Basic tips on pairing wine and cheese for the perfect bite. Turn your next gathering into a lovely wine and cheese pairing!
Basic Tips For Pairing Wine and Cheese:
- Opposites do not attract in the case of cheese and wine pairings. Pairing similar flavors is the way to go. A smoked cheese, for instance, pairs well with a medium to full-bodied earthy red wine, whereas softer creamier cheeses (such as brie), work great with white wines. Bleu cheese should always go with a big, bold wine such as a Bordeaux varietal (Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec, Petit Verdot)
- White and bleu do not mix! While there is always plenty of room for personal tastes and preferences when it comes to pairing wine and food, bleu cheese and white wine tend to make a toxic combination. This pairing is outlawed in our tasting room.
- Younger cheeses should be paired with lighter bodied wines (whites or lighter reds such as Pinot Noir and Grenache), as their flavor tends to be more mild than aged cheese. When younger cheeses are paired with bold wines, the flavor gets lost in the wine and the two do not complement each other.
- When going through a cheese and wine pairing flight, follow the same principals as though you were doing a beer tasting or wine tasting – start with the softer-flavored cheeses paired with the lighter white wines, moving to the medium-bodied cheeses and reds, followed by bold cheeses and reds, followed by port wines.
- Topping cheese with various jams, chutneys and honey is a GREAT idea! Bleu cheese and honey are a stellar combination, and goat cheese and fig jams/chutneys are great together! Also consider pairing cheese and wine with nuts and fruit, such as marcona almonds, walnuts, cherries, raisins, etc.
- When serving the softer cheeses on a cracker, make sure the cracker does not contain a great deal of herbs or spices, as it will overpower the cheese. Thin wafer-like crackers are best for serving cheese.
Also, check out How to Make a Legit Charcuterie Board
I love this post! I enjoy pairing wines with different cheeses, your basic tips are really good.
Thanks, Jaclyn! I’m glad you enjoyed the post and am excited to know a fellow wine and cheese lover! 🙂
Not a wine drink or drink at all, but I could still do all that cheese!! YUM!
Ohhhhh yeaaaaaaah, get up on it, girl! Cheese is the shiiiii…cheese is great! 🙂
Cheeeeeeeese! I dunno, I drink whatever’s cheap and eat whatever’s in front of me…but I long to be all cheese-smart and sophisticated like you! Someday we’ll sit and have a good cheese and wine pairing while watching Mike and Susan fall in love on zee TV.
Sooo much great, interesting info here! All I want for lunch now is cheese! 🙂
thanks for the tips. one of my absolute favorite things to do is sip a lovely glass of wine and eat cheese. My friends will be SO impressed with all this new knowledge I have 🙂
Let’s get some wine and split a wheel of that Hirten…sooo good! Great post girl, loved the bit about the washed rind cheese, I had no idea! But it makes so much sense, that’s how the beer flavor gets in there.
I love your wine tasting room tips! Thanks for sharing 🙂
And try to ignore the fact that in my latest recipe with bleu cheese, I used a bottle of WHITE wine as a prop in the photo. Rest assured that we enjoyed the pasta with red, not white. But white photographs better. Don’t hate me 😉
Oh girly, I didn’t even notice! Like I said, wine and cheese pairing is definitely left up to taste and I use wine/beer all the time for props that wouldn’t go with the meal. No judgement here, my dear! 🙂
This is so much great, interesting info here! All I want for lunch now is cheese! ?