Wine/Cheese Pairing #1 - Apr. 14, 2016

This is another special blog for everyone. This week I did a wine and cheese pairing. First, I had never done this before and expected it to be a normal activity with wine. But after doing this, I have fallen in love with wine and cheese. The combination is absolutely amazing. I wasn't expecting this to be such a delight. I will forever be in love with this magical combination.

For this wine pairing the featured wines are the three in the image to the left. From left to right the wines are:

1) Alta Luna Pinot Noir 2011 from Italy. It had a nice light smell of blackberry and cherry. The color was light as is typical for a pinot noir as this is a thin skin grape that is hard to produce. The taste was amazing. Good soft tannins with a mid body feel that was just enjoyable to sip on. The overall taste profile was smooth and silky with no real overpowering from any angle. Highly recommend this wine to anyone looking for a good supping wine.

2) Jip Jip Rocks Shiraz Cabernet 2013 from Australia. This was another great wine. It had a stronger color and great smells of black fruits and cherry. The taste had strong tannins and an acid profile at the end that would make my lips pucker. The taste was blackberry intensive but not overpowering. Again a wine I recommend and a wine to drink with some good steak.

3) The Little Penguin Chardonnay 2014 from South Eastern Australia. This was surprisingly a really good wine. I'm not a fan of the whites but this one was tame enough to enjoy. Not overly fruity and semi-dry lead to a good wine to enjoy on a sunny day. I would actually recommend this wine as well.

Now on to the cheese. From the left to right we have a 1 Year Manchego, Jasper Hills Cothbound Cheddar and a Double Creme Brie. Needless to say, these were all fantastic cheeses on their own.

The Manchego cheese was my favorite and went well with the Pinot Noir and the Shiraz Cabernet. They were absolutely amazing. The Pinot Noir slips right through the strong Manchego and softens the tannins a little more to create a perfect balance that was just amazing. The same was happeing with the Shiraz Cabernet where it would balance the stronger tannins and make the wine creamy and delicious. The Chardonnay didn't sing too well with this cheese. It was a little imbalanced.

The Cheddar also went really well with the the red wines. It had the same effect of rounding off the edges of the wine. It was less enjoyable in my view as the Manchego was more forceful and soften it better. The Chardonnay in this case mixed better with the Cheddar. It was strange how it didn't really improve or detract from the wine but was enjoyable to combine.

Lastly, the Brie went very well with the Chardonnay. It was a softer cheese with a lighter wine. It actually was very nice to have the slightly fruitier wine with the soft brie cheese creme. It was very enjoyable to drink. Contrary to the last two cheeses, the Pinot Noir and the Shiraz Cabernet didn't go very well. The wines were too overpowering for the light brie cheese and was actually detrimental to the overall experience.

All in all, wine and cheese is the my new favorite way to enjoy wine. The cheese really rounds off the wine to make it more enjoyable and the creaminess really sings through. I would highly recommend doing this exact pairing as it was delicious and a great platter to enjoy with friends.