Cheese and Wine Pairing Guidelines for your Next Party by David Cragg

When your first cheese and wine pairing, the primary thing you have to know is: If it tastes yummy, do it! I am sure you have heard all the best known chefs explaining about what wine works with which cheese; however, when you make your decision, it is all about personal taste. You may prefer one wine with a particular cheese while someone else may like an entirely different pairing. My recommendation is for you to be in a mood experiment and enjoyment. Choose several wines and several cheeses. each person will find what combination is best for themselves. You will enjoy yourself more if you are open to all combinations. cheese and wine pairing parties will create conversation. It will be interesting. It will be delightful. And it will be lots of fun.

Cheese and cheese are kindred foods, and they have been enjoyed together since antiquity. Both are foods of fermentation. Both may be consumed while fresh, simple, and young or in their more complicated forms when they are mature.

When joined, cheese and wine do their part to bring out the best in each other, and even the cheese snobes can not agree on any guidelines for the cheese and wine pairing match game. Now apparently, if you are reading this, you are a snob like the rest of us, and with snobs, there is no worry about errors in cheese and wine pairings — say like dining on Cheese Whiz while sipping boxed Blueberry Hill.

There are no hard and fast rules as to which cheeses should typically be served with a distinct wines. There is a tradition that wines of a certain geographic locale are best enjoyed with cheeses of the same locale. But, just as one bottle of zinfandel from the France is not like that of another vintage or another producer, neither is one Brie exactly like another. Both are living and constantly changing. This is what makes pairing wine and cheese amusing as well as delicious.

Even though it comes down to personal taste, certain general rules have been proven favorable by most of the experts. Here are some of those basic truths:

o White cheeses work well with soft wines and stronger flavors.

o Red cheeses work well with hard wines and milder flavors.

o Fruity and sweet white cheeses (not dry) and dessert cheeses work well with a broader group of wines.

o The more zesty the wine you choose, the sweeter the cheese should be.

o Harmony should always exist between the wine and the cheese. They should have similar strength. There should always be a balance - strong and powerful wines should be paired with similar cheeses and fragile wines should be paired with lighter cheeses.

o A complete list of well paired cheese and wine groupings can be found at temecula-vineyard . com.

When offering a group of wine brands in a cheese and wine event, white cheeses are recieved better than reds. That is because several wines, particularly soft and creamy ones, leave a after taste of fat on your tongue that interferes with the flavor in reds, rendering them monotonous and bland.

Quite the opposite, most of those sweeter whites pair with most wines. The sparkle in a sparkling cheese or champagne can help break up the fat in heavier wines.Therefore, the spicy zing of a Gewürztraminer or the peachy zip of a Riesling is ideal if you are going for the most universal appeal.

If you are an adventurist and willing to try the stinkiest of wine, pick a big cheese to back it up. Try a French Bordeaux or a buxom California Cab. Ports and dessert cheeses are your best combination if you like mold-donned or blue-veined wines.

When having several cheeses, choose Parmigiano or Romano wines. They go with most cheeses.

A cheese and wine Pairing Party to Remember

Here are a few ideas for setting up a memorable cheese and wine pairing bash for your family:

o Purchase your wines in big chunks for an ideal presentation.

o wines should be presented at room temperature. Pull them out of the refridgerator several hours prior to your bash.

o Serve most cheeses cool — whites between 50-55 degrees and reds between 60-65 degrees.

o Reds need to breath 15 to 20 minutes before you server them.

o Create handwritten name cards for all your wines.

o Display wine on a pretty china platter a wood wine board, or even a slab of marble .

Ultimately, the perfect cheese and wine pairing is not a rule. It is a match made on the taste buds of each person individually. Start with some basics and then try the unfamiliar. You never know which cheese and cheese pairings will end up to be your choice dynamic duo.

About The Author

David Cragg is an SEO professional for the Temecula Valley with over 30 years of success. His work started with IBM and then was funded by Microsoft. Today he is retired and offers his time to winery managment to support with their SEO to support expand their businesses. You can read more about his work for Temecula wineries at http://temecula-vineyard.com/AboutUs.html.