Wine and Cheese Pairing

Wow, what an oppurtunity to write about wine and cheese. Two of the greatest things, what else could I ask for??? To begin our pairing adventure, we headed out to the wonderful gucci kroger and bought three wines and three cheese. We picked our cheeses based off what we knew we liked, and the for the wines we picked one white, one rose, and one red. The Cheeses that we picked out were a Pepperjack, a Havarti, and a Gouda.

The wines that we ended up with the Bay Bridge Moscato, the Pinetti Rose and the Colorblock Cabernet Sauvignon.

The Bay Bridge Moscato did not contain any information about what vintage it was from which was disappointing, but for only $2.99 it is hard to complain. Without the cheese, it tasted sweet, florally with notes of elderflower, and thick in a sugary way. I don't think I would buy this wine again, because since it was so sugary it was almost unenjoyable. When paired with the havarti, it was harder to pick up on the taste of the wine, but I do think it improved the taste of the cheese. It felt like a backwards relationship, like I wanted the wine to taste better, but yet it was the cheese that improved. With the guoda, the wine was awful. In my notes I wrote "I can't tell you what I'm picking up on, but it is gross." I think I wanted the flavor out of my mouth fast so that it would be over. I had a simillar reaction to the pepperjack which was that the cheese seemed to bring out an unpleasant aroma in the cheese. I felt like there were stinky gym socks in my mouth. Not a pleasant experience.

The Pinetti Rose is a 2021 Vintage from Italy. Out of the three wines this one might have been my favorite. It had a semi-sweet flavor, and I was able to pick up on a sweet-tart strawberry flavor. The bottle said it contained notes of rhubard, which I found interesting because rhubard pie is one of my favorite foods. When paired with the havarti, nothing much came out of the wine. I think that the mouth-coating smooth effect of the havarti almost muted out some of the flavors of this wine. The acidity didn't pair well with the richness of the cheese. A simillar thing happened with the guoda where the strong aroma of the cheese seemed to overpower the wine. I did pick up on slightly more floral flavors, but I don't think this was a strong pairing overall. With the pepperjack I found it to be a better pairing that with the moscato, in that it brough out some of the fruity strawberry flavors in the wine slightly more.

The Cabernet Sauvignon was the most surprising wine for me. I havent found myself a fan of reds so far this semester, but this one was pretty smooth and easy to pick out flavors. It is a 2021 vintage from the central valley of Chile. I found that the predominant flavors I picked up on were raisin, raspberry, and pepper. Overall this wine was my favorite wine when paired with the cheese. With the havarti, I thought I had picked up a different wine completely, the fruityness of the wine had completely exploded, the wine tasted more complex, and the final lingering of pepper was refreshing and excited me for the next sip. With the gouda, I didn't have any strong reaction, as I think the guoda we got was slightly overpowering, and didn't bring anything out in the wine. I noted that the wine tasted like water after the cheese. This wine with the pepperjack was by far my favorite. It made the wine taste spicy, but in an amazing way. The pepper taste that was present was so enjoyable, it was fruity, complex, inspiring. The different types of heat hitting my mouth was crazy. After trying all the pairing I finished my nighy with the Rose and the havarti, a mellow pairing for the mood I was going for that night.