I’m pretty liberal with my wine and cheese pairing but more concerned about the cheese.
For example Saint Nectaire can either be industrial or fermier and you can tell by the label.
While pecorino Fresca is pleasant it’s awfully mild and a little duplicative of the Ossau Iraraty. (Don’t get something like that Ossau, get that specifically).
Haven’t had Brie with truffles, rarely get Brie, but pecorino with truffles (Moliterno) sounds a lot better from both a truffle and pecorino perspective. Better off with a wonderful goat cheese then the Brie in my opinion (valencay or st. maure etc. or even humboldt fog, just not a mild one).
There could be some of that adventurous folks in the group who only are comfortable with Brie.
All of these could work if you source them appropriately. Just got my shipment from fromage.com yesterday🙂
Very few soft cheese like Brie, Camembert or St Nectaire are going well with red wine IMO
I go for mature white Burgundy or aged Champagne BdB if the wine has to be dry
Pretty much agree with Howard. Being before dinner I would go with white but that is a personal preference. After dinner red is fine and I don’t completely buy into the notion that one needs to drink white wine with cheese.
Totally agree, and I eat my weight in cheese every year.
White Burgundy, Vouvray, Riesling, and Italian mountain whites all go very well with a variety of cheeses, as would new world versions of these wines that aren’t big and oaky. I think you need good acidity and clean wines with cheese. The '18 Massican Annia we drank last night would have probably been a good cheese wine, too.
So many excellent responses everyone - thank you so much! I had been leaning toward white Burgundy (not decided which) or a 2014 Chidaine Bournais, but I don’t have tons of experience with wine and cheese pairings, so thank you to everyone so far with more experienced palates!. Very grateful for the speedy replies. Sounds like I’ll land on a white Burg with some age (if I can find one in the cellar).
In response to several folks, I do wish there were a goat cheese - totally agree Sarah
On a related note, I’d like to take this moment to say how thankful I am for this community. I love the camaraderie, expertise, and the community-mindedness anchored in shared passions.
Sometimes one might find a great dry wine that goes well with certain cheeses, but the more cheeses there are on a plate, the more difficult it is to find one to rule them all.
I’ve learned to leave dry wines out of the question when it comes to multi-cheese courses. Almost invariably I go with sweeter wines - often dessert wines - when there is no common denominator with the cheeses. With milder soft-aged cheeses one can go with also off-dry wines if one doesn’t really like very sweet wines or the situation calls for drier wines - the likes of semi-dry Riesling, Chenin Blanc or Alsatian Pinot Gris, but if there are any funkier or bolder cheeses, it either calls for more sugar (Moelleux Chenin, Spätlese/Auslese Riesling) or more heft (Alsatian Gewurztraminer).
With harder and older cheeses some savory, nutty or oxidative notes can go wonderfully with the cheeses - the likes of Vin Jaune, white Burgundy, skin-contact / orange / amber wines, older whites, Sherries or Vi Rancio. Many bold red wines go really well with harder cheeses as well, like Amarone, ripe Zinfandel, Plavac Mali or Ribera del Duero (with not too much wood). However, most of the older cheeses tend to have high salt content, which normally translates to sweeter wines going much better with the cheeses than dry wines.
And with very bold, funky cheeses and blue cheeses, sweet red wines often stand up to the strong flavors better than the whites. Port, Maury, Banyuls would be my go-to wines here.
Haven’t really found out if the lighter and drier red wines are of any use when it comes to pairing with cheese. Some might go pretty nicely with some cheeses, but often there are lots of other wines that would do the job so much better. Some sparkling wines might make the cheese become better, but can’t really remember a time when a cheese would’ve made a sparkling wine become noticeably better - that’s why I wouldn’t grab any higher-end fizz with a cheese platter. Of course it might just be that I’ve missed out all the perfect cheese’n’bubbly pairings.
I agree. All I said is that I think Brie doesn’t go well with red wine. Good brie is too acidic for red wine IMHO. Of course, a lot of brie is flavorless and totally bland and with that it probably does not matter as much what you drink with it. I assumed in my answer that people on this board get good Brie.
One of my favorite pairings is Epoisses with white Burgundy.
I usually like a cheese plate after the meal, which goes very well with white and red dessert wines (or RS wines if not full dessert).
But most of our family and guests like cheese plates out before the meal, and champagne is always a good crowd pleaser and while not the perfect match for most cheeses, it usually won’t conflict with them.
I’ve noticed that some red wines (for some reason especially Pinot Noir and other lighter red wines) can boost the perception of ammonia notes even in otherwise bland / very mild Brie cheeses to rather undesirable levels. I really don’t think that good brie is too acidic for red wines (perhaps because I prefer red wines with high acidities) but they can occasionally conflict quite badly.
Bingo!(spot on!). Otto you have put into words one of my gnawing gripes about some reds with some cheeses. I am actually experiencing it right now with a nice, friendly fermier Brie turning a little nasty with a small glass of CA Merlot. Thanks for the articulation.
Cheers.
“Ammonia” in Brie , I find it’s much less noticeable in the good stuff - Brie de Meaux etc versus the more mass produced versions , and I’m talking about with white wine almost always. Is that just some sort of confirmation bias or a real thing? If so, why?
Well, the bacteria that create the skin of Brie produce many metabolic by-products, including ammonia. The bacteria don’t care for quality.
Normally Brie might have a strong ammonia note if it’s kept in a plastic wrap which doesn’t let the cheese breathe, but these notes should dissipate rather quickly when unwrapped. However, the rind does still contain a bit of ammonia, which is normally undetectable. However, some wines can boost this flavor noticeably that it suddenly is very perceptible. It doesn’t matter whether the cheese is cheap, poor-quality stuff or expensive appellation-protected stuff.
![[cheers.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0ff9bfcdb0964982cd3240b6159868fbdf215b1a.gif "cheers"){kind=small}
