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One of the great pleasures of drinking wine is matching it with equally mouth-watering food.
Traditionally, red wine with meat and white with fish are no longer flexible enough to accommodate the multi-cultural taste influences that modern cuisine reflects. Common sense dictates that every wine experience should start with taste. When pairing food and wine, you should keep in mind that you are trying to find balance and harmony – balance between flavours, textures, intensity and taste. To increase your chances of a successful match, consider how the food was prepared, seasoned, the texture and also any accompaniments. Food and wine has its own flavour and texture, so too does every palate. So please use this tool as a guide only. There are no hard and fast rules, rights or wrongs. Just experiment to find your matching ideas.
Quick Guide
Quick Guide – To make your life easier when pairing cheese with wine, choose from the range:
Goat — Sauvignon Blanc
Mild — Gamay, Chenin Blanc
Medium — Pinot Noir, Merlot
Strong — Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah (Shiraz), Grenache
Above all – enjoy your choice of cheese and wine!
Blue (Bleu)
Blue Cheese is dessert wine territory. Sweet + Salty = Good
Stilton with Port.
Gorgonzola and Roquefort work well with Sauternes.
Wonderful with Port, but explosive with a rich Cabernet Sauvignon – one of life’s great pleasures! The classics are Roquefort with a sweet wine – botrytised Semillon – and Stilton with either a vintage or tawny port. A light and fruity Shiraz which is low in tannins or a full-flavoured Sauvignon Blanc are OK with mild creamy blues, but try them with other blue cheeses too.
Soft/Creamy Rich
A Soft rich cheese requires a wine with some structure.
Without structure the richness of the cheese combined with the richness of the wine would taste very ‘flabby’ together in the mouth.
Brie and Chevre are looking for wines such as Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Grigio. If red wine is more to your liking why not try a Pinot Noir.
Good acidity, little oak, and low tannins are the key. Choose a mature, creamy Chardonnay for a creamy Brie, a mature Cabernet Merlot or ripe Pinot Noir to accompany a fairly ripe Camembert or Chaumes. Once again Sauvignon Blanc is a winner here. If you aren’t a huge Sauvignon fan try a good Chenin Blanc.
Hard/Flavourful
Harder fuller flavoured cheeses require fuller flavoured wines.
Amarone is a perfect partner for the highly flavoured, complex tastes of Parmigiano Reggiano, other hard, flavoured cheeses would go well with a full, tannic wine such as Cabernet Sauvignon or Vino de Montepulciano.
A huge range of cheeses and ones that work well with white and red wines. Choose fairly, full bodied, mature fruity or savoury reds with softened oak/tannins – including Cabernet Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, smooth Shiraz Grenache blends , or a mellow Shiraz – to partner mature farmhouse Cheddar, Gloucester, Gouda, ect.as well as the pungent Parmesan and similar Spanish cheeses. Rich full blown Chardonnay, is delicious with some mature Cheddar and Parmesan. Try a spicy Shiraz with Double Gloucester!
Goat
Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling, Pinot Noir or ripe Merlot all partner soft, creamy goats cheeses. Choose restrained Chardonnay or Sauvignon Blanc blends with warm goat’s cheese salad. The sharp flavour of Feta is good with a stunning and aromatic Riesling. Serve a full blown mature Shiraz with pungent Manchego and similar cheeses.
Semi-Hard
Usually they are an ingredient rather than at the end of the meal. Whites with a nice cleansing character are good. Think Sauvignon Blanc, Soave or New Zealand Riesling. D’Arenburg Riesling is just top drawer.
