Matching cheese and wines is an art: Here are a few pairing hints

We all talk about “wine & cheese” as personifying the perfect match, forgetting entirely that there are almost as many types of cheese as there are wines and matching the two is an art. 

Just as there’s little joy in sampling entry-level wines with little aroma or taste, there’s no point in pairing plain old Amul (with due apologies to the staple fare of millions) with a wine : what one should seek instead are distinctive cheese(s) and memorable wine(s). 

Fortunately, at least in the metro cities today, there is a reasonable choice of both good cheese and good wines — not as wide as overseas and certainly a lot more expensive, but better than what we had in India just a few years back. Here are a few pairing hints:

Fresh cheese (mozzarella): The cheese is meant to be had fresh, so pair it with light, crisp wines — Sauvignon Blanc, dry Riesling or young Pinot Noir.

Soft cheese (brie, camambert): These  are creamy and buttery and feel like they are melting in your mouth. Pair them with sparkling wines/ Champagne, Chardonnay and even young Syrah as these wines will enhance the cheese flavours.

Aged Cheese (cheddar, gruyere): These will be firm and full of flavours — pair with aged Chardonnay or even medium-bodied reds.

Blue-veined cheese (danish blue, gorgonzola): The cheese is strong-smelling, with distinctive flavours, and should be paired with sweet Riesling (at least Spatslese), Port, or full-bodied reds.

One point about cheese is that it coats the mouth, so wines taste smoother when sipped after a cheese (any cheese). As they say about wine, “Sell on cheese, buy on water” so as to better appreciate the intrinsic quality of the wine.

Classic food and wine pairings

Over the years the cognozenti have identified several “heavenly” matches

Champagne and caviar: The classic food of love with the acidic Champagne is a perfect foil for the salty and fishy caviar.

Muscadet and oysters:  The dry Muscadet has a mineral salinity that makes oysters taste almost creamy — another lovely match for valentines.

Riesling and duck a l’orange: The classic dusauce would overwhelm most reds, but an off-dry Riesling matches the sourness with elan.

Cabernet auvignon and pepper steak: A full-bodied Cabernet is a terrific accompaniment to the earthy and peppery taste of a good steak.

Stilton cheese with vintage port: The cheese is soft and stinky while vintage Port is sweet and tannic and full of flavours. The two combine amazingly — what you get on the palate is something approximating cheeries and cream.

Sauternes and fois gras: This is the best pairing of them all. Sauternes is sweet and rich, while fois gras is rich and buttery and the two combine to produce the most amazing taste sensations.

Sadly I have yet to come across any “classic” pairings with vegetarian cuisine but I’m sure that’s not too far away: how about appam and Chardonnay, or alloo paratha and a hearty red?

Wines I’ve been drinking

Seven superb wines actually. At the last The Wine Connoisseurs’ dinner at the Lalit Ashok Bengaluru, paired with Baluchi’s Indian (all non-veg) cuisine, what stood out was the Vina Tondonia Reserva, Rioja, 2004 paired with Badami Bater or Sofiyani Pork Ribs. The wine (75 per cent Tempranillo, 15 per cent Granacha, the rest Graciano) was a 91-pointer at its very peak. Produced by the ultra-traditionalist Spanish bodegas Lopez de Heredia, the wine was a joy to imbibe — classic notes of leather and spice, combined with mouth-coating fruit flavours and a medium+ body that paired excellently with the cuisine.

Alok Chandra is a Bengaluru-based wine consultant