September 7th, 2006 Wine & Cheese

Many years ago, a friend who was, at the time, in the wine business called perplexed about a wine tasting experience he was having, and wasn't enjoying very much. But he thought he was supposed to.

"I've got this wonderful old Burgundy," he said, "and I'm tasting it with French cheese, and it's AWFUL! What am I doing wrong?"

I asked him: “Is it a red Burgundy or a white?" Of course, it was a red.

Not too long before this conversation, I had been in Burgundy, and had been presented with cheeses at the end of meals that were, theoretically, to be enjoyed with the red Burgundy wines we had ordered for dinner. Of course, the French (and so do I) like cheeses well developed, served at room temperature, and frankly a little stinky. The combination was flat, slap dreadful.

Somewhere along the way before that, I had read that Louis XIV preferred white wine with his cheese. So, remembering all this, I counseled my friend: "If you've got a white Burgundy, try that instead."

He called back several hours later, having gone to get one, and reported a much happier experience.

So the assumption that red wine goes with cheese is one that needs to undergo some critical scrutiny. In fact, when in doubt, as when a friend says, "We'll have a cheese course, so YOU bring the wine for the cheese," get a white wine. A sweet white wine with good acidity probably is your safest bet when you have to throw a dart in this kind of situation and hit something.

It really annoys me when I see writers recommending "cheese" with wine. What cheese? If you put that stinky stuff with a delicate old red Burgundy, you're going to have the same reaction that I had in Burgundy and that my friend had in the privacy of his own kitchen.

But I love cheese--although once in France I did actually hit the cheese wall--and certainly love wine--although beer is the best antidote to a week of VinExpo. So I am constantly experimenting with cheese and wine.

What have I observed?

Well, while every palate is different, when it comes to pairing wines with cheeses, white wine is the great forgiver. So what if you come in after a red wine course with a white wine for the cheeses? If you've got to contend with a grumpy traditionalist who won't tell you what kind of cheese he's serving, remember the sweet white wine with good acidity theory, as it will work with cheeses that are sharp, tangy and salty. Stinky might be beyond its capability, except when employing a late-harvest Gewürztraminer, which is particularly good with any cheese that’s overwhelmingly aromatic. Make sure your white wine choice isn't very oaky, has good fruit, and crisp acidity to cut through the fat. But there’s an exception here, too, as I’ve found that those oaky Chardonnays I generally detest can handle goat cheese.

When it comes to red wines, let the really tannic wines handle that steak or rib roast you've just served, and choose a red with soft tannins to go with your cheese course. Red wines can be glorious with cheeses, but the whole business is a lot trickier, and, as my friend discovered, the old adages don't always work. In general, don’t subject your older, delicate and often fragile red wines, such as older Burgundies, to the cheese drill, as the opportunity for a miserable mismatch presents itself.

Delicate cheeses require delicate wines; while strong cheeses require wines with assertive fruit flavors. As with any other wine-food pairing, one should achieve a balancing act. Contrasts work, too. Sweet handles salty; so does fresh and lively wine or Champagne.

When pairing cheese and wine, the best way to go about this is NOT from the cheese first perspective, but from the wine first point of view. In fact, that's really the best attack for all wine/food pairings, but it's not what we typically do. (We pack the grocery cart first, then try to figure out what wine will wrap around all that.)

Instead, let the wine choice lead. Ask yourself: What wine do I want to serve at that point of the meal? Cheese does best after a salad course, when the salad has refreshed the palate. So you can do anything really. Choose what wine you want to have, then select the cheeses that will go with it. Otherwise, you could have a round peg/square hole situation.

Jane Garvey

Food Pairings: Salty, tangy cheeses: Aged Gouda, Dutch Parrano, Roquefort, unpasteurized Emmenthaler, Wensleydale. Dishes with cheese: Reblochonnade, very traditional in French Savoie, or Swiss Raclette, made with either Reblochon or Raclette. (An easily made version I've had in Champagne is simply sautéed potatoes and onions layered with cheese and baked--superb with this Champagne.)

Price: $30
Wholesaler: Grapefields

Food Pairings: Not-too-ripe washed rind cheeses, French Muenster, Boursin; creamy blues such as German Cambozola, Danish Saga or Castello. Other uses: mild curried chicken or shrimp salad; mild Indian or Thai curries; poached chicken on greens with a tracing of curried mayonnaise, South African fare with chicken or fish

Price: $14
Wholesaler: Empire Distributing

Food Pairings: Good with all sorts of cheeses: fresh goat cheese; Emmentaler; Manchego; Cheddar; Wensleydale--firm, aged cheeses especially good. Other uses: lasagna; ricotta-stuffed pastas in tomato sauce; layered meat-cheese casseroles

Price: $13
Wholesaler: Continental Beverage

Food Pairings: German Butterkäse (mild with no rind or sharp flavors; semi-creamy texture); Wensleydale; sweet, nutty Emmentaler, Cheshire. Other stuff: Salad of spaghetti squash, with crumbled aged ricotta and toasted walnuts, oil, on arugula.

Price: $8
Wholesaler: Empire Distributing

Lavradores de Feitoria Vinho Tinto 2004
Duoro, Portugal

Score: 86 Points

Tasting Notes: Medium-bodied dry red wine; transluscent dark purple red. Cherry and red currant aromas, with oak notes, introduce flavors that toy with dark fruits, but end up with some red raspberry and red currant notes. A little shallow in the mid-palate, but the soft tannins won’t hurt cheeses. Spice notes throughout. Will develop with time if well cellared. The Duoro has been allowed to produce red table wines from the same grapes as those used to make Porto since 1986. So the same grapes that you’ll find in Porto are found here: Tinta Roriz (25%); Tinta Barroca (20%); Touriga Franca (30%); Touriga Nacional (20%); others (5%). Serve moderately cool, about 60 degrees, in large-bowled glasses

Food Pairings: Salty, tangy, bracing cheese with good acidity, such as aged Gouda, Pointe Reyes Blue or other sharp blues; cave aged Gruyère; nutty Emmentaler; Manchego or Cheddar. Other stuff: cheese-filled ravioli with tomato sauce; potato-cheese-onion casserole

Price: $10
Wholesaler: Quality Wine & Spirits

Food Pairings: Aged Manchego cheese with fig paste or fig cake; almonds; Drunken Goat Cheese (queso de cabra al vino); any aged, firm, salty-tangy cheese with walnuts, toasted hazelnuts or almonds. Also not bad with salty, tangy bleu cheese, such as queso cabrera

Price: $20
Wholesaler: Empire Distributing