The Spread
This is the wine and cheese pairing I did with several of my friends. We selected selected two reds and a white, one Merlot, one Petite Sirah and a chardonnay from Burgundy. I choose varietal rather than blended wines because I thought it would be easier to understand their character along side the cheese.
We proceeded through the tasting systematically trying first all the wines before we had eaten any cheese. Then we cleansed our palates and sampled each cheese individually. After which we try every cheese with every wine.
First Wine Unpaired
Name: Stag's Leap Wine Cellar Merlot
Varietal: 100% Merlot
Year: 2010
Region: Napa Valley, California
Country: USA
Solo Tasting: Alone the wine smelled only and strongly of sweet red cherries but what it lacked in complexity of flavors it made up for in perfect balance. This wine was velvety and had the most pleasant balance of tannins, acid and alcohol and it finished up with a lingering sweet cherry finish.
Second Wine Unpaired
Name: Lot 96 Petite Sirah
Varietal: 100% Petite Sirah
Year: 2011
Region: Sonoma Valley, California
Country: USA
Solo Tasting: The wine was big and full with strong notes of plum jam and prunes with a little beefy flavor coming through. The wine was actually balanced in my opinion; the levels were equal but they were just set much higher. It did tone down once it had opened and even before it was paired with cheese.
Third Wine Unpaired
Name: Pouilly-Fuisse
Varietal: 100% Chardonnay
Year: 2012
Region: Pouill-Fuisse, Burgundy
Country: French
Solo Tasting: Very floral. It was a buttery sort of white flower that came through on the nose. Very dry palate with a high acid. It had a pleasant finish once the acid faded away though not very long.
For cheese we had purchased an assortment of hard, aged and cream cheeses. We had President Brie, a Boars Head Gruyere, a Bellavitano Merlot, a wedge of Black Diamond Aged Sharp Cheddar, a block of Rosemary Asiago and lastly a Dubliner.
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| Cheese is expensive... |
Cheese Samples Unpaired
Brie: Creamy, Mushroom, Sweet
Gruyere: Waxy, Musty, Mild
Bellavitano Merlot: Sweet, Cherry Parmesan
Sharp Cheddar: Sharp, Aged Stink, Balanced
Rosemary Asiago: Rosemary (duh) herbal, Dry
Dubliner: Dry, Chalky, Hay and Straw
With every thing now sampled alone it was time to see how pairing each would change their characteristics. There were a lot of things I anticipated and good few I didn't. Overall I think most pairings made for a better flavor experience than the parts alone. Because the last wine I tasted was the Pouilly-Fuisse I inverted the order when tasting the wine and food together by started with the white.
Pouilly-Fuisse Chardonnay + Cheese
The buttery notes of the wine, for my palate at least, really created some tremendous pairings. There was just far more finesse when pairing this wine in the flavors it produced compared to the ones that the other ones later made.
Brie + Chardonnay: The cream of the brie really cut the acid on this wine bringing it into a perfect balance. The combination of elements really worked well to leave behind an earthy and loamy taste.
Gruyere + Chardonnay: The Gruyere did a tremendous job as well cutting the acid and bringing it to a more balanced level. The flavors they produced were overwhelmingly of dried flowers I think in part from the mustiness of the cheese and the floral component of the wine.
Bellavitano Merlot + Chardonnay: This was a very interesting one, the Bella added a note of cherry I can't imagine you'd normally see in a white. It also took the wine from a dry to a more semi-sweet one. I think the flavor it created at the end was cherry honey.
Sharp Cheddar + Chardonnay: Worst pairing of the whole thing. The cheese was much to strong for the elegance of the white wine and the combination of flavors was overwhelmingly one of mold and not the good kind. The cheese also just made the wine feel and taste flat and flabby.
Rosemary Asiago + Chardonnay: This pairing really enhanced the floral component of the wine and added an herbaceous note as well. It also did something for the acid but not as much as the softer cheeses.
Dubliner + Chardonnay: An excellent pairing. The level of complexity the cheese added was incredible. The wine went from simple floral honey note to a symphony of flavors. The Straw and hay component of the cheese definitely was the conductor. The flavors the two produced were, herbaceous, earthy, dry loamy, straw, barnyard, dried flowers, and dust.
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| The Critique and the Debate |
Lot 96 Petite Sirah + Cheese
The boldness of the Petite Sirah was something hard for the cheese to compete with. In some cases the cheese did mellow out the wine most of the time it was drowned out.
Brie + Petite Sirah: The creaminess of the cheese was obliterated by the wine and what was left combined with the beefy component of the wine to make a sort of damp mushroom flavor. It was almost identical to a mushroom that you've just washed in the sink but haven't cook. This imagery conjured up the slimy feel the mushroom gets when wet... Interesting but not good in my opinion.
Gruyere + Petite Sirah: A complete 180 from the last pairing the waxiness of the cheese protected your mouth from the full body of the wine. Additionally the wines beefy component combined with the musty portion of the cheese to give this incredible savory beef and cheese combo.
Bellavitano Merlot + Petite Sirah: The Petite Sirah strikes again. Its overwhelming structure, stripped the cheese to a meager cherry flavor and that was it.
Sharp Chedder + Petite Sirah: The flavor profile of the wine remain mostly unchanged by this cheese and the cheddar flavor dissipated but the overall effect was a balancing one. I guess the cheese packed enough punch to mellow out the full body of the wine.
Rosemary Asiago + Petite Sirah: Good pairing that in a way converted the wine from a New World to an Old World style. Together they took on an herbaceous beef and rosemary flavor.
Dubliner + Petite Sirah: the wine wins again, it wiped out most of the cheese flavors but the cheese really augmented the beefy component of the wine leaving you with the impression that you had just eaten a steak.
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| "Windows of Wine" |
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| Ben enjoys the Dubliner |
Stag's Leap Wine Cellar Merlot + Cheese
This wine saw a lot of changes to its texture but not as much to its flavor. The powerful cherry notes of the Merlot mostly won out over the subtler ones belonging to the cheese.
Brie + Merlot: The wine definite beat the cheese the cherry flavor was strong but the Brie did add a creamy element so the overall effect was a sort of cherry pasty texture and flavor.
Gruyere + Merlot: The waxy component of the Gruyere really combined nicely with the velvet texture of the Merlot and the musty portion of the cheese overall combined with the cherries to give the effect of cherry smoke.
Bellavitano Merlot + Merlot: This was one of the more interesting combinations but also predictable. It augmented the cherry flavor to a ridiculous level. It was like eating sweet red cherries.
Sharp Cheddar + Merlot: A somewhat disappointing pairing, the sharp cheddar was definitely my favorite cheese alone but when combined with the smoothness of the wine the sharp aged component of the cheddar took over and made the wine harsher.
Rosemary Asiago + Merlot: The cheese had a similar effect on the wine as it did on the Petite Sirah. It created a New World Old World style shift and added herbaceous notes to created a herbal cherry flavor.
Dubliner + Merlot: Great pairing maybe my favorite. I don't really understand how they combined but the end result was a delicious cherry spice bread flavor.
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| (Sorry for the blurred image but it was three bottles of wine later) |
Incredible experience and an incredible assignment I never would have sat down and conducted so thorough an investigation into the flavor combination of cheese and wine if it weren't for this class. When I do this again I will definitely add more variety to the styles of wines perhaps tasting a range of Merlots both Old World and New World and I will definitely do this again with a set of blended wines and see how they fair.
