I’ve been following Smith and Gertrude for a while on Twitter and after our visit to Pairings in York in January I was excited to try somewhere else that paired wine and cheese.  We were not disappointed! I love the feel of Smith and Gertrude, communal tables and music on vinyl, it’s a great place to spend an evening.

  
We both decided to go for a ‘native’ flight of wine paired with cheese.  Mr Frivolitea chose red and I chose white.  A flight consists of three 75ml glasses of wine chosen for you and paired with three cheeses.  The great thing about this option is that you try wine you would never have thought to choose if you were just going for a by the glass option. 

My white wine flight consisted of Godello from Galicia in Spain paired with bonnet a Scottish goats cheese followed by a really interesting Hungarian wine called Mad, a dry furmint from Tokaji that was paired with Comte and finally Lugana from Lombardia, Italy paired with Ubriaco, a cheese soaked in red wine. 

  
Mr Frivolitea’s red wine flight started with Bobal de Altas Tierras from Utiel-Requena in Spain paired with Manchego, this was followed by an Armenian wine Areni Noir paired with a mature Gouda and finishing with Barbera Superiore from Piedmont, Italy paired with Taleggio.  Mr Frivolitea particularly enjoyed the Barbera and ordered another glass.

  
We complimented our wine flights with a charcuterie board that consisted of Milano salami, Prosciutto, Scottish salami with fennel, Coppa and Tuscan salami.

  
We also had the most delicious Marcona almonds, rich and buttery tasting.

  
 I finished off the evening with the most fantastic glass of wine on reccomendation. It was called ‘Wild’ Sauvignon a Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc but unlike any Marlborough I’ve had before. It was incredible! The only way I can think to describe it is that it had the familiarity of a Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc but with a wonderful extra quality that felt almost Nordic or foraged. Almost impossible to describe but truly wonderful.

  
Smith and Gertrude is a fantastic place to spend an evening. Their passion for great wine shines through. We will certainly visit again next time we are in Edinburgh.