Cheese & Wine Make A Great Pair But Its Vital To Match The Right Bottle To The Right Cheese
Cheese and wine go together like chocolate and coffee or ice cream and well, more ice cream. Both have a range of flavours from sophisticated to powerful, both mature with age, and each can complement the other, making for the type of culinary pleasure that only the right pairing can bring.
But the pairing has to be right. With such a wide variety of both wines and cheeses, it’s important to select types and cheese types whose tastes complement instead of clash.
For white wines, it’s best to stick with soft cheeses and robust flavours. Sauvignon Blanc works well with chevre and camembert, for example. Riesling is a good match for gruyere and ricotta.
Red wines, on the other hand work with hard cheeses and mild flavours but can be difficult. Soft, creamy cheeses occasionally leave a layer of blubber on the palate — kind of like the sensation of a full-bodied wine — that will meddle with the taste of a red. Instead of an echo of pleasant woody tones, you're left with a wine that tastes dreary and bland. Full-bodied wines, particularly, contain a high level of tannins that may clash with strong cheeses. It’s often an excellent idea then to avoid particularly full-bodied reds in favor of softer varieties like Merlots. These go well with cheddar or port salut. For Shiraz, parmesan or an aged pecorino are safe combinations.
In a similar way, avoid cheeses that are either terribly salty or awfully powerful. Both can smother the complex flavours of any accompanying wine. A good rule to follow is to match the sweetness of the wine with the aroma of the cheese: the smellier the cheese, the sweeter the tipple. If you are really enthusiastic to lay out some particularly strong cheese, ensure you have a heavy enough wine to support it. A Bordeaux might work or some sorts of Cabernet Sauvignon. For blue cheeses like stilton, Roquefort or camberzola, stick to the sweet wines.
Texture is crucial too. The bubbles in a champagne like fizz can cleanse the palate and break through the fat in heavier cheeses. If you're celebrating, brie, ricotta or bocconcini all work fine.
For cheese-and-wine party throwers, begin by deciding whether you're matching the wine to the cheese, or vice versa. If you want to lay on 1 or 2 different kinds of wine, then serve parmesan or romano cheeses that are flexible enough to go with most kinds. If you are starting with the cheese and plan to offer a big board, then take no chances with wine types that are fruity and sweet — pudding wines can be a good choice.
And do not forget the presentation. Large cheese wedges make for prettier displays, especially on wooden or marble platters, and the cheeses should be served at room temperature.
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