Wine and Cheese…Please!

By Nikki Berglund
Staff Writer

Recently I was asked to help out with a wine and cheese pairing event for charity. While wine is something I am comfortable with and knowledgeable about, cheese opens up a whole other can of worms. I’ve pretty much got the basics down but I have to admit, I am a bit rusty. So I thought what better way to brush up on my own wine and cheese pairing skills than to write an article about it and help you all learn a little as well.

Cheese and wine are kindred spirits. Both are made from natural products that are manipulated and aged to form something completely different than the raw product they originate from. To create either is a delectable art form and one that takes a little time and effort to fully appreciate.

There was a time, in the not too distant past that a good selection of cheeses in Fargo was difficult if not impossible to find. You had your basic Cheddars, and Bleu Cheeses, maybe a Brie or a Gouda here and there if you really searched, but anything fancier was pretty much out of the question. Now you can find excellent cheese sections in many of our local grocery stores- I think Hornbacher’s Osgood offers a particularly nice selection. Personally when I am looking for some interesting cheese options, I head over to the Green Market Kitchen where Peter, Andrea, or Steve are always more than happy to send you home with something new and exciting.

As with any type of food and wine pairing, there are some very basic rules that although not necessary to follow, can really enhance the experience. Given the diversity of flavors and intensity of some cheeses a wine can definitely make or break your pairing. Here are some good rules of thumb to keep you in the good graces of your guests and/or your own taste buds.

1) Cheese can make cheap red wine taste better. Hard Cheeses such as Cheddar tend to coat the taste buds with protein and soften the tannins of some red wines. This means the abrasiveness that sometimes comes with a less expensive bottle of red wine can actually be muted by the cheese, elevating the whole experience to another, more luxurious level.

2) The stronger the cheese, the bolder the flavors of the wine should be. A more pungent cheese needs a wine that can compete with the flavors and not get overpowered. This does not necessarily mean only a heavier red; a sufficiently sweet wine will be equally if not more successful. A dessert wine such as a Port, a French Sauternes or even a Riesling (the sweeter the better so try the Late Harvest version) is an excellent choice. Port wine and Stilton cheese are actually considered one of the rock star couples of wine and cheese pairings. A nice bold Cabernet Sauvignon makes a successful dry red wine alternative depending on the pungency of the Blue Cheese.

3) As with most food in general, the more delicate the flavors and textures of the cheese, the lighter the style of wine should be. Soft cheeses such as Brie or Ricotta fit into this category and do nicely with a sparkling wine or a lighter style Pinot Noir if you want to stick with red wine. Try a little Brie and Champagne and you are no doubt headed for a transcendent journey into culinary ecstasy!

4) A mild hard cheese such as Cheddar, Gouda, or Swiss is much easier to make a complimentary pairing than a softer, riper, more mature cheese (e.g. anything from the Bleu Cheese family.)

5) Cheese and wine make a great team. Think about spaghetti with red sauce and meatballs, sprinkled with a generous layer (if you are me at least) of Parmesan or Romano considered to be in the extra firm cheese family. The sharp and salty characteristics of these cheeses, and the red sauce itself come together in perfect gastronomic harmony if you serve a medium to full bodied red wine such as Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot to tie it all together. My mouth is watering just thinking about it!

6) If all else fails, just follow the general rule of white wine with soft cheeses and red wine with hard cheeses. Since softer cheeses coat the mouth, they tend to limit the types of wine that will taste good with them. A white wine usually works best with soft cheese because the acidity can cut through that mouth coating unlike a red wine.

7) As far as serving cheese goes, it is best to serve it at as close to room temperature as possible. If you pull it out of the refrigerator about an hour or so before presenting it to your guests you should be good to go.

8) As with any food and wine pairing, experimentation is the best way to come up with your own winning combinations. When talking about two things as delicious as cheese and wine, it really takes a lot to mess it up badly enough that you actually want to spit it right back out. More likely, you just won’t be getting the most out of your cheese or your wine of choice and how unfortunate would that be?

If you do find yourself over in the neighborhood of the Green Market Kitchen check out their newest cheese selections, which are soon to arrive; a one year aged Shelburne Cheddar from Vermont, Pleasant Ridge Reserve; a farmstead artisanal cheese from Wisconsin made from cow’s milk and aged for two years, and if you like Blue Cheese you can choose from either an English Stilton, a Great Hill Blue Cheese from Massachusetts, or a St Peter’s Roquefort out of Faribault, MN.

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