This past week, a couple of friends and I decided to partake in the wine and cheese pairing assignment. We tried to have a good variety of flavors of the wine so we attempted to get a red, white, and an earthier red. So, we picked out our three different types of wines accordingly which were Alsace Riquewihr Gentil ClassiQ (2012), Fetzer Eagle Peak Merlot (2011), and PRISMA Chilean Pinot Noir (2011). We found out their regions were from Spain, California, and Chile. So, when we went to buy our cheese, we wanted to try to get a variety of soft and hard and white and yellow cheese. So, the three different types of cheeses were Singleton’s Double Gloucester Cheese (Britian), El Cortijo Murcia Al Vino (Goat Cheese) Cheese (Spain), and Swissrose French Fleurd Brie with pepper (France). We then partook in the pairing assignment. We would drink one wine at a time and try all of the different types of cheese with the one wine. Some of the wines were better by itself, some wine flavors were electrified by the cheese, and some wines just didn’t work with anything. The following information will describe our reactions to the wine itself and how the wine paired with the different cheeses.
Alsace Riquewihr Gentil ClassiQ, 2012
Variety: 40% Riesling, 20% Pinot Blanc, 20% Muscat, 10% Gewürztraminer, 10% Pinot Gris
Region: Alsace
Country: France
Year: 2012
Price: $16
Our Wine Review: This wine had a strong floral smell but had flavors of apple and pear when we tasted it. It was not very sweet but was crisp and smooth instead of being completely dry. There was a strong forward fruit taste with a smooth finish. By itself, it was probably the best wine we had that night because how even the flavor was throughout the taste.
Paired with Singleton’s Double Gloucester Cheese (Britian): This wine and cheese were not a good combination together. However, we will later find out that this cheese tasted the best with this wine. But that is not saying much about how good this combination is as much as how bad the other combinations were with this wine. The cheese was very bland and almost tasted like cheese wiz before the wine made the cheese more sharp. It also brings out notes of sweet floral smells within the wine. Although this wine pairs the best with this cheese, it is still not a good combination to recommend to anyone.
Paired with El Cortijo Murcia Al Vino (Goat Cheese) Cheese (Spain): This wine and cheese was a decent pairing together. The cheese was a softer chees that was creamy and pungent. When the cheese and wine were mixed together, the wine would be sent directly to the back of the throat and would almost sting the back of the throat due to the tactile sensation from the alcohol. So, we said that this cheese pulled the acidic flavors out of the wine and covered up any of the fruit flavors that originally were present within the wine. The cheese and wine are supposed to complement each other, not mask the flavors and amplify the acidity.
Paired with Swissrose French Fleurd Brie with pepper (France): This pairing was interesting because the wine had different flavors depending on if the brie was eaten alone or with the pepper coating around the outside. When the pepper coating was part of the mix, it made the wine sour with a very strong peppery characteristic. For some reason, when the peppery brie and wine mixed, I had an image of seagull feet pop into my head because I smelled like a salty ocean mixed with the stink of feet. However, the second time, I ate the middle of the brie, without the pepper coating, and this combination with the wine was amazing. It worked well with the wine and brought out the fruit flavors and decreased the strong acidity from before.
Overall conclusion: Overall, I think this wine was really good by itself. However, I learned that if pairing with cheese, a soft mild cheese is the best way to go because they will work together in harmony rather than increasing acidity or sharpness of the cheese. So, the brie without the pepper coating was the best with this wine.
Fetzer Eagle Peak Merlot, 2011
Variety: 100% Merlot
Region: California
Country: United States
Year: 2011
Price: $7.99
Our Wine Review: This was an interesting wine. It smells very alcoholic and of dark fruits like blackberry, plum, and cherry. However when we tasted it, it was really smooth with a slight spicy finish. But, it was not peppery at all, just a kick of spice. It was referred to as a lighter red because it wasn’t so strong and earthy.
Paired with Singleton’s Double Gloucester Cheese (Britian): This wine and cheese was a pretty good pairing. It was better than the first wine. It mixed well together because both of them were really smooth. The cheese was able to mask the fruit flavor of the wine but still portrayed the spicy flavors. I thought that the spice was toward the front of the tongue but everyone else did not agree with me on that analysis.
Paired with El Cortijo Murcia Al Vino (Goat Cheese) Cheese (Spain): This wine and cheese was interesting because it completely masked the wine flavors. It kind of absorbed all of the wine and it just felt like the cheese doubled in size. We were not able to taste anything. We thought it was not a good pairing because it was overpowering each other instead of complimenting each other.
Paired with Swissrose French Fleurd Brie with pepper (France): This wine and cheese was not a good pairing. When we had the cheese with the pepper coating, the wine was blasted with the earthiness and peppery flavors. However, even when we tasted the cheese without the pepper coating, it still brought out the spice of the wine. It was not a good pairing.
Overall conclusion: We thought that this wine was a pretty good wine. However, we were not able to find a cheese that could properly match well with the wine. Therefore, we thought that until we were able to find a good cheese that could go well with the wine, we will just recommend to drink the wine alone and not with a cheese pairing.
PRISMA Chilean Pinot Noir, 2011
Variety: Pinot Noir
Region: Casablanca Valley
Country: Chile
Year: 2011
Price: $15
Our Wine Review: This was a very light wine. However, it had a strong pungent smell that we described as body odor. But, it also had notes of strawberry and asparagus pee. When we tasted it, we were distracted by the sourness and bitterness. It was a questionable wine.
Paired with Singleton’s Double Gloucester Cheese (Britian): When we tried the wine with this cheese, it did not get any better. For some reason, the wine brought out the dry parts of the cheese out and it almost tasted like the cheese were like dry crumbs. The wine was still very sour. However, we had mixed reviews on whether the pairing toned down the cheese or toned down the wine, either way the mixing was not great.
Paired with El Cortijo Murcia Al Vino (Goat Cheese) Cheese (Spain): The pairing with this wine was interesting. The wine was not sour, nor overpowered the cheese. We were able to taste more fruity flavors and the acidity was decreased. We were shocked after having this tasting because we actually were able to figure out that this pairing worked! After all of the other pairs, we were growing skeptical about this whole cheese and wine pairing until we tasted this one. Best one of the night, hands down.
Paired with Swissrose French Fleurd Brie with pepper (France): After really enjoying the previous tasting, this one had huge shoes to fill and it did not. However, it still wasn’t bad. It was less fruity than the Goat cheese but not as sour as the Gloucester cheese. But, overall, it was not a good paring because the cheese overpowered the wine flavor.
Overall conclusion: We were able to find our first great pairing of the night which is the pinot noir with the goat cheese. However, this wine was terrible with the other types of cheese. Therefore, we would have to be careful to determine if the pairing works before throwing this wine into a wine party with any cheese and hoping they work.
We learned a lot on this day about how some wines work great with some cheeses but doesn’t work with other cheeses. We were surprised on how different the flavors would be amplified or diminished based on the different types of wine and cheese. It goes to show that some homework would have to be done before bringing a wine and cheese to a party. I know that I would have to try the pairing once to make sure that the pairing works before bringing the pair to a dinner party. However, I am looking forward to doing another pairing in the future to try and find some more fantastic pairings.
