Pairing Wine and Cheese
Have you every noticed how well wine goes with cheese and that eating cheese with red wine seems to enhance your enjoyment of the wine? Likewise, many cheeses seems to taste better when paired with wine. The reason for this is based on chemical reactions between the tannins in the wine and the proteins and fat of the cheese.
According to Wikipedia.org, tannins are "astringent, bitter-tasting plant polyphenols that bind and precipitate proteins". The tannin in wine is derived from the grape skins, stems and seeds and it is the tannin that gives wine its "dryness" quality. Drinking a wine high in tannin will leave your mouth with a rough, puckered feeling. The fat and protein of the cheese counteract with the tannns in the wine and make the it easier to drink.
Wine and cheese also share a few things in common:
- They are both the result of a fermentation process
- Both date back to ancient history (wine about 10,000 years ago and cheese 4,000 years)
- They are both a reflection of the landscape which contributed to the end product (vineyards and grazing livestock)
- Wine and cheese are both alive and continue to change as they age
When pairing wine with cheese, there are some guidelines you may want to follow:
- Remember there are no hard and fast rules so experiment and have fun
- The harder the cheese the higher wine tannin level it will accommodate
- Strong veined cheeses usually work better with a sweeter wine
- Creamy cheeses work better with a most acidic wine
- Crispier and fruitier wines go better with whiter and fresher cheeses
- Chardonnay and light red wines go well with heavy rich cheeses
- Semi-soft cheeses with a pink-grey rind need strong, mature white wines
- Soft cheeses with white or red-dotted wines go best with young, low tannin reds or white wines
- Red or orange rind soft cheeses work well with low tannin full-bodied reds or heavy whites