Entertaining with Cheese

For tips on putting together a killer cheese board at home, check out chapter eight of Hip Tastes, “Wine at Home.”

The all-around best wines for cheese, hands down, are sweet wines. Extremely low in tannin, sweet wines don’t do battle with the goo, and their sweetness is the best possible foil to cheese’s characteristic saltiness. So, next time you’re pairing wine with cheese, reach for one of the following recommended pairings, or pretty much any sweet wine: ice wine, Sauternes, Auslese-level Riesling from Germany, or tawny port.

It’s in the Cheese.

Here’s an overview of the kinds of cheeses you can expect to find at a good artisanal cheese shop (something definitely worth seeking out if you plan to do much cheese tasting), although growing numbers of nicer grocery stores have begun carrying lots of these yummy items, too.

Creamy Cheese

Epitomized by the all-popular Brie, creamy cheeses take their name (and their runny texture) from their super high fat content. They’re among the most difficult to pair with wine—second only to super salty blue cheeses—due to their intensely mouth-coating texture. Besides Brie, well-known creamy cheeses include Camembert and Epoisses, super stinky numbers from France that are so creamy you sometimes need a spoon to spread them. Match these up with low- to medium-tannin reds such as Pinot Noir, Cru Beaujolais, and Dolcetto. They also work well with whites with sturdy acidity and a hint of creaminess; I like French Chablis (Chardonnay) as well as Chardonnay from cool Western Australia.

Goat Cheese

Often referred to by its French name, chèvre, goat cheese is a step up in firmness from creamy cheese. It’s usually quite aromatic and boasts a tangy acidity that’s unique to cheeses made from goat’s milk. The best known versions come from France’s Loire Valley, where the cheese’s tangy nature is perfectly at home with the region’s equally assertive Sauvignon Blancs (think Sancerre and Pouilly-Fumé). Watch for the cheese in its characteristic “log” form, or in little rounds, both of which are widely available, and pair it up with Sauvignon Blanc from the Loire or New Zealand, crisp whites from northern Spain, or light reds from the Loire; the best are from the appellations of Chinon and Bourgueil.