Let's have a Cheese and Wine Event!
Having a cheese and wine event is always a classic, fun and elegant way to gather a group of friends and just hang out!
The only stressful thing about it is whether you are pairing the right cheese with the right wine. When you pair the wrong ones you might end up with friends who don’t want to join your cheese and wine evenings any longer! Or you might end up drinking all the wine and eating all the cheese separately and end up having a normal get together instead of a classic, elegant and delicious one!
To help you on your venture to hosting the very best cheese and wine event, we have put together a few of our favourite pairings and we explain to you why it works or why it doesn’t work! Bear in mind that all these are only recommendations and you can always use your own initiative when pairing cheese and wine!
1. Cabernet Sauvignon and Cheddar Cheese
First up we have a wine that can be quite difficult to pair with cheese! Cabernet Sauvignon! This wine is not the most cheese-friendly wine, as its deep, complex flavors often clash with the lactic qualities of cheese and its long finish can interfere with enjoying your next bite. Therefore, Cabernet Sauvignon does pair very well with medium-bodied, firm-textured cow's milk cheeses. We would definitely recommend pairing this delicious wine with our Mature Cheddar! When paired with the mature cheddar, Cabernet Sauvignon draws out the bold cheddar flavours of this strong cheese.
2. Merlot and Feta Cheese
Merlot is famous for being one of the main components in Bordeaux wine blends. By itself, the quality of Merlot wine varies more than perhaps any other single varietal. Generally, Merlot wine is less tannic than Cabernet Sauvignon, making it more food friendly. We particularly like to pair Merlot wine with our Black Pepper Feta Cheese. The Black Pepper Feta has sharp, tangy flavours, when paired with a Merlot is brings out notes of black cherry, plum and black tea. The Feta cheese flavours are more heavily emphasized because of the Merlot’s dry fruitiness!
3. Chardonnay and Chie
Chardonnay, the king of white wines! Bold and complex, it is known for its apple, citrus and pear tastes. Having an earthy, buttery flavour, our Chie is a perfect match for this lovely wine! When it comes to pairing cheeses with Chardonnay, a highly acidic wine, we find big differences between oaky barrel-fermented Chardonnay and unoaked stainless steel-fermented Chardonnay. We prefer the buttery, unoaked Chardonnay, so we would definitely recommend pairing it with an earthy cheese such as our Chie!
4. Champaign and Camembert
Sparkling wine is perhaps the easiest type of wine to pair with cheese, as its carbonation helps break down the coating of butterfat that cheese leaves on the palate, reducing clashes and leaving a clean taste in the mouth. Many sparkling wines have just the right levels of acidity and sweetness to pair with rich, buttery, fresh and lightly aged cheeses. Our highly recommended pairing for Champaign would definitely be Camembert!
Let us know what you thought of these recipes and if you enjoyed it share your photos and your outcome! Tag us on Instagram @thegourmetgreek or use the hashtag #gourmetgreekrecipes so that we can see it and feature it!