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Serving a variety of cheeses before dinner, after dinner, or as horsdoeuvres, makes an elegant and tasty snack. With very little preparation, a chees...More

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Cheese-Wine Pairings

2008-07-30

After last week's discussion of stinky cheese and the difficulty of pairing it with other foods due to its sometimes delicious but often overpowering odor, it seems only right to talk about some cheese pairings that go blissfully well together. Beyond peanut butter and jelly, cookies and cream, chocolate peanut butter ice cream and chick flicks (oh yeah), there are some cheese matches that can't be beat.

And so today we touch upon a couple of the wonderful ways to artfully and tastefully consume our favorite...cheese.

What's your favorite wine-cheese pairing?

Here's what our cheese blog readers have to say. Glenn K. from Atlanta suggests, "Mozzarella with good croustinis, fresh tomatoes, olive oil, and basil and a nice earthy red wine." Mr. Cheez-Whiz from New York, who seems to have a more sophisticated palate than his name would imply, says, "There are many, but aged gouda with a margaux or a parmesan with a chianti is good." Lady Lilikins from Boston gives an interesting example stating, "Red port wine '83 with queijo de azeitão or queijo da serra."

I must say that there really is nothing better than a nice, fresh mozzarella cheese with a consistency like butter alongside tomatoes and fresh, fragrant basil. Add some red wine and I'm in heaven. Mozzarella is such a funny cheese to me because it's extremely common, occupying a central role in our favorite late night snack, pizza, but on the other end of the spectrum there's fresh mozzarella. And if you look and you're lucky you can sometimes find some amazing, fresh, melt in your mouth mozzarellas that make you want to give up eating anything else. I think I need to pause here to regain my compusure! Mozzarella and a hearty, earthy red wine is definitely a winning cheese-wine pairing.

Next on the list is aged gouda with margaux, and parmesan with chianti. Margaux is an under appreciated wine from south-western France. It seems only fitting to pair it with a cheese which is often overlooked due to the popularity of its younger smokier cousin, smoked gouda. And of course, parmesan and chianti are a perfect Italian pairing for those too rare, romantic occasions.

Finally, the pairing of port wine with queijo de azeitão or queijo da serra (also known as serra da estrela and pictured here) is a very note-worthy suggestion. Queijo, for those who don't know, is the portugeese word for cheese (it's very important to be able to request cheese in any language!). These two particular portugeese cheeses are both semi-soft, sheep's milk cheeses with a lovely buttery taste, a perfect pairing with a lovely dessert wine or port.

If our lovely cheese readers' suggestions have got you craving more great cheese-wine pairings, check out our article on cheese and wine pairings. We aim to please! ;-)

On a closing note, I just wanted to share a great blog find I've made recently. If you're hungry for more fabulous gourmet experiences designed to tantilize all of the senses, check out Seduction Meals. Your taste buds, as well as the loved ones in your life, will thank you!

Next week we test our readers' cheese knowledge asking, "What do you think a cheesemonger is?"

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