Wine and cheese : how to get the perfect match ?

Which wine to pair whith cheese ? Often, we are wrong in offering a red wine… Find out how to combine wines and cheeses with Beaux-Vins !

"Cheese constitutes, with bread and wine, the trinity of the European table. This is how the famous writer Michel Tournier described this famous pairing in his "Celebrations". Yet we are still too often wrong when it comes to wine and cheese pairings.

After many attempts to match red wine with different cheeses, I came to the following conclusion : we must stop trying to associate the oppositions ! The red wine and cheese pairing only works 10 % time… and even.

A very light red wine can easily accompany a wide variety of dishes and it is therefore natural that it had its place on French tables with cheese.. Today, red wine no longer looks like it used to be : significant aromatic power, firm tannins, an alcoholic degree easily exceeding 12 °C. It is therefore necessary to adapt the food and wine pairings according to this development.

The biggest flaw that can be noticed when pairing red wine with cheese is the metallic aftertaste that can be felt. In addition, the tannins close on contact with the fat of the cheese, giving the wine an inaccessible character.

There are very few cheeses that can still be paired with red wine, only those refined with alcohol like Époisses can afford it - I advise you to taste this cheese if you do not know it yet —.

Now that we've taken red wine out of the equation, we are going to turn to what works best with cheese : the White wine.

Goat cheese

I am sure I am not mistaken by saying that this type of cheese is obtained by processing exclusively goat's milk. The fatty acids specific to this milk give this cheese its characteristic taste.. There is a wide variety of goat cheese : fresh or refined, dry or coated with ash, with grapes, with aromatic herbs, with honey… In short terms, There is something for every taste !

This type of cheese tends to develop salinity and nothing better than white wine to balance it out. Set your sights on a regional pairing like a dry, mineral white wine from the Loire Valley. Pouilly-Fumé or Sancerre are perfect. A good non-regional alternative is a Chablis from Burgundy.

Cooked pressed cheeses : Emmental, Gruyère, Beaufort

These cheeses come from the mountain pastures. Shepherds had to find a way to exploit the abundance of summer milk production to enjoy it in winter. The best known are abundance, Beaufort, the Comté, Gruyère and Emmental.

A white wine that is too acidic would break the fruity side of these cheeses, while a dry white mountain wine can bring out all the taste of the cheese. You can - almost — take with your eyes closed a Chardonnay or Savagnin grape variety wine from the Jura area. A yellow wine with its nutty notes will also go very well with this type of cheese - however, pay attention to the particular taste of yellow wine which can be confusing the first time —. A white Burgundy with a few years behind it will have enough character to pair the cooked pressed cheeses.

Soft cheeses and washed crust : Livarot, Maroilles, Mont d’Or

This category of cheese is made without heating, no pressing, giving the dough smoothness and the rind is washed and brushed during maturing to give it a strong taste. We can add to the title list other known names such as Pont-l'Évêque or Munster.

These cheeses, stronger than the previous ones, need a slightly sweet white wine. What could be better than an Alsatian white wine to fulfill this task ? The Gewurztraminer is the most emblematic and the most adapted to the situation.

Blue cheese : Fourme, Roquefort and other blues

If I can give you my opinion - and i will do it —, stop putting this category of cheese on your tray if you want to pair it with wine. It is by far one of the hardest cheese to pair and it presents a real uncertainty about the result. Either the wine is completely broken by the potency of the cheese and will appear totally bland, either the cheese will lose its superb with a wine too present.

If you don't want to listen to me - I warned you though —, the least risky is to choose a wine sweet enough to support the bitterness and the aromatic strength of the cheese. A Natural Sweet Wine, Banyuls type or sweet wines like Port or Sauternes are the best possible.

Cheeses with a bloomy rind : Camembert, brie and other errors of nature

You really want to kill your guests with impossible pairings ? Worse than Roquefort, Camembert is hell to pair with a wine. Don't put it on your cheese board anymore, It's an order ! The problem with cheeses with a bloomy rind, is that the wine will degrease the cheese in attack, but then the cheese will take over - a real aromatic yoyo —. The goal of a successful pairing is to find a balance throughout the aromatic persistence of the food and the wine.

I have read a large number of wine specialists suggesting possible pairings : one swearing only for a Loire wine, another even going so far as talking about red wine. To believe that they have never tested the pairings they suggest or that they have been extremely lucky.

The only really possible pairings with this category of cheese are Cider or Beer.

Conclusion

You have all the keys in hand to make a successful pairing between your cheese and wine. Now it's your turn to play by testing the combination of white wine and red wine with cheese to see the difference in results.