Max McCalman

Where did you grow up?

Brazil and Arkansas mostly.

When did you first become interested in cheese?

When I was two years old (before moving to Brazil) when I had a cold and my mother didn’t want me to touch the cheese before me because she thought that I might “infect” it with my germs. Then growing up in Brazil, I don’t recall tasting much cheese at all. My parents were probably told that we should avoid the cheese (what cheeses were there) because it was likely not pasteurized back then. God forbid! So essentially I was cheese starved for most of my formative years; ever since I’ve not been able to keep my hands off the stuff.

What influenced you to become a fromager?

Early in my wine career (which preceded by cheese career somewhat) I had the opportunities on a number of occasions to see how well most cheese paired with most types of wines. I also noticed that cheese was getting a bad rap back in the eighties and nineties; it just didn’t seem fair. After all, we Americans were certainly becoming increasingly enamored with our wines.

How would you describe your style?

Curious, willing to try most any type of food or beverage, then find out what makes it taste the way it tastes, then tell someone about it (if I think it’s worth telling the story) then delivering the message in a fairly florid way.

When was the first time you remember drinking wine?

Can’t recall exactly, so many decades ago, but I remember falling in love with red Bordeaux especially, then white Burgundies, then many others followed. When I would find something I liked I would buy it by the case, even if it was not necessarily an age-worthy wine.

When did you start to like wine?

The first time I tasted it, I’m sure. I liked it so much that I would even accept a slightly flawed bottle if that was the only wine available.

Where do you drink wine mostly?

Fortunately it is part of what I do for a living these days: eat cheese and drink wine, then I talk about it and write about it. Most meals at restaurants include wine; that’s a must. But I really love to have it at home with my sweetheart where it is less expensive and it is a less academic exercise.

What are your favorite types of wine? Varietals? Regions?

Where do I begin? Like I said, I first fell in love with red Bordeaux. So I like the Cabs, just about any of them, also love Chardonnay, Nebbiolo, Gewürztraminer, Sangiovese, Sauvignon Blanc, Chenin Blanc, Pinot (just about all of them, even an ordinary Grigio if it’s got some character, Garnacha, Tempranillo, Palomino, PX (had a few sips last night before bedtime, had sweet dreams), Albariño, Petit Syrah, Muscat, etc., etc. The list is virtually endless. Blends can certainly work, but I like to see what the single varietals can do with cheeses or other foods, not matter where or how the wines are vinified.

What are your favorite kinds of food?

Cheese first, all else follows. Love the veggies, crudo, sashimi, pretty much an omnivore.

What are your favorite styles of cheese? Regions?

Raw, sheep, wash-rind, cooked, pressed. Wish we had legal access to the young raw cheeses here. Cheeses from Portugal, Switzerland, England, France, Spain, Italy, Holland, and more and more from the US. Loving the goat and cow, and water buffalo too.

What are your favorite restaurants?

El Faro in Cadiz, Dirt Candy, Esca and The Odeon in NYC, Moim and Rosewater in Park Slope, La Tupina in Bordeaux.

What is your favorite wine and cheese pairings?

That’s a tough one; the last one I tasted? I’ve got a database of thousands of pairings that I thought were especially memorable.

If you were stranded on a desert island, what one type of food/wine would you choose to have?

Beeler Gruyère and Kistler Durell Chardonnay.

If you could present cheese to any person/group in the world, who would they be and why? And what would you choose for them?

Our President, Congress, the entire Supreme Court, as well as our Surgeon General. The cheeses would all be made with good, clean raw milk; embarrassingly these are the types that are illegal and unavailable to us here in this country - this to show them how much happier and healthier we would all be if we could consume these types of cheeses on a daily basis, and to show them that our regulations are based on the false assumption that young unpasteurized cheeses are hazardous.

What are your favorite wine memories?

A simple Palomino table wine with fresh caught fishies, El Faro restaurant in Cadiz.
A Château Musar with friends, no food.

A couple of ’89 Château Léoville-Batons priced very reasonably at a restaurant whose name I’d rather not mention (should they have a few more at that price when I return); the food was deplorable but the wine was so good I had to have a second bottle with the bread, also deplorable.

A Sandeman Old Solera Royal Ambrosante PX with my girlfriend last night.

Do you have any wine-related disasters?

Early in my wine career I recall dribbling a boutique Cabernet Sauvignon all over a woman’s blond mink coat. She was cool about it.

Which are your favorite wines?

As a rule I prefer wines that are not terribly high in alcohol content, just enough. But just in case, I love a good old Amontillado; does that count?

What is your motto for enjoying life?

Listen more than speak, read more than write, contemplate but be fearless, eat well but eat less, exercise and get plenty of sun.