How To Choose The Right Cheese For Wine: 9 Successful Combinations

Everyone knows that wine and cheese complement each other perfectly. But do not think that while drinking Shiraz wine and eating Russian cheese, you will feel an incredible taste and enjoy the nectar.

Everyone knows that wine and cheese complement each other perfectly. But do not think that while drinking Shiraz wine and eating Russian cheese, you will feel an incredible taste and enjoy the nectar. Cheese for wine must be selected very carefully, because not every type will help to reveal the refined taste of the drink.

We will tell you how to choose the right cheese for wine, and show you 9 successful combinations.

 

Intense red wine

Very often full-bodied red wines have a spicy, slightly bitter dry taste, especially if they have been aged for a long time. Of course, if you want to feel all the notes of good wine, you should first drink it on an empty stomach, as they say, and only then eat a snack.

Red wines are paired with salty, medium-hard, slightly smoky cheeses that create the perfect balance and help remove unpleasant bitterness. It is best not to use freshly brewed cheese with wine, as it is not filled with bright flavors enough, and sometimes too full of them, such as smoky. 

1. Wine Grenache (Garnacha) - Manchego cheese, cheddar.

Grenache wine is very light, with a pronounced raspberry aftertaste that opens after eating cheese. Rich, slightly spicy Manchego and Cheddar cheeses are ideal for it.

2. Cabernet Sauvignon - aged cheddar, pecorino.

Cabernet Sauvignon has a very bright peppery and cedar aftertaste, which does not leave bitterness, but only gives the wine a spicy elegance and tart French charm. The best pairings of this wine are with hard aged cheeses such as cheddar and pecorino. They play perfectly with wine.

3. Syrah (Shiraz) - smoked gouda, feta, white cheddar.

Shiraz is very difficult to feel the first time. This wine has a fruity-chocolate delicate taste with tobacco astringency, as well as a peppery aftertaste. It pairs perfectly with smoked meats, so lightly smoked gouda is the perfect appetizer. If you want a milder flavor and less astringency, opt for lighter, milder cheeses like feta or white cheddar.

 

Unsaturated red wine

Unsaturated red wine has a mild and slightly fresh taste, a very languid aftertaste, which is completed by sour notes. Such wines cannot be supplemented with bright flavors. An example of such a wine is Pinot Noir.

4. Pinot Noir-Gruyère - camembert, feta.

Pinot Noir - dry, light, has subtle notes of cherries, cranberries, aftertaste of tart mushrooms and cloves. To feel this cheese, you need to keep it in your mouth longer, and after eating, do not eat for a couple of minutes. Gruyere and Camembert cheese, despite their bright aroma and juiciness, ideally absorb the remains of wine and set off its taste. Feta is just the perfect complement to the softness of the wine and takes away all of its acidity.

White wine

White wine does not have a pronounced bitterness and astringency, like red, the sourness in it goes well with almost all types of cheese, except for blue cheese, as it interrupts the light taste of wine.

5. Sauvignon Blanc - goat cheese, Gruyère.

Sauvignon Blanc has a very subtle fruity-sour taste thanks to gooseberries and melon, as well as a light grassy aftertaste that goes well with nutty cheeses such as Gruyère. Goat cheese gives even more softness and tenderness to the wine, and also perfectly plays with the grassy taste.

 

6. Prosecco - Asiago.

Prosecco is a very gentle, languid, slightly tart wine that does not tolerate heavy bright combinations. Milky asiago is ideal paired with the almond aftertaste of prosecco.

7. Riesling - fondue, pickled cheeses.

Riesling is the perfect wine for lovers of freshness, lightness, sourness and sweetness at the same time. Subtle notes of apple, lime, honey are perfectly combined with each other, creating a unique taste. The sweetness of the wine will perfectly dilute the nutty aftertaste of fondue and pickled cheeses.

8. Chardonnay - triple cream cheese, brie.

Chardonnay is a dry wine, but soft enough. With a long exposure, it acquires a delicate buttery taste, and the aftertaste of yellow apples in baked milk makes you return to this wine again and again. Famous sommeliers advise not to interrupt the creamy taste, but rather to complement it with warm and soft cheeses, such as triple cream cheese and brie.

 

Dessert wine

Dessert wine has a mild, tart and rather sweet-herbaceous taste that goes well with all types of cheese, turning a wine meal into something fantastically elegant.

9. Vintage port - Stilton cheese, gouda, feta, brie.

Vintage port has a pronounced fruity-sour bouquet, where notes of plum, cinnamon, and cloves are clearly felt. In addition, this port has a grassy but sweet aftertaste that cannot be compared with any other wine. Any cheese is perfect for it, but a particularly interesting combination is aged Stilton or Brie cheese with a slightly cool ruby ​​port.