Characteristics Of Chardonnay Wine
The main flavors& aromas – lemon, apple, pear, pineapple, peach, and fig.
You will also find – herbal, spice aromas, floral, and mineral. Aromas after aging in oak vanilla, baked pie, butter, caramelized sugar, crème brûlée, dill, coconut.
The serving temperature – for unseasoned chardonnay: is 9 °C, for those aged 12 °C.
Acidity – below average above average .
Chardonnay Cheese Pairing Ideas That Will Make Your Friends Envy You
Wine and cheese is the ultimate pairing, perfect for any occasion, whether that be for a party youre hosting with friends or as a way to unwind after a long work week!
Unfortunately, the worlds of wine and cheese can be difficult to understand for any beginner, but dont worry! This article is here to help you with everything you need to know about Chardonnay and cheese!
What You Should Know About Chardonnay
The birthplace of Chardonnay is Burgundy, yet the variety is adaptable to any climate and produces significantly different, and often unexpected, outcomes under diverse conditions. From France and Italy to the New World, Chardonnay is a favorite among winemakers. Chardonnay can produce wines in a variety of styles: light, fresh, mineral, unoaked or rich, creamy, oaky and sparkling. It also enjoys oak extract, which imparts a vanilla taste and a creamy texture to the body, as well as hints of nuts, honey, and a spicy citrus note.
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Top Food Pairings For Four Different Styles Of Chardonnay
Young, unoaked, cool climate chardonnaySuch as: The classic and most austere example of this is Chablis but other young white burgundies would fall into this category. Good matches:Theyre perfect with light and delicate food such as raw and lightly cooked shellfish like crab and prawns and steamed or grilled fish. If you want to serve chardonnay with appetizers think fish pâtés, fish, chicken or vegetable terrines. They also go well with pasta or risotto with spring vegetables and creamy vegetable soups. Finer, more intense examples such as Puligny-Montrachet can take on raw fish such as sashimi or delicately spiced fish or salads. Chablis is particularly good with oysters.
For more suggestions see this post on pairing food and Chablis
Fruitier, unoaked or lightly oaked chardonnaysSuch as: Chardonnays from slightly warmer areas to the above but made in a more contemporary style – smooth, sometimes buttery with melon and peach flavours. Examples would be inexpensive chardonnays from the south of France, Chile, New Zealand and South Africa. Good matches:Slightly richer dishes than those listed above but ones where a degree of freshness in the wine is still welcome. Fish pie and fish cakes other simple salmon preparations chicken, pork or pasta in a creamy sauce chicken, ham or cheese-based salads such as caesar salad or chicken salads that include peach, mango or macadamia nuts, mild curries with buttery sauces
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Pairing Chardonnay With Appetizers
White wines usually begin a gathering, whether or not a meal is to follow. So pairing Chardonnay with appetizers is very natural.
Light and bright appetizers encourage the appetite, and unoaked Chardonnay shines here. The vibrancy of fresh tomatoes makes an excellent appetizer pairing for unoaked Chardonnay, especially during the prime-time summer season. If you’re in the mood for something richer, oaked Chardonnays pair nicely with appetizers that have been cooked, like Pumpkin, Ricotta & Arugula Bruschetta or Caramelized Onion, Apple & Brie Flatbread.
Check out the “Rules of Thumb to Follow” in this wine pairing piece to learn how a cooking principle called the Maillard Reaction changes foods. It’s incredibly helpful for pairing foods with different styles of Chardonnay!
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How To Pair Best
There are a number of obvious or known combinations. But there are even more adventurous combinations, which are usually the result of a pleasant trial and error, which deliver an excellent result. You can look for combinations of tastes that have an equal basis and/or reinforce each other.
Summarized you can put it like this. With a sweet creamy cheese, which are best fresh and high in fat, young supple wines pair well. Fruity white or red wines go well with spicy cheeses. And spicy or salty cheeses fit best with a luscious sweet wine.
It is also said that successful pairing lies in balancing fatty acid and flavour. It is proposed to serve lighter, fresh cheeses like chevre, brie, mozzarella in brine, cottage cheese, blues, Gouda or pressed Pecorino like Manchego with light wines such as Chardonnay.
And if you want to combine oaked Chardonnay with cheese, then go for semi-hard ripened cheeses such as mature Gouda and Comté. Continue reading and you will find more ideal combinations of Chardonnay and cheese.
What Flavors Pair Well With Ros Wine
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Pinot Noir And Vermont Sharp Cheddar Or Gruyere
Vermont Sharp Cheddar is aged and needs to be paired with a wine that has earthy notes, such as Pinot Noir. Pinot Noir is a dry and light to medium-bodied red wine that has these characteristics along with ripe red fruit flavors. It also works well with a nutty cheese with medium firmness, such as Gruyere.
Create A Perfect Pairing
Every wine is unique. Is your wine dry and spicy? Smooth out rigid tannins and bracing acidity with a slightly less firm cheese. The fat content will complement the tannin, and the texture will absorb high acidity. For example, a 5 month aged Bra Duro with Barolo. Learn about the to fine-tune your pairings.
More Bold Red Wine & Cheese Pairings:
- Aged Gouda
- Basque Sheeps Milk Cheese
- Grana Padano
- Toma del Lait Brusc Northern Italy
Wine and Cheese Poster
Explore dozens of classic wine and cheese pairings on this illustrated print. Made with love in Seattle, WA, USA.
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Wine And Cheese Pairings
Cheese is one of the most misunderstood foods when it comes to matching with wine. Cheese connoisseur Terry Kirby gives advice on how to do it properly.
Terry Kirby
Cheese and wine are alike in so many ways it’s no wonder we often consume them together. Both have vast ranges of styles, where national and regional traditions interweave with climate, soil and other changing natural influences, meaning one year’s batch can be very different from the last. Pests and moulds play their own parts, as does the temperature at which they are consumed.
Production methods, how they are kept and aged or not and the love and care, as well as the whims, of the people that make them all shape individual character.
Red Wine How To Pair With Cheese
If you secretly wished Taylor Swifts Red album was all about your latest wine store escapade, this adventure is for you. Whether you like sweet or dry, light- or full-bodied, we red your mind and have just the cheese you need are you red-y?
- Pinot Noir cheese pairing because of its great versatility, Pinot Noir is a definite go-to when it comes to cheese. From tangy, salty feta to a complex, earthy aged Gruyere, Pinot Noir can hold its own, offering equal intensities to whatever cheese comes its way! Curve ball check out Cello Rubbed Fontal Bergamot & Hibiscus to match the cheeses aromatic herbs with the wines medium-bodied floral notes for an instant home run.
- Cabernet Sauvignon cheese pairing another popular varietal, Cabernet Sauvignon is a dry, full-bodied, and structured wine with notes of dark fruit, tobacco and chocolate. Pair it with aged cheeses like gouda, cheddar, or swiss for nutty pairings. Or, consider intensely aromatic cheeses like Gorgonzola or Camembert to engage multiple senses.
Check out this pairing chart, summarizing how to pair cheese with your favorite reds:
| The Red Wine | |
|---|---|
| Chianti | Parmigiano-Reggiano, Rubbed Fontal Tuscan |
Dont see your favorite red listed? Check out more red wine and cheese pairing ideas here.
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Chardonnay And Cheese Pairing The Most Easily
In a recent blog post, your favourite online wine seller, Just Wines, deciphered a Chardonnay wines flavour profile and recommended food pairing accordingly. Today, let us discuss everything about Chardonnay and cheese pairing including why certain cheeses make for good matches with this wine, which is an aspect of the subject that is mostly
Its Wine And Cheese Season
Its officially Wine and Cheese season! And to help you eat and drink your way through it, Im sharing the best wine and cheese pairings. Well start with some basic guidelines for How to Pair Wine and Cheese, go through some classic pairings, then share specific pairing examples using the wines and cheeses I tasted and picked up on my exploration of the Central Coast with California Wines during California Wine Month.
I know what youre saying. Every season is Wine and Cheese I know. Just like every month is California Wine Month! which if youve spent even 12 seconds around here, you know is absolutely true.
Ok, so hear me out.
image: outdoor gathering at Desparada Wines by James Collier for California Wines
Just like September is officially California Wine Month, Fall, when we have back-to-back-to-back gatherings with friends and family for any and every reason, is officially-ish Wine and Cheese season. Whether were back to school and work with friends, tailgating on the weekends, celebrating holidays, or as weve come to appreciate in the last two years, just being physically present with other people, a bottle or two or three of wine with a cheese board is the fastest, easiest, and cleanest way to setup, feed people, and keep conversation buzzing.
Keep reading for some Basic Guidelines for How to Pair Wine and Cheese, because you cant just pop just any old bottle of wine and throw a couple random chunks of cheese on a plate.
Or can you???
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How To Match Wine And Cheese
And like a Bordeaux lover anxious to learn exactly from which château the wine they are drinking comes, true cheese enthusiasts demand to know which of the seven East Midland dairies licensed under the EU’s Protected Designation of Origin scheme has produced the Stilton they are eating. Both wine and cheese embody a place, a people and a sense of terroir.
But, as we reach for the oatcakes and pour another glass, there are some rules to remember: don’t assume only red wines can be drunk with cheese there are some wonderful matches with whites. Also, mature, strong cheeses generally work better with bigger, fuller wines and fresher, lighter-tasting cheeses with youthful wines. However, bear in mind that the wide variety of cheeses and cheesemakers particularly new artisan British cheeses mean one cheese may be very different from another, even if it is the same style or comes from the same area. And finally, don’t be afraid to experiment!
With that in mind, here are some recommendations:
What Kind Of Cheese Goes With Chardonnay
For reasons of practicality, we are only going to recommend cheeses which are easily available in Australia and New Zealand. We understand that our audience may not be able to get its hands on variety, which, say is produced in a remote French village.
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Pairing Chardonnay With Herb And Spices
Chardonnay marries well with herbs and can be very accommodating toward spices, unless the spices are hot. In these cases, the spices over-emphasize the oak character and alcohol perception of the wine and become unpleasant.
Still, herbs and spices can pair well with Chardonnay. For herbs, subtlety is the key, and herbs tend to work better with unoaked rather than oaked Chardonnay. For spices, savory additions work best with unoaked Chardonnay while baking spices work best with oaked Chardonnay.
Sauvignon Blanc With Chevre
Sauvignon Blancs natural ally is Chevre or goat cheese. The bright, tart, tangy nature of this fresh cheese makes for a perfect complement to the balanced acidity and vibrant notes of citrus, peach, and tropical fruit that are the hallmark of Casillero del Diablos Sauvignon Blanc. But dont think that Sauvignon Blanc is a one hit wonder. It also plays well with more substantial options such as Asiago or Gouda.
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Pairing Wine And Cheese The Basics
Before we explore our three pairing paths, lets set the stage for how to pair wine and cheese at a high level.
If youve ever wondered what cheese goes with what wine?, the secret to success is mouthfeel! In general, cheese has a high fat content and makes the mouth slightly oily. The tannins in wine are astringent, making your mouth feel dry. Pair them together and everything is right in the world and right in your mouth.
Does red or white wine go with cheese? The answer is both! In addition to improving the perceptions of fruit aromas in wine, cheese reduces the duration of astringency in red wine and heightens the taste of white wine. With this in mind, a general rule about pairing cheese and red wine is to match intensities, and a general rule about pairing cheese and white wines is to match opposites.
To compound these rules, cheese flavor profiles can be complex, and options like Cello Rubbed Fontals offer 8 unique spice rubs and tasting experiences, especially when paired with your favorite wine.
Now, lets get on with our wine and cheese pairing adventure.
Avoid Overly Oaked Wines
Soft and rich cheeses, such as Brie and Double Crème, often pair nicely with white wines made from Chardonnay grapes. This is especially true of the crisp versions, for instance Chablis in Burgundy and wines that have been matured briefly in barrels. Here, the Chardonnay grape, with its lovely acidity, really brings out the best in the cheeses.
Certain Chardonnay wines, such as those from Burgundy and many of the overseas Chardonnays, have spent a fair amount of time in barrels, which makes them bolder and more full-bodied. However, this oaked flavor generally makes these types of wine less suitable for pairing with cheese. Save these wines for flavourful fish dishes.
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Ros & Cabot Cheese Pairings
Summer is rosé season, with the warmer temperatures inviting this wines emblematic light, refreshing flavor. To really enhance the tasting experience, try serving rosé and cheese.
The bright flavors of rosé can range from light and sweet to dry and nuanced and, rest assured, there is a Cabot Cheddar selection that will bring out the best in every glass you serve. One thing is sure youll be delighted with how beautifully our cheddars highlight the flavors of rosés.
You cant go wrong when you pair rosé wine with lighter side dishes like this Ginger Lemongrass Dipor this Jicama, Avocado and Cabot Cheddar Salad with Lime Dressing. And nothing goes better with a dry rosé than a rich and thoroughly comforting grilled cheese like this Ver-monte Cristo Sandwich.
Of course, this wine can be served at any time of year. Whether you enjoy your favorite rosé and cheese out on your patio in the summer or cozied up under a blanket on your couch in the winter, youll find rosé is perfect in all seasons.
Poisses With Burgundy Chardonnay
Époisses has been called the king of cheeses, and Leonard Cohen once said its the only thing I want to eat. Luckily, M& S do their own version of this stinky cheese, so you dont have to go all the way to France to sample it.
Époisses comes from Burgundy and is traditionally paired with red wine from the region. This pairing reminds us that we should trust the locals what grows together, goes together so match wines and cheeses made in the same region. We recommend pairing it with white Burgundy, which is almost always chardonnay.
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Provence Ros Wine And Goat Cheese: A Match Made In Heaven
Imagine the summer sun, a picnic with some Provencerosé wine and goat cheese, with fresh bread, tomatoes, olive oil and olives. This is theepitomy of the simplicity and the joie de vivre of Provence life. And it is even better if accompanied with a glass of wine!
Goat cheese is the cheese of Provence. The goats survive on the garrigue of the rocky hillsides when little else does.
There are many different styles of goat cheese and they are much whiter than sheep or cow milk cheeses. Here are four variations:
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