Wines & Cheese for Fun
The more I visit wine retailers, the more I have difficulty finding an exciting wine.
Did we know how to have fun anymore?
Fruity and white wine are basic companions of cheese. Sweet and semi-sweet wine such as Roquefort - Sauterne, Stilton - Porto, Muscat – Bleu des Causses, Proseco – Gorgonzola …all these pairing are based on the subtle opposition of salty and sweet.
High score Californian reds are not easy to match. As Hugh Johnson (the greatest English wine critic) describes, the high score system will never deserve good wine but instead encourage over extraction, usage of artificial yeast, over woody, over concentrate Cabernet or Pinot which never will have any “resemblance” to the native Burgundy Pinot Noir, that are light and subtle.
Never try to pair those over-extracted wines described as “Full Body” with strong tannin with cheese. Those tannins are never a good companion for cheeses.
I recently tried Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon and Pinot Noir from New Zealand which was much lighter, much fruitier than those offered in local production. I enjoy their pairing with Rocky Sage goat cheese or Artisanal aged cheddar and – and, as a reward – I paid only a fraction of the price asked for local production.
Denis Cottin
Fromager, Affineur