Wine and Food pairing: How to Pair Wine and Cheese ?
Some tips to know which wine to drink with the traditional Cheese Plate
The cheese plate can be served as an appetizer, a starter or before the dessert. It’s quite a religion to eat cheese for a meal in many countries. In France and Italy the cheese is a big part of the gastronomic culture.
There is cheese production in many countries throughout the world, each time with different making process or maturation. Milk quality and its aromatic palette are also very important for the pairing.
They can be made from cow’s milk, goat’s milk, sheep’s milk or cow buffalo’s milk, be more or less salty, more or less mature, flavored, with blue-veined (blue cheeses) or with a flavored crust … In conclusion there are thousands of different cheeses worldwide! According to studies there are more than 1,600 different kinds of cheese… just in France. Those products in Italy, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Switzerland, United States, Canada should be added to this …
So, It is impossible to provide an exhaustive list of existing cheese, reason why in this article you will find suggestions for Wine & Cheese pairing classified by “cheese family”.
Before giving you suggestions for cheeses & wines pairing I invite you to pay attention to some basic rules to follow:
- Choose to serve a single cheese or two cheeses from the same « family ». It is quite impossible to choose a single wine with a wide range of different cheeses.
- Respect the seasonal cheeses and regional pairing
- Drink what you like to drink (the pleasure before anything! It’s one of the basic rules of Wine & Food Pairings …)
- Pay attention to the bread (flour, baking, acidity, crust, ingredients …) and to the side (black cherry jam, honey, dried fruit, fig, salad, nuts…)
- You have to consider the cheese maturation
- Keep in mind that contrary to popular belief it’s easier to pair cheese with white wines (sweet and dry) than with red wines (the main part of time lactic aromas and tannins do not go together)
- Do not forget to serve/try sparkling wines, spirits (Calvados, Armagnac, Cognac …), beer, cider and Port Wines
Below find some suggestion of Cheese & Wine Pairing classified by family.
Wine & Cheese Pairing : What wine to drink with a pasta filata cheese ?
(Mozarella di Bufala, Mozarella Occitane…)
- Saint-Péray – Rhône (white)
- Saint Chinian – Languedoc Roussillon (white)
- Côtes du Rhône – Rhône (white)
- Vin de Corse Figari – Corsica (white)
- Languedoc – Languedoc Roussillon (white)
- Languedoc La Clape – Languedoc Roussillon (white)
- Côtes du Rhône Villages – Rhône (white)
- Côtes du Rhône – Rhône (white)
- Côtes de Provence – Provence (white)
- Costières de Nîmes – Rhône (white)
- Ventoux – Rhône (white)
- Vin de Corse Porto-Vecchio – Corsica (white)
- Chablis – Burgundy (white)
- …
Wine & Cheese Pairing : What wine to drink with a fresh cheese ?
(Rocamadour, Brocciu, Sainte-Maure-de-Touraine, faisselle, brouse de Provence, crémets d’anjou…)
- Vin de Corse Calvi – Corsica (white)
- Vin de Corse Sartène – Corsica (white)
- Vin de Corse Porto-Vecchio – Corsica (white)
- Crozes-Hermitage – Rhône (white)
- Côtes du Rhône – Rhône (white)
- Côtes du Rhône Village – Rhône (white)
- Chinon – Loire (white)
- Pouilly-Fuissé – Burgundy (white)
- Montravel sur Loire – Loire (white)
- Languedoc – Languedoc Roussillon (white)
- Jurançon (dry) – South West (white)
- Montravel – South West (white)
- Montlouis sur Loire – Loire (white, sweet)
- Côtes-de-bergerac – South West (white, sweet)
- …
Tips : Try to pair the Brocciu cheese with a Corsican white wine (Sartène, Calvi, Porto-Vecchio, Cap Corse …). Regarding the Rocamadour, try to pair this cheese with dry white wines from South West of France such as: Tursan, Saint-Mont, Comté Tolosan or Irouléguy.
Wine & Cheese Pairing : What wine to drink with a soft cheese with a flowered rind ?
(Camembert, brie, chaource, coulommiers, brillat-savarin, neufchâtel, carré de l’Est…)
- Sancerre – Loire (white)
- Petit Chablis – Burgundy (white)
- Macôn – Burgundy (white)
- Vouvray – Loire (white)
- Beaujolais – Beaujolais (red)
- Anjou Villages – Loire (red)
- Touraine – Loire (red)
- Bourgogne-Côte-Saint-Jacques – Burgundy (red)
- Saint-Nicolas-de-Bourgueil – Loire (red)
- Saint-Emilion – Bordeaux (red)
- Graves – Bordeaux (red)
- Sancerre – Loire (red)
- Bourgueil – Loire (red)
- Morgon – Beaujolais (red)
- Moulin-à-Vent – Beaujolais (red)
- Côtes du Jura – Jura (red)
- Pinot Noir, Oregon – Oregon (red)
- Pinot Noir, Niagara Peninsula – Ontario (red)
- Gamay, Beamsville Bench VQA – Ontario (red)
- Champagne blanc de blancs (young) – Champagne (sparkling)
- Champagne blanc de noirs – Champagne (sparkling). In particular with the Brie Ile-de-france cheese
- Crémant de Bordeaux – Bordeaux (sparkling)
- Crémant de Loire – Loire (sparkling)
- Sparkling wine, Fingers Lakes – New York (sparkling, white)
- …
Tips : Don’t forget to try the pairing between Camenbert and Cider or Calavados. Try also to pair a Brut Sparkling wine with a Chaource cheese.
Wine & Cheese Pairing : What wine to drink with a soft rind-washed cheese ?
(Epoisses, livarot, maroilles, vieux-lille, munster, pont-l’évêque, langres, mont d’or, reblochon, vacherin…)
- Gewurztraminer, Alsace – Alsace (white)
- Gewurztraminer, Seneca Lake – Finger Lakes, New York (white)
- Gewurztraminer, Columbia Valley – Oregon (white)
- Meursault – Burgundy (white)
- Gewürztraminer, Alsace, Late Harvest– Alsace (sweet)
- Vin Jaune du Jura – Jura (vin jaune)
- Vintage Champagne (not a young vintage) – Champagne (sparkling)
- Gigondas – Rhône (red). In particular with the Epoisses
- Châteauneuf-du-Pape – Rhône (red). In particular with the Epoisses cheese
- Rosé de Savoie – Savoie (rosé). In particular with the Reblochon
- …
Tip: For a few cheeses don’t forget to try a pairing with White beer and Dark beer.
©ossau-iraty / www.ossau-iraty.fr
Wine & Cheese Pairing : What wine to drink with a pressed uncooked cheese ?
(Cantal, Salers, Mimolette, Ossau-Iraty, Tome de Savoie, Saint-Nectaire…)
- Vin Jaune du Jura – Jura (vin jaune)
- Côtes du Jura – Jura (white)
- L’Etoile – Jura (white)
- Meursault – Burgundy (white)
- Puligny Montrachet – Burgundy (white)
- Châteauneuf-du-Pape – Rhône (white)
- Chasselas of Savoie – Savoie (white)
- Jacquère of Savoie – Savoie (white)
- Crépy – Savoie (white)
- Abymes – Savoie (white)
- Crémant d’Alsace – Alsace (white, sparkling)
- Pinot Gris, Alsace – Alsace (white)
- Côtes-de-Rhône Villages – Rhône (red)
- Gaillac – South West (red)
- Fronton – South West (red)
- Côtes de Provence – Provence (red)
- Médoc – Bordeaux (red)
- Pomerol – Bordeaux (red)
- Pauillac – Bordeaux (red)
- Saint-Emilion – Bordeaux (red)
- …
Tips : Try to pair the Ossau-Iraty cheese with a Jurançon (dry) or with a Riesling (Alsace). Try also to pair Saint-Nectaire cheese with an old Bandol wine.
Wine & Cheese Pairing : What wine to drink with a pressed cooked cheese ?
(Comté, Parmesan, Emmental, Gruyère, Beaufort, Abondance, Tomme de Vendée, Meule de Savoie…)
- Vin Jaune du Jura – Jura (white)
- Vin de Savoie Marignan – Jura (white)
- Vin de Savoie Chignin – Jura (white)
- Chardonnay of Oregon – Oregon (white)
- Chardonnay of Washington State – Washington State (white)
- Chardonnay of the Niagara Peninsula – Ontario, Canada (white)
- Chardonnay of Carneros – California, Napa Valley (white)
- Chardonnay of the Marlborough – New Zealand (white)
- Jurançon sec – South West (white)
- Pacherenc-du-vic-bilh – South West (sweet)
- Rosé Sparkling wine of Savoie – Savoie (Sparkling, rosé). Avec l’Abondance
- Sparkling Wine from Carneros – California (sparkling)
- Sparkling Wine from Finger Lakes – New York (sparkling)
- …
Tips : Consider the regional Wine & Cheese pairings, for example: You can pair the Comté cheese with Jura wines : L’Etoile, Arbois, Côtes du Jura, Arbois Pupillin, Chateau-Chalon …
The matching between wines of Savoie (Jongieux, Apremont, Ripaille, Marin, Chignin-Bergeron) and Comté works also well.
Comté also goes very well with Champagne (A Champagne Brut for young, riche and unctuous Comté; An Old Vines Champagne or a Vintage Champange with mature Comtés).
Wine & Cheese Pairing : What wine to drink with a cooked blue-veined cheese ?
(Bleu des Basques, Fourme d’Ambert, Persillé du Pont Astier…)
- L’Etoile vin de paille – Jura (vin de paille)
- Barsac – Bordeaux (sweet)
- Jurançon – South West (sweet)
- Gaillac – South West (sweet)
- Bonnezeaux – Loire (sweet)
- Pacherenc du Vic-Bilh – South West (sweet)
- Arbois vin de paille – Jura (vin de paille)
- Sauternes – Bordeaux (sweet)
- Cérons – Bordeaux (sweet)
- Graves Supérieur – Bordeaux (sweet)
- Côtes de Duras – South West (sweet)
- Rasteau – Rhône (dessert wine, white)
- Old White Port – Porto (vin fortifié)
- Banyuls Grand Cru – Languedoc Roussillon (dessert wine, red)
- Rivesaltes tuilé – Languedoc Roussillon (dessert wine)
- Maury tuilé – Languedoc Roussillon (dessert wine)
- Rasteau rosé – Rhône (dessert wine)
- …
Wine & Cheese Pairing : What wine to drink with a blue-veined cheese ?
(Bleu d’Auvergne, Bleu de Bresse, Roquefort, stilton, blue cheese…)
- Sauternes – Bordeaux (sweet)
- Barsac – Bordeaux (sweet)
- Coteaux-du-Layon – Loire (sweet)
- Loupiac – Bordeaux (sweet)
- Quarts-de-Chaume – Loire (sweet)
- Cérons – Bordeaux (sweet)
- Bonnezeaux – Loire (sweet)
- Monbazillac – South West (sweet)
- Coteaux du Layon – Loire (sweet)
- Jurançon – South West (sweet)
- Vouvray Moelleux – Loire (sweet)
- Gewurztraminer, Alsace, Late Harvest – Alsace (sweet)
- Riesling, Alsace, Late Harvest – Alsace (sweet)
- Pinot Gris, Alsace, Late Harvest – Alsace (sweet)
- Muscat de Beaumes-de-Venise – Rhône (sweet)
- Pacherenc du Vic Bilh – South West (sweet)
- Saumur Moelleux – Loire (sweet)
- Coteaux de Saumur – Loire (sweet)
- Vouvray – Loire (white)
- Montlouis – Loire (white)
- Chablis (ten years old) – Burgundy (white)
- Jerez – Xéres Fino (white)
- Banyuls – Languedoc Roussillon (dessert wine, red)
- Rivesaltes – Languedoc Roussillon (red)
- Maury – Languedoc Roussillon (red)
- Madiran – South West (red)
- Champagne – Champagne (sparkling)
- Tawny Port – Douro Valley (fortified wine)
- LBV Port – Douro Valley (fortified wine)
- Vintage Port – Douro Valley (fortified wine)
- Vin de Paille du Jura – Jura (sweet)
- Moscato d’Asti – Piémont (sweet, slightly sparkling)
- Gewurztraminer, Finger Lakes, Late Harvest – New York (sweet)
- Riesling, Finger Lakes, Late Harvest – New York (sweet)
- Ice Wine from the Niagara Peninsula – Canada (sweet)
- Ice Wine from the Okanagan – Canada (sweet)
- Tokaji – Hungary (sweet)
- Muscat, Valais – Switzerland (sweet)
- …
Tip : Don’t forget to try the pairing between Port Wine (Porto) and Roquefort, Blue cheese…
Wine & Cheese Pairing : What wine to drink with a goat cheese ?
(Sainte-Maure, Crottin de Chavignol, Picodon, Chabichou…)
- Sauternes – Bordeaux (sweet)
- Barsac – Bordeaux (sweet)
- Riesling of Alsace – Alsace (white)
- Sancerre – Loire (white)
- Picpoul de Pinet – Languedoc (white)
- Sylvaner of Alsace – Alsace (white)
- Saint-Aubin – Burgundy (white)
- Savigny-lès-Beaune – Burgundy (white)
- Pernand Vergelesses – Burgundy (white)
- Quincy – Loire (white)
- Mâcon – Burgundy (white)
- Coteau-du-giennois – Loire (white)
- Beaujolais Nouveau – Beaujolais (red). Avec le fromage de chèvre frais
- Rivesaltes ambré – Languedoc Roussillon (dessert wine)
- Chasselas Ripaille de Savoie – Savoie (white). Avec le Chevrotin
- Roussette, Savoie – Savoie (white). Avec le Chevrotin
- …
Tips: Don’t forget to consider the Cheese ageing to pair the wine (fresh, semi-fresh, creamy, semi-dry, dry). If it’s a fresh cheese I advise to pair it with lively and fruity white wines. If it’s a dry cheese (long ageing) I advise to pair with a well-balanced, soft and aromatic sweet wines (or dessert wine).