Wine and Cheese Pairing #1

Gabbiano Chianti

The first cheese I sampled with the Chianti was a super sharp vintage cheddar. I liked this pairing a lot because I felt the bold flavor of the cheddar offset/complimented the bold and powerful flavor of the Chianti. I am not a huge fan of reds quite yet because of the boldness but the cheddar was a great partner. From page 60 of Wine Folly it stated that with a Chianti, the best to worst pairings of the cheeses I sampled were #1 Cheddar, #2 Parmesan, and #3 Boursin. 

The second cheese I sampled was parmesan. I didn’t hate it, but it wasn’t better than the sharp cheddar. It felt like the parmesan kind of made the Chianti flatter and more bland because I didn’t get that powerful flavor. The Parmesan almost hid the fruity blend of this Chianti.

The last cheese I sampled with the Chianti was Boursin which has hints of garlic and herbs. The Boursin almost overpowered the flavor of the Chianti because the garlic and herbs were so bold.

1000 Stories Gold Rush Red

This wine is a 2019 blended red including Teroldego, Zinfandel, Cabernet Sauvignon, Petite Sirah, and Pinot Noir. It is aged in American and French Oak and then finishes in bourbon barrels. Page 131 of Wine Folly, it states that Merlot grapes are noted with cherry and plum and that the sweeter fruits of the Merlot pair well with salty cheeses.

After pouring myself a glass and swirling it around (decanting), I smelled a very tart and powerful aroma. 

The first cheese I sampled with this blended red was the sharp cheddar. Like the Chianti, I enjoyed this pairing very much. It was a 

The second cheese I sampled was the parmesan. I think this was a better pairing than the Chianti and parmesan because I was able to taste the red this time. It wasn’t overpowered by the parmesan. The saltiness of the parmesan actually magnified the bold flavor of the red.

The Boursin is my favorite pairing with this red. The garlic wasn’t overpowering this time, rather it made the cherry and plum hinted wine sweet. None of my friends had the same thought of the Boursin making this wine sweeter which was very interesting to me. I guess we all have different pallets. 

Bay Bridge Strawberry Moscato

This wine tastes exactly like a strawberry. It’s almost as if we milked a strawberry. It’s very sweet and smells very fruity. Should be an interesting pair for these cheeses but I don’t imagine this wine pairing well with any. On page 60 of Wine Folly, dessert wines pair well with pungent blue cheese and creamy cheeses like brie. We know this isn’t actually a dessert wine because dessert wines are fortified, but we’re kind of sort of classifying it as a dessert wine.

The sharp cheddar was not that bad of a pairing, I actually enjoyed it. I felt that the cheddar actually brought out the sweetness of the Moscato more which was a very interesting light and fruity taste.

The parmesan was actually overpowered by the Moscato. I thought the Moscato was light earlier, but this just cleaned the parmesan taste out of my mouth. I guess I underestimated the body of this wine and it is actually a powerful sweet.

With the Boursin, I thought the Moscato overpowered the cheese again. Boursin was the most powerful cheese that I thought we sampled with tonight and Moscato totally overpowered it. The great degree of sweetness and tartness overpowered any other bold flavor, besides the sharp cheddar.

Here are the cheeses and crackers that we sampled with our selection of wines.

And here is a picture of all of us together. Nothing better than sharing wine and conversation with good friends!