Do you drink red wine with cheese, or is it not on? I know that food and wine pairing is totally subjective, and I would never shove a wine into someone’s face, but would a glass of white wine marry up better than any red? Perhaps, it depends which cheese is the partner?
But if it is only the cheese you care about, it may not matter what the wine is, but to enjoy the wine and also to do it credit, it pays to give careful consideration to the pairing.
In the past, more people drank red wine with cheese, or so it seems. Yes, it was often served at dinner parties and in restaurants, but why? Drinking white wine with any sort of cheese marries up so much better, as the acidity in the wine cuts beautifully through the fat in the cheese.
Though it does depend on what type of white wine. A lovely, youthful and lively white would be preferable to a rich, heavy, oak-aged white. Perhaps a Riesling or Sauvignon Blanc from a cool climate wine growing country would suffice?
A few experts go as far as to offer a sweet white wine or even an Oloroso sherry from Spain as the accompaniment. Personally, I can’t come to terms with a sickly sweet wine with a dry, fatty cheese, but again it comes down to personal choice.
Many cheeses taste of salt and fat, while some pungent and creamy. These characteristics frequently deaden any rich, tannic red wines, on the other hand, fresh, fruity dry whites can handle them well. Rarely do sweet whites make for excellent matches, but this one is a classic combination – Sauternes with Roquefort.
Wine writer Hugh Johnson gives some easy pairing rules, he suggests that the harder the cheese is, the more tannins are required in the accompanying wine. The creamier the cheese is, the more acidity is needed to deal with those fatty molecules.
Red wines complement very few cheeses. Aubert de Villaine, co-owner of the Domaine de la Romanee-Conti, remarked at a showcasing of his red wines “cheese kills the nuances in red wine” – not a match made in heaven!
In England in the 19th century, consumption of red wine and cheese was not considered to be ladylike. At the end of dinner, the women would retire so that the men could get on with the serious drinking of port and claret. The cheese accompanying the drink was of course Stilton.
But before we write off drinking red wine with cheese, there are numerous matches that will work, like drinking a simple, light red wine with it. However, most people would never follow a big red wine from the main course with a simple, light red for the cheese course. They would inevitably pop the cork on a white. The tide has turned!
Has the relationship really gone sour on drinking red wine with cheese? I don’t think so, but it is not nearly as popular today as it was 60 years ago. For me, a crisp and refreshing white wine matches almost any cheese just perfectly.
