WINE AND CHEESE PAIRING RECOMMENDATION BY RED APRON'S SOMMELIER

Wine and cheese are two of life’s great culinary pleasures, and finding the perfect match can be a delicious endeavor. As with any wine and food pairing, there are a number of considerations, such as texture, acidity, fat and tannin. Rather than complicating the topic with exotic matches, we’ve some suggestions for you:

Wine and cheese pairing possibilities are endless. To simplify the strategy, cheeses can be divided into four categories.

1. Fresh cheese: Soft and rindless, these can be made with cow, goat or sheep milk. They’re not aged and have a mild, slightly tangy flavor. For example: Mozzarella, Burrata

Crisp, dry and young bottlings like Miguel Torres, Cordillera Sauvignon blanc, Elqui Valley or Champagne J.M. Labruyere, Prologue, Grand Cru can be the good choices.

2. Bloomy cheese: These are named for the bloom of white mold on the outside. They tend to be the richest and creamiest type of cheese, with a soft, spreadable texture. The rind is edible, and it has a stronger, funkier flavor than the interior.

Very creamy, but with more concentrated earthy flavors and pungency with age such as Camembert will be the perfect match with Domaine Laroche, Saint Martin, Chablis or Domaine Laporte, Le Rochoy, Sancerre. Light-bodied, dry, unoaked Chardonnay (Chablis) and restrained, dry, light-bodied Sauvignon Blanc (Sancerre) will balance the cheese.

3. Semi-Soft cheese: They’re not spreadable, nor do they break in shards like a hard cheese. They tend to be creamy and fairly mild in flavor. Many are excellent to melt and perfect to slice. Some cheeses like Gouda are semi-soft in younger styles, while when aged, their texture turns hard. Gouda offers mild, nutty flavors with a bit of tang, along with a rich, dense texture which is good pairing with dry, white wines with a touch of oak such as Pa Road, Chardonnay, Marlborough or gutsy, rustic, crunchy wines without much oak such as Clos du Val, Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley.

4. Hard cheese: The product of aging, these are quite firm and break into crumbles or shards. They tend to have nutty and complex savory notes. Some are fairly pungent and salty like cheddar, parmesan. All of these will reaveal the best flavors of bold wines with some age like Pio Cesare, Barbera d'Alba DOC or Ca' Del Bosco, Cuvee Prestige Brut, Franciacorta DOCG is the reasonable choice to balance the flavor of hard cheese.