Goat Cheese: It’s the New Black If you dine out frequently, you’ve likely seen the emergence of goat cheese as the new menu staple. While its rich, creamy flavor compliments so many cuisine types, goat cheese is also lower in fat, calories and cholesterol than cow’s milk products while boasting a higher calcium content. Goat cheese, which closely resembles human milk’s smaller fat cells, is easier to digest than cow’s milk cheeses making it a more palatable option for the lactose intolerant.

While goat cheese is great on salads, it’s really great on pizza! My favorite is thin crust with pesto, chicken, bacon, caramelized sweet onions and crumbled goat cheese. (QUICK TIP: To make it on the fly, buy packaged pizza crust, chilled pesto and a rotisserie chicken.) Cook the bacon on a cookie sheet in the oven at 400 degrees for 15 minutes. To caramelize the onion, lightly coat a sauté pan with olive oil and place on medium-high heat. Peel the onion and cut it in half, thinly slicing it into long strips. Add them to the pan, and once slightly browned (not burned), reduce the heat to medium-low and let them cook until soft.

If you’re trying to “be good,” skip the meat. Use sautéed baby spinach with a bit of minced garlic, caramelized onions and goat cheese on a whole wheat pizza crust brushed with olive oil. Both of these options are amazing and simple ... and great with a glass of Sauvignon Blanc.

Speaking Wine-ese

Compliment your goat cheese pizza with a glass of Sauvignon Blanc. This wine comes from the small village of Quincy (pronounced: kahn-SEE’) in the eastern-most part of Central France’s Loire valley. This region is best known for producing terrific goat cheeses and bright, minerally white wines.

Being part geek, I’m always interested in the technical aspect of wine. For those who share my nerdiness, Quincy is an ancient town on the left bank of the Cher, a small tributary of the Loire, and lies southwest of its more famous neighbors, Sancerre and Pouilly. The Quincy vineyards (AOC* established in 1936) measure approximately 175 hectares (450 acres) and are the second oldest AOC in France after Châteauneuf-du-Pape**. The wines of this appellation almost disappeared after World War II, but today are staging a comeback with renewed interest from vintners and new plantings.

The vineyards actually lie around two towns — Quincy and Brinay. Quincy’s AOC status only applies to white wines (not red or rosé) made exclusively from Sauvignon Blanc. Interestingly, the soils there are sandier and less flinty than Sancerre, which not only helps create a softer, fleshier, less austere style of wine, but has also prevented the rootlouse known as phylloxera from decimating the vineyards over time. Some of the vines in the area are more than 50 years old, and while the older vines produce significantly less fruit, they also tend to make more complex and concentrated wines

Whether your taste leans more toward the opulent and intense style of New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc or the more mineral-driven wines of the eastern Loire Valley, the pungent character of goat cheese mirrors those same characteristics in Sauvignon Blanc, which makes them perfect partners.