A match made in culinary heaven — wine and cheese
Not long ago, cheese in America was sliced onto rye, melted into macaroni or hermetically sealed with crackers in plastic snack-packs.
Today, artisan cheeses from throughout the world are freshly-cut by trained cheese mongers at specialty grocers and boutique shops. Even major chains offer Brie, Gorgonzola and other classic styles.
Wine with cheese is a match made in culinary heaven, but our new wealth in selection has folks wondering: which wine is best with which cheese?
The short answer: Choose a white wine with firm acid, a red with soft tannin, sparkling wine and stickies.
The long answer is a long answer. If your schedule doesn't permit research, turn to these guidelines for pairing food (including cheese) with wine.
1. Don't fight the logic of regional pairings. Before Cryovac packaging, refrigerated trucks and the international food selection we now enjoy, winegrowers and cheese makers worked together, tweaking flavors for compatibility, so everyone would have something good to eat and drink.
So, Epoisses de Bourgogne (and other Burgundy cheeses Brie and Camembert), makes a scrumptious pairing with the chardonnay- and Pinot Noir-based wines of Burgundy.
Robiola d'Alba from Italy's Piedmont region (as well as Gorgonzola, Taleggio and Grana Padano) finds delicious harmony with Piemontese wines, including Barbera d'Alba, Nebbiolo de Langhe and sweet Moscato d'Asti.
The Old World is centuries ahead, but U.S. wine and cheese artisans are practicing regional pairings, such as Oregon's Rogue River Blue with the riesling and Pinot Noir grown in Oregon's Rogue and Willamette Valleys.
Your favorite cheese monger or wine merchant may offer suggestions, but if guidance or inventory isn't available:
2. Look for opposites that attract:
The creaminess of cheese calls for wine with firm acidity to cleanse and refresh the palate.
Turn toward cool-climate regions including Oregon, northern France or Alpine Italy, and their crisp wines.
Champagne, prosecco and other sparkling wines offer scrubbing bubbles as well as acidity, to cleanse a cheese-clogged palate.
Spicy-hot cheese ignites wine's alcohol for three-alarm palate burn. Calm the heat of pepper jack and other spicy cheeses with sweet or very fruity wine.
In all cases, avoid low-acid/ high-alcohol wines from warm climates including California, Australia or southern Italy.
3. Sweeter for the sweets: Cheese topped with quince paste or studded with fruit may tickle a sweet tooth, but will make dry wine taste bitter by comparison. Choose a wine that's slightly sweeter than sweet condiments and fruits.
4. Remember the biochemistry of Bacchus: For folks who feel wine's first duty is to be red, serve hard or aged cheese — especially high-protein Parmesan, aged goat cheese and Gruyere — to bind with and soften red wine's tannin.
Putting it together
Here are wines to complement a wide range of cheeses:
Bubbles
See Ross' choice of Prosecco Superiore Brut, “Crede” from Valdobbiadene, Italy
Whites
Pinot Gris “Willamette Valley”, Ponzi Vineyards (Willamette Valley, OR) — Silky, with ripe nectarine flavors balanced by vibrant acidity, from one of Oregon's original winegrowing families. ($16)
Sancerre “Ancien Vignes”, Patient Cottat (Loire Valley, France). 50-year-old vines yield intense citrus and fig flavors, accented by herbs, perfect for goat cheeses famed in the Loire. ($25) Also look for Cottat's great-value “Le Grand Caillou” Sauvignon Blanc ($12).
Reds
Pinot Noir “Willamette Valley”, Ponzi Vineyards (Willamette Valley, OR) — Bouquet of berries, carnations and brown spice introduces a silky palate that expands into rich strawberry fruit with herbal accents, then focuses into comfortable tannin and long finish. ($34)
Barbera d'Asti “Blina”, Agostino Pavia & Figli (Piedmont, Italy) — Full and supple with newly-picked berry flavor, delicate spice accents and comfortably firm tannin.
Stickies
In childhood, our hearth was stocked with Stilton (England's quintessential blue cheese) and Cockburn “Special Reserve” Port (Portugal, $20) to greet Santa — and Santa was always good to me! I recommend it to everyone who can't be a very good boy or girl this year.
• Write to Advanced Sommelier and Certified Wine Educator Mary Ross at food@daily herald.com.