Hi Tom,


On Fri, 6 Feb 2009 02:24:15 -0800 (PST), Tom
> wrote:

>Terrine au Bleu d'Auvergne: pork meat, poultry liver, Bleu d'Auvergne
>(i.e., bleu cheese), eggs, milk, pepper, ascorbic acid, sodium nitrite
>(commercial product (i.e., not freshly made) in a glass jar, room
>temperature storage/consumption)

I have never heard of making a terrine with pork, chicken liver and
blue cheese.

If the ingredients are listed in decreasing amounts as is normal, then
I guess that the eggs will be there to make a "set" and the milk to
give some softness and maybe to soften the flavours as well. I can't
see either being present in sufficiently large quantities to affect
the flavour much or it's match with wine. I have to say I'm having
real difficulty "mindtasting" this terrine.

I haven't a clue what I'd serve with such a beast. I make some cheese
pastes, but they don't have pork or chicken liver. I make a pork
terrine but that doesn't have cheese and I make a chicken liver
terrine and that has neither of the above. As to what component made
the wines taste odd, I have a suspicion it might be the chicken liver.
I remember once doing a dinner where I served a chicken liver pate
with Berkasteler Doktor kabinett 73 - this was a very long time ago
when I was very much in the early stages of learning about food and
wine matches. The paté completely destroyed the wine, to the extent
that we all agreed to drink water with the pate and then take a break
before moving on the next course, during which we'd drink the wine.

Bleu d'auvergne isn't a disaster with most reds - we serve a closely
related wine, Bleu des Causses, at most of our dinners and very often
people like to finish their reds with it, despite my best endeavour to
discourage them! It's not the match of the century - far from it, but
it's not M.A.D. either.

As you said, you could think about serving a genuinely sweet wine. Not
necessarily as far gone as a Sauternes, but the sort of wine sold in
France as "Vin moelleux" The second one on this page, for example.
http://www.chateaulamaurigne.com/gamme.html
--
All the best
Fatty from Forges