5 Simple Ways to Pair Wine and Cheese

Wine and cheese pairing can be overwhelming when you don’t have the right information. There are many factors that need to be taken into consideration like acidity, tannins and texture of the wine. Cheeses also have their distinct flavours, texture and age. The combination of both should complement each other. Don’t fret! In this blog post, we’ve compiled a few tips that will make your life much easier when it comes to wine and cheese pairing.

Bold wines & aged cheeses

Cheeses when aged tend to lose their water content and develop rich flavours, owing to an increase in fat content. This makes them an ideal match for bold red wines like Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon. The fat content in the cheeses neutralize the tannins in these wines. Popular aged cheeses are Cheddar, Gouda, Gruyère and Manchego. So, next time arranging a party, you can pair these and relish them with your friends and family.

Fresh cheeses & young wines

Fresh, soft and mild cheeses are meant to be consumed fresh and these work the best with sparkling and white wines such as Chenin Blanc and Sauvignon Blanc. Creamy cheeses have a high-fat content that goes well with buttery and oaked white wine like oaked Chardonnay. You can enjoy goat cheese with Chablis or Sav Blanc. Moreover, sparkling wines have high acidic in nature with carbonation. These act as a palate cleanser to sticky cheeses like Brie or Cremont.

Pairing wine and cheese from the same region

When it comes to the region, you can pair wine and cheese from the same place. We know this is an unorthodox tip but the area has some distinct characteristics and goes well together. A few examples are Sauvignon Blanc with Goat cheese or Garnacha with Manchego (Spain). This tip is a tradition in some places and you can’t go wrong with it.

Sweet wines & funky cheese

Sweet wines like Moscato or Gewürztraminer and Port wines match beautifully with funky cheeses. Why? The sweetness level in these wines balances out the funky characteristic present in the cheese, making it taste more creamy. Classic pairings involve Sauternes with Roquefort and Port with Stilton.

Nutty cheese & wine

Sometimes pairing wine with cheese might not come handy and without incomplete information about the origin of wine and cheese can further complicate it. In a situation like these, the best way is to pair a nutty cheese with any type of wine. The fat present in cheese will counterbalance the tannin levels and complementing white wines as well. These nutty cheeses are Swiss, Gouda, Comté and Gruyère.

These were the 5 easy tips when pairing wine with cheese. We hope these will ease the process for you. Do share your feedback on the same in the comment section below. Till then, stay tuned for more posts.