Wine and Cheese Pairing 1

For this wine and cheese pairing, I invited my friends Emily, Isabelle, and Sara Ann. Emily and Isabelle were in a little bit of a rush and had to leave not soon after they came, but they still tried all of the cheeses and wines with us. (more photos at the end!)

The 3 cheeses I chose were a brie, a goat gouda, and lastly a flagship cheddar. I also chose to pair them with Nate's honey, a sopressata salami, blackberries, raspberries, strawberries, and crackers.

The 3 wines I chose were a La Petit Perriere Pinot Noir, a Cavicchioli Rose Spumante, and Risata Raven.

Here are my thoughts about the wine individually, and as pairings with each of the cheeses:

Pinot Noir:

Smells just like dark grapes. Has an extremely bitter taste which overpowers everything else (I could detact a slightly fruity taste underneath) and the bitterness shocks you, has a long aftertaste of burning.

Pinot+brie= Don’t compliment each other but also not bad, I just dislike the taste of the Pinot altogether so it is difficult to judge. Gets rid of the creamy taste on your tongue after eating the brie effectively and the brie does not enhance nor detract from the bitterness of the pinot. This makes sense because in pg. 60 of Wine Folly, it says that light-bodied red wines like Pinot Noir pair averagely with delicate, buttery cheeses like brie.

Pinot+gouda= The Pinot enhanced the sharp and sweet aftertaste of the goat cheese to last 15+ seconds as opposed to the usual less than 10 seconds. This makes sense because in pg. 60 of Wine Folly, it says that light-bodied red wines like Pinot Noir pair averagely with dry, salty umami cheeses like gouda.

Pinot+cheddar= The cheddar makes the Pinot taste more bitter and left an odd dry aftertaste, strongly dislike these two together. This doesn't make sense to me because in pg. 60 of Wine Folly, it says that light-bodied red wines like Pinot Noir pair averagely with dry, salty umami cheeses like cheddar, but this pairing was just terrible to me. Maybe it paired better with the gouda in my opinion because of the sweetness that it has that the cheddar did not.

Rose:

Smells slightly like grapes with an undertone of floral elderberry and other berries but mostly just like alcohol and carbonation. Has a very acidic and slightly dry taste, slightly sweet and very little bitter aftertaste and no aftertaste of grape or any other flavor. Leaves the palate as quickly as it came, within 4 seconds.

Rose+brie= This Rose doesn't enhance the brie's creaminess or sweetness at all, it mostly acts as a palate cleanser for this cheese, which would be helpful if you're looking to move onto a different flavor but doesn't allow you to fully enjoy the creamy brie. This makes sense because in pg. 60 of Wine Folly, it says that creamy cheeses pair neutrally to Rose wines.

Rose+gouda= The sharp, sweet and smoky flavors of the gouda get lost with this sparkling wine, it cleanses the palate so effectively that it doesn't allow the gouda to shine. This makes sense because in pg. 60 of Wine Folly, it says that Rose pairs neutrally to fruity, umami cheese.

Rose+cheddar= Enhances the sharp and salty aftertaste of the cheese to last 10+ seconds, and also makes the cheese taste slightly sharper. This makes sense because in pg. 60 of Wine Folly, it says that Rose pairs neutrally to fruity, umami cheese like cheddar.

Raven:

This wine smells extremely like blueberries as soon as you open the bottle, and there are also some secondary tones of blackberry. Tastes just like blueberry juice and you can taste the tannins on the center of your tongue and there’s a little acidity as well, but I cannot attribute it to any one citrus fruit. The aftertaste has almost a plum sort of flavor.

Raven+brie= This combination cleanses the palate and leaves a berry flavor, leaves you ready to try another cheese because there is very little aftertaste or texture from the sweet and creamy brie after taking a sip of the wine. This makes sense because in pg. 60 of Wine Folly, it says that this light-bodied red should pair averagely with creamy cheeses such as brie.

Raven+gouda= These two don’t pair very well, the semi-sweetness of the wine clashes with the sweet creaminess of the cheese and leaves a slightly bitter taste on the tongue that is not present in the wine by itself. This doesn't make sense because in pg. 60 of Wine Folly, it says that these should pair averagely together, but I think it may have been a less than average pairing because of the unusual sweetness of the Brachetto grapes in this wine.

Raven+cheddar= These two paired AMAZINGLY, and the Raven is my favorite wine so far. The wine slightly cleansed palate after the sharp and salty cheese and left a berry aftertaste on the tongue. Did not enhance or detract from the time that the cheddar left a sharp aftertaste or vice versa. This doesn't make sense to me because in pg. 60 of Wine Folly, it says that light-bodied reds only pair neutrally to dry, salty cheeses like cheddar. However, I think this pairing goes against wine folly because of the uniqueness of the Brachetto grape in how sweet it is for a light bodied red. (pg. 85)