Wine/Cheese Pairing #2 - Apr. 20, 2016

Here comes another wine and cheese blog! This wine pairing ended up being much more fun and of equal quality to my last try. I was able to recruit two of my best friends Alex Vliet and Brian Harris. This was their first time doing a wine and cheese pairing. They ended up loving it just as I did the first time. To them, it was incredible that the cheese was able to soften some aspects of the wine and really bring out flavors they never imagined existed in a wine.

For this wine tasting we feature, going from left to right, a Loosen Brothers Dr. L Riesling Dry 2014 from Mosel, Germany, an Alamos Malbec 2014 from Mendoza, Argentina and an Altosur Cabernet Sauvignon 2014, from Mendoza, Argentina. The cheeses features are, from left to right, 2-year Manchego (different from last time), Smoked Gouda and Feta cheese soaked in brine. First lets start off by describing each wine independently.

1) Loosen Brothers Dr. L Riesling Dry 2014 from Germany. This has actually started to become one of my favorite white grape varietals. It is oh so delicious and slightly complex and more full bodied than most whites that I have had in the past. This specific bottle had a taste smell of pineapple and lemon. It was quite citric in my opinion. The taste was razor sharp and acidic as hell. It really left the sides of your tongue holding on for dear life. But this is exactly what I like about the Riesling. Additionally, the dry nature of this white wine is exactly what I desire. Most whites I've had have been too sweet or fruity for my taste. This one was just beautiful and fits my pallet just great. (100% Riesling)

2) Alamos Malbec 2014 from Argentina. Again another great wine from the South American region which I enjoy so immensely. This wine was amazing in my opinion. Very silky smooth, creamy and tannins that were so soft and rounded perfectly. The smell was of blackberry that just takes over the smell. It also had hints of plum to my nose. The taste was magical, with a fruity forward blackberry and spicy peppery feel to it. It was well balanced with no overarching flavors really jumping out. The finish is long and just wonderful to the pallet. I would recommend this wine to anyone that like a good drinkable red wine. (90% Malbec, 6% Shirah, 4% Bonarda)

3) Altosur Cabernet Sauvignon 2014 from Argentina. This again was a home-run from the Argentinians. This Cabernet Sauvignon is exactly what I look for in a wine. It was drinkable by itself but also a great companion to the cheese and most likely a nice red steak. The smell was of blackberry, cherry and slight plum. It did have a slight smell of having a high alcoholic content and heat, but the pallet said otherwise. This also featured and nice creamy and silky full bodied feel. The tannins were a lot stronger on this wine than the previous 2. This made for a strong and long finish on the wine that was delicious. Again, I would highly recommend this wine.

Now, here comes the most exciting part of this experiment, the cheese! I will be using the same format as before. I will be describing one cheese paired with all wines. Then I'll move on to the next cheese.

1) Feta in Brine. This was first of all a very good feta cheese. The feta was razor sharp and coated the pallet like crazy. It was stinky enough to be powerful. The first pairing with the Riesling was amazing! It brought out the fruity lemon and acidic components of the wine will also showing the softer side of the cheese. I absolutely loved it. The Malbec was tried next and didn't have the impact I wanted. The wine was too soft and subtle for this strong tasting cheese. So the great taste from the wine was lost in the cheese. I wouldn't recommend. Lastly, the Cabernet Sauvignon did quite alright. The feta softened the tannins and the after taste took a nice turn for the soft and less acidic. Really enjoyed how the wine was more rounded.

2) Smoked Gouda. This was a strange cheese. The smoked aspect of the Gouda was abundant in the smell but the taste was very muted. Didn't really express itself too well. The Riesling  didn't do too well with this cheese. The low excitement from the cheese and the high acidity of the wine was just a bad combo. The two just brought the worst out of each other. There was no balance between the two. Now, the Malbec was great! The subtleness of both the cheese and the silkiness and soft tannins of the wine was marvelous. It wasn't an in-your-face taste which was really refreshing. I would enjoy on a nice gathering if I didn't want to go too hard. Lastly, the Cabernet Sauvignon was also a quite good pairing. The tannins where softened enought to be great but it did leave some to be desired. This full wine needs a heartier cheese to control.

3) 2-Year Manchego. I absolutely love Manchego cheese! This is the best cheese on earth in my opinion. How the hell do those Spaniards do it?! Big kudos to my Iberian cousins. Anyhow, on to the Riesling. This was an alright combo. The strong milky cheese cancelled out some of the acidity felt in the wine, but this is what I like about it. Now here come the two big boys. The Malbec and the Cabernet Sauvignon were just incredible. I don't know why, but my pallet loves a strong cheese with a good full bodied red wine from South America. Really good combo that exemplifies why I love cheese and wine pairing. The best of the best.

In conclusion, this was another successful pairing. The wines were all really good on their own while providing a great balance with the cheese. Of this pairing my favorite solo wine was the Alamos Malbec 2014. It was so good to have a wine that was soft and silky, something I have noticed this whole semester. The best pairing was the Manchego with Malbec or Cabernet Sauvignon. Such bold wines need a good cheese to control, and this one delivered.