Cheese is known to give wine a good platform, although that can be misleading. There's an old adage in the wine trade, 'Buy on an apple and sell on cheese.' The thinking is that the sugar and acid in an apple makes a wine seem thin and metallic, whereas cheese makes your mouth impervious to mouth-scraping tannins or harsh astringency - leaving the impression a wine is full and fruity.
Red wine has long been accepted as an appropriate coupling with cheese. Report-edly, the red wine and cheese tradition dates from the Victorian era, when men retired to the smoking room after dinner to sip claret and port and nibble stilton, an activity considered highly unladylike. Whatever its origins, the tradition of sipping red wine with cheese endures, though probably because the latter is generally served towards the end of a meal while guests are still swirling their claret or burgundy. That said, white wine is actually the better hook-up for most cheese. As with all wine and food pairings, use one of three approaches to get a perfect white wine and cheese match: similarities, contrasts or regional traditions.
Like-with-like Pairings based on similarities are the safest. Serve young acidic cheese, such as goat cheese, with acidic wine, such as sauvignon blanc, dry riesling (from Alsace or Australia), albarino (Spain) or chenin blanc (Vouvray). Serve low-acid cheese, such as gouda, gruyere or provolone, with low-acid wine, such as chardonnay, viognier or gewurztraminer. Light (mild) cheese such as pecorino calls for a light wine, such as pinot grigio (northern Italy) or orvieto (central Italy).
Opposites attract It is an oft-repeated cliche that opposites attract but in this case, it's true. Probably the most unlikely good-girl-dates-bad-boy combination is sweet sauternes paired with pungent blue cheese. This implausible pairing is highly successful because our tongues love the sweet and salty titillation. Another such romance is rich, creamy cheese, such as brie or camembert, enlivened by crisp (acidic) bubbly champagne, which also serves to refresh and clean the palate.
Trust the locals Most successful wine and cheese matches are based on regional traditions, often a case of the cheese style evolving over the decades - if not centuries - to match local wines. Relying on the locals is an effortless shortcut. A popular regional combination is sancerre, a sauvignon blanc from France's Loire Valley, with chevre, a chalky textured goat cheese from the valley. Another successful regional combo is Alsace's tradition of contrasting pungent munster with fruity gewurztraminer, or northern Italy's salty parmigiano-reggiano with tannic nebiolo. Oh dear, that's a red wine. Never mind; you get the idea.
Debra Meiburg is a Master of Wine