light, bright finish, and is a steal for delicious CA Pinot Noir. Get it while it’s still around!

Upcoming Tastings at 18 Reasons:

18th Hour Cafe will host this month’s featured winemaker, Kenny Likitprakong on Thursday June 20^th from 6-10pm. Come by to meet Kenny and taste his wonderful wines.

18th Hour Cafe - Every Thursday, 6-10PM, Drop-In

Producer Dinner: Forlorn Hope Winery – Friday, June 7th, 7-10PM, Ticketed

Wine Appreciation: Palate Development School with Oliver McCrum – Mondays, June 17th and 24th, 6:30-9PM, Ticketed

Sour Beer Class with Master Cicerone Rich Higgins – Tuesday, June 25th, 7-9PM, Ticketed

King Salmon season is at its peak of bounty and flavor! This Saturday, Sunday, and Monday ONLY, we are offering fillets of fresh-caught wild King Salmon at just $19.99 per pound–the lowest price of the season for this local fish. Just caught in Half Moon Bay and San Francisco’s Pier 45 and brought to us by our longtime friends at All Seas, this fish is great for grilling, broiling, and even poaching for brunch. King Salmon lovers will also enjoy this quick video of Bi-Rite head butcher Chili demonstrating his filleting technique. And try your salmon with his easy recipe for miso glaze.

The ideal California wine to pair with this gorgeous California fish is 2009 Handley Pinot Noir, also $19.99. Lovingly crafted by winemaker Milla Handley in small lots in beautiful Anderson Valley, CA, this wine packs flavors of red berries and spice.

Perfect seasonal fruits to accompany your King Salmon and Pinot Noir pairing are apricots and blackberries. Try the extra-tangy, CCOF-certified Robada apricots from Frog Hollow Farm in Brentwood, CA, and Free Spirit Farm’s organic blackberries; these large, plump berries are exploding with juice and lightly-tart flavor.

This exceptional value on King Salmon is only available Saturday, June 1 through Monday, June 3, so be sure to stop by in the next three days! We look forward to seeing you.