How to combine cheese and wine: 9 successful examples

The combination of wine and cheese is the most common food pairing. It would seem that it is not difficult. Open the bottle, pour the wine into a nice glass (or just a water glass), cut the cheese - the perfect gastronomic combination is ready.

But it's not that simple.

To create a truly "perfect pairing," you need to know a little about the varieties of both wine and cheese. And this is exactly what we want to help you with.

The basic principles of pairing

In general, the trend is that white wines go better with cheese than red wines. The thing is that white wines do not contain tannins, which often give off bitterness when paired with cheese.

An unwritten rule says that wine and cheese from the same region are made for each other. This combination has been tested for centuries and generations. Therefore, if you drink Italian dry wine, choose at least an Italian cheese to go with it: gorgonzola, taleggio, fontina, scamorza, and others.

Young fresh cheeses are best served with unaged wines with good acidity. But a more complex, serious wine is best suited to cheese with a long aging.

Examples of pairings

To ease your choice, we've compiled a mini-guide that details which wine is best for pairing a particular type of cheese.

Fresh cheeses - ricotta, mascarpone, chevre, feta, Adyghe

They are similar to cottage cheese, which is also called soft cheese in English-speaking countries. With fresh cheeses that have a pronounced sourness, it is better to choose the same fresh, sour wine: albariño, riesling or muscadet. Fresh goat's milk cheeses are best served with a refreshing sauvignon blanc.

Uncooked pressed cheeses - edamer, gouda, cheddar, cantaloupe, pecorino, mimolette

These cheeses have a nutty flavor, so they are a perfect match for white wines aged in oak. Burgundy chardonnay, Rhône viognier, and white Rioja are some examples of successful wine pairings with semi-hard cheeses. If you still want a glass of red, choose a full-bodied wine: Argentine malbec with chocolate notes or American cabernet sauvignon perfectly set off the taste of aged cheeses.

Cooked pressed cheeses - emmenthal, parmesan, gruyere, conte, manchego

Parmesan has a pronounced saltiness, and it also contains a lot of umami, the fifth flavor, which is extremely difficult to combine with wine. But difficult does not mean impossible. Pair Parmesan with any sparkling wine. Both light-hearted prosecco and vintage French champagne will do. Try pairing Spanish sheep's milk manchego cheese with sherry, and serve Jura's conte cheese with local vin jaune, a yellow wine that is aged in barrels under a special type of yeast that adds hazelnut and wild mushroom flavors to the drink.

Soft cheeses with a moldy crust - camembert, brie

Pair creamy, fatty cheeses with wines with high acidity. Here again, sparkling wine - Loire Cremant or Italian Franciacorta - will come to your aid. As for red wines, a light Burgundy pinot noir will make a great pairing for soft cheese with white mold.

Soft cheeses with a washed rind - epoiss, muenster, livaro, taleggio

Wines made from aromatic varieties with residual sugar will go well with savory, flavorful cheeses. A spicy Alsatian Gewürztraminer will perfectly complement the müster, and a powerful pinot grigio from Alto Adige will be the perfect complement to taleggio.

Blue cheeses with mold - Roquefort, Gorgonzola, Dorblu, Stilton

Sharp, savory cheeses with blue mold require special accompaniment at the celebration of life. After the British discovered the combination of vintage port and Stilton cheese, sommeliers unanimously declared that all sweet wines, in principle, work well with blue cheeses: sauternes, santos, German sweet rieslings, and even fortified Crimean wines.

Smoked cheeses - pigtail, cheddar

The Caucasus is the birthplace of smoked cheeses, so it's best to give preference to Georgian wines in this food pairing. Drinks made from mtsvane, rkatsiteli, kisi have a rich enough flavor to cope with the brightness of the cheese, while semi-sweet reds such as khvunchkara and kondzmarauli will play on the contrast.

Brine cheeses - mozzarella, brynza, chanah, suluguni

For neutral mozzarella, choose a simple Italian pinot grigio, for suluguni - a classic cinandali, and for salty cheese, both sweet Gewürztraminer and light red Beaujolais or Valpolicella will go well with it.

Hot cheese -fondue, raclette, baked camembert

Fondue is a national dish of Switzerland, melted cheese with garlic, white wine and spices, which is dipped in slices of bread, vegetables, and meat. The Swiss themselves usually wash down this wintery, heavy dish with a local fendan wine, which the French call chasselas. If you don't have Helvetia wine on hand, you can get by with a similar light, fresh wine with high acidity - French chablis or muscadet, German sylvaner or Italian cortesia.