Red Blend And Sharp Or Smoked Cheese
Wines made from a blend of red grapes are usually medium-bodied and well-balanced. With their fruit, herb, and spice flavors, red blends work well with smoked or sharp cheese because all the flavors become enhanced significantly. Red blend wine tends to work well with all meal options because it is considered well-rounded.
Why Do Cheese And Wine Go Together
Understanding why cheese and wine pair well is actually rather simple. Cheese, which is typically quite high in fat, coats the mouth and taste buds with its richness. Wine on the other hand is characteristically more acidic and sometimes sweet which cuts through the rich and creamy layer in the mouth.
The combination of rich cheese and acidic wine can unlock different and fuller flavours on the palate as well as create a wonderful mouthfeel . Cheese can even help reduce the duration of astringency of red wines, and heighten the taste of white wine.
Food scientists have found that consuming cheese while drinking wine can actually improve the experience you get from the wine itself as foods that are on opposite ends of the taste spectrum seem to create a very pleasant taste sensation and register as a good match in the brain.
A more romantic reason for why cheese and wine go well together is that winemaking and cheesemaking have co-existed, side-by-side throughout history. Both often take years of aging to reach maturation and optimum flavor, both require careful tending by artisan producers, and both are often created in similar terroir, making the pairing of cheese and wine a natural pairing.
Can You Eat Parmesan Cheese By Itself
Parmesan doesnt need any dressing or accompaniment! You can eat it right out of the packaging. Italians will tell you, you should always eat the hardened outer layer. This part of the cheese often gets left behind but Parmigiano -Reggiano cheese producers say its just as nutritional as the inside.
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Burrata & Pinot Grigio
When it comes to a burrata, Werlin says “pair with light wines such as pinot grigio or Austrian wine, grüner veltliner. The latter is a mouthful but surprisingly easy to find these days.” She adds that “the light high-acid white wines cut through the rich, creamy, delicious cheese to create a perfect balance.” You could even enjoy a glass with this Mediterranean burrata plate!
Morbier Cheese Wine Pairing
A quality Morbier cheese wine pairing is with Gewürtztraminer, Jura, or Pinot Noir. Morbier is a French cheese that has a nutty, somewhat bitter taste combined with fruity aromas and flavors. Letâs break down the three aforementioned wines and why they work so well.
The widely-appreciated Gewürtztraminer offers tropical and stone fruit flavors, like apricot, mango, pineapple, and a little bit of pepper. The fruit notes present in both the cheese and wine mix well with each other. In addition, elements like mango and honey stand out on the palate against the backdrop of the cheeseâs creaminess.
Jura wine, on the other hand, is bone dry and nutty. Itâs a highly acidic wine that has a spicy minerality to it. Jura offers a more balanced pairing with the darker tastes of Morbier without drawing the palate away from the cheese.
Finally, Pinot Noir is earthy and light enough to match Morbierâs characteristics without being too overpowering. Its mushroom and forest floor elements mesh well with the bitter and nutty components of the cheese.
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Practice Your Wine And Cheese Pairing
The best way to learn which types of cheese and wine pairings work well is to get experience. You can practice at home using the tips and combinations we have given you above, but you can also go for cheese and wine pairings at wine farms or restaurants.If you are looking for great wines for your cheese and wine pairing, you can shop Stettyn Wines online and find a range of delicious white, red, and sparkling wines!
Choosing Wine For A Cheese
If you already know what kind of cheese you will be eating and you are looking for the perfect wine to go with it, this part is for you. To simplify the wine and cheese pairing, we have divided the cheeses into seven categories. These categories contain cheeses with similar characteristics and the same type of wine will pair well with all cheeses in a specific category.
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Cabernet Sauvignon And Aged Gouda
Cabernet Sauvignon is known for its full-bodied flavor, which pairs perfectly with the sharp yet sweet taste of aged gouda. Unlike some of the other pairings in this list, Cabernet Sauvignon and aged gouda work well together because of their similar flavors. They manage to be both similar and different enough to make for a delicious combination.
History Of Red Blends
Despite the flavor-centric mixes that exist today, the history of blended wines has nearly nothing to do with flavor. In fact, the practice of mixing wines for their aromas and flavors only became popular in the 1800s, centuries after wine connoisseurship became trendy.
Historically, a need for reliability and for having wine every season is what inspired blends, especially the Bordeaux ones that are still loved worldwide. Like having the Avengers on call, planting a mix of grapes acted as an insurance policy for protection against destruction by pests, bad weather, and even war.
In the color, maritime climate of Bordeaux, where early rains can obstruct ripening and late springs can destroy a harvest at its onset, this insurance policy was vital. With inconsistent weather patterns that made ripening hard for red grapes, blends provided farmers with more dependable harvests and more dependable wines. The five grapes that can be used for red Bordeaux wine require similar but not the same nutrients, so interplanting them helped winemakers win against Mother Nature. Even today, this planting practice enables the region to provide exceptional wines, no matter the conditions.
For example, Cabernet Sauvignon has trouble ripening when its cold, leaving farmers with acidic and tannic grapes. On the other hand, Merlot and Cabernet Franc can become fully ripe with less heat and sun. Mixed together, these three make for a tasty wine, and no fruit is gone to waste.
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Which White Wines Pair With Which Cheeses
In general, white wines pair very well with cheese. They are much lighter than red wines, have lower tannins, and can be very fruity which all enhance the pairing of cheese and white wine.
That said, red wines can also pair well with cheese, especially bolder flavoured cheeses. Weve put together a list of white wines and cheeses to pair with them.
How To Pair Red Wine & Cheese
Everyone loves to relax in the evening with some lovely red wine and cheese. It works every time, right?
Or does it? In fact, pairing red wine and cheese isnt all that easy. Many red wines either stifle the flavour of the cheese or taste off when served with cheese. One reason for this is the tannins found in red wine, which dont go well with very many types of cheese.
That is why it can be so difficult to pair red wine with your cheese and why youll often have more luck with white wine or beer.
It is of course possible to serve red wine with your cheese platter, as long as you bear in mind the following rules of thumb. So before popping open that expensive bottle of red you bought on holiday in Italy or France, read on.
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The Serious Eats Cheese And Wine Pairing Cheat Sheet
It’s New Year’s Eve, and your guests are about to come tumbling in. You set out bowls of salty snacks and a grand platter of cheeses. There’s creamy white chèvre, a Stilton, some Brie, nutty aged Gruyère, tangy Vermont cheddar, and a splurge-worthy chunk of 4-year Gouda. With a flourish you top the platter with fruits and nuts just as the doorbell rings.
It’s time to start popping corks. There’s Champagne, of course, and let’s seewhat else? What wine goes best with all those cheeses?
The good news is that your guests will be thrilled no matter what you pour. The bad news is: it’s complicated. Pairing wine and cheese is harder than you’d think.
That’s because there isn’t just one kind of wine and one kind of cheese. Cheeses vary in moisture content, fat content, texture, flavor. Wines, too, vary in acidity, sweetness, body, and structure. Fortunately, a few basic guidelines will bring match-making success, and by midnight your cheese and wine will be arm and arm singing Auld Lang Syne.
What Kind Of Wine Goes With Cheese
There is no one-size-fits-all for cheese and wine pairing. It depends entirely on what youâre looking for and the flavor combinations that work for it.
If you need a couple ideas to get started, we have you covered. Take a look at the popular cheese and wine pairs below:
- Sauvignon Blanc and goat cheese
- Champagne and brie
- Aged Port and blue stilton
- Moscato d’Asti and gorgonzola
- Cabernet Sauvignon and aged cheddar
- Champagne and camembert
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Some Classic Wine And Cheese Pairings
Note that the creamier the cheese is, the more acidity the wine can have, and the harder the cheese is, the more tannins. Confused? Have a look at these wine and cheese pairings to understand:
- Soft cheeses like Brie, Camembert, goats milk Bougon and cow milk Chaource pair well with full-bodied dry white wines, like Chardonnay or other Burgundy white wines if the cheese is more mature, however, go for a Syrah or Grenache..
- Blue cheeses such as Roquefort pair well with the sweetness of Sauternes while Stilton cheese goes well with Port. Most of the other blue cheeses match well with Marsala and Madeira wines, as well as with sherry and other fortified wines, especially Italian dessert wines. Blue cheeses also pair well with juicy and aromatic whites such as Moscato, and especially well with the high acidity of Riesling.
- Semi-soft, mature cheese like Munster, and Langres pair well with Burgundy and Moscato. There are a range of semi-soft French cheeses such as Provolone, Reblochon, Livarot, Pont lÉvêque, Saint-Nectaire and TommedeSavoie which are great at handling strong, white Bordeaux wines, as well as aged white Rioja, and different Sicilian white wines.
- Finally, hard cheeses like Gruyère, Parmesan, aged Gouda and Cheddar pair well with Claret wine, Cabernet Sauvigno, and Syrah. Mimolette cheese is ideal with mature Bordeaux and Tokaji Aszú.
Delicious Red Wine And Cheese Pairings
Cheese is the best accompaniment for red wines, but the success of this combination depends on how well the flavors of this two compliment each other.
Wine and cheese is a combination as old as bread and butter. Both wine and cheese have a very long history, and although wine connoisseurs claim some standard wine and cheese combinations, pairing cheese with wine still remains purely personal. Both are produced by processing two natural products, grapes, and milk, respectively. Each grape variety produces a unique wine that has its own characteristic color, flavor, strength, and aroma.
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Wine For Soft And Creamy Cheese
Soft and creamy cheeses are usually white on the outside due to the natural white mold. This cheese type tends to be creamy with a delicate buttery, sometimes pungent, flavour. These cheeses are best paired with wines that have good acidity to cut through the fat, such as sparkling wines and light-bodied white wines.
Classic wine parings for soft and creamy cheeses are:
- Brie with Champagne
- Délice de Bourgogne with Cava
Beware Of Highly Tannic Wines
A heavy wine will completely Tannins are natural compounds in plants that create a bitter taste or drying sensation on the tongue. Theyre why over-brewed tea and high-tannin red wines make your mouth feel drier and rougher after a sip. Tannins in red wines cause the worst clashes when it comes to cheese, so pair with caution.
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Pairing Cheese With Syrah/shiraz
With certain superior genetic qualities, Syrah grape variety produces some of the best Rhone wines. Syrah red wines are known for their unique and dominant flavors like smoke, black cherries, and roasted pepper.
The strong berry and tart flavors of this red wine blend well with the somewhat acidic and pungent goats milk cheese. Farmhouse Cheddar, Edam, Gouda, and Alpine-style cheese are some other cheese varieties that enhance the flavor of Syrah wines.
Mac And Cheese Wine Pairing
If you need a great mac and cheese wine pairing, youâll do right with a Chenin Blanc, Riesling, or unoaked Chardonnay. This classic dish is a crossroads of creamy and tangy, meaning it needs these zippy types of white wine to balance it out.
Chenin Blanc is a medium-dry white wine that pairs well with mac and cheese. The wine works to cut through thick, cheesy recipes, while the bubbles amplify the soft texture of the macaroni.
Riesling is more fruity and floral, offering stronger peach, lemon, and pineapple tastes. Similar to Chenin Blanc, itâs a dry white with plenty of acidity and a light body. This is a natural counterpoint to the melt-in-your-mouth characteristics of fresh mac and cheese.
Chardonnay–a white wine with medium tannin levels and full-body–offers tropical fruit flavors for your mac and cheese dish. Taking sips of mango-, pineapple-, and papaya-flavored wine between tart bites of creamy pasta is an excellent way to enjoy the evening.
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Matching Wine And Cheese Via Region
There’s a saying in cooking, “If it grows together, it goes together.” This can be true in matching wine and cheese as well. However, matching wine and cheese by region isn’t a failsafe and doesn’t guarantee that the two will marry well together, but it’s a good general guideline to use. So, if you’re drinking an Italian red, pair it with an Italian cheese like Parmesan, Asiago or Gorgonzola. If you’re drinking a nice French white, choose a French cheese like Boursin, Camembert, or Roquefort.
Napa Valley Red Blend + White Cheddar
Red blends often get a bad rap as being cheap or poorly made, but the truth is, most wines you drink are actually blends. I find red blends from California to be easy-drinking, approachable, and simple to pair with food…what more could you want?
This 2017 Napa Valley Red Blend from Prince and Pedro is a big and bold mix of Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel, Malbec, Petit Verdot, and Merlot. Its deep ruby-purple in the glass, with a nose full of black cherry, plums, blackberry pie filling, vanilla, cocoa, cedar, and a touch of black pepper.
On the palate, its an explosion of fruity goodness, without being sweet. The tannins are there but approachable, and the acid is a nice medium. This is a bold and jammy wine that I can see myself cozying up with on the couch.
With this big blend, I wanted something salty to really amplify the fruit-forward quality in the wine. I thought white cheddar might do the trick.
The white cheddar I chose is semi-soft and sharp, which I thought would work well to bring out the fruit that I love so much in this wine. Its smooth like the wine, but its got enough edge and acid to hold its own.
After tasting this cheese and going back to sip the wine, the tannins have completely smoothed out, the acid holds up to that of the cheese, and I feel like Im drinking a liquified blackberry pie that couldnt be more delicious.
10/10 recommend this pairing for a cozy night in.
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One Wine To Rule Them All
It’s fun to open a range of bottles to sample with your cheese assortment, but if you must pour a single wine with a mixed plate of cheeses, try Riesling, especially off-dry. The wine is low in alcohol, but its acidity, sweetness, tropical fruits, and mineral backbone let it partner broadly. Alsatian Gewürztraminer is another great choice. It’s dry with a delicate body, but its floral aromas will waft ethereally above the savory notes of all of the cheeses.
Sparkling wines, from dry to sweet, almost always work well, too. Their ample acidity and toasty, nutty flavors complement cheeses from fresh through aged. A mixed plate of cheeses is a great excuse to open another bottle of Champagneas if you needed one.
Does Blue Cheese Go With Champagne
However, mature cheeses with nutty undertones and powerful blue cheeses benefit from the presence of bubbles. This also refers to cheese. Champagne and cheese go together like a dream, with the wines complex scents and the cheeses equally complex flavors creating a sparkling explosion of flavor in the mouth.
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Heres My Advice On Pairing Different Styles Of Cabernet With Cheese:
- Young cabernet with light tannins: choose aged cheesesgreat options are included above for cheddar and gouda, Pecorino-style sheeps cheese and goat.
- Older cabernet with soft tannins: choose semi-firm cows milk cheeses, such as aged cheddars, aged goudas, sheeps milk cheeses and Comté.
- Big, rich cabernets: choose intense cheddar cheeses and aged Gruyère
- Wines with a long finish, such as cabernet sauvignon, demand cheeses with complex flavors that can stand up to that finish, and aged cheddars tend to be the best pairing for various styles of cabernet sauvignon. When in doubt, choose aged cheddar for cabernet.
Jordan maintains one of the most comprehensive cellars of Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon library vintages in California. Explore their collection of new release and library cabernets, available to purchase online.
View the top cabernet and cheese pairings at the end of this Jordan Winery blog post.
