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Young fresh and soft, creamy unripened cheeses
(Fresh – Cow’s milk cheese, double or triple creamy, Stretched Curd and Brined, Soft and Brined, Semi-soft and Brined)
Mild
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Sparkling Wine
- Dry, traditional-method sparkling wines, white and rosé – NV (Non-Vintage), even those with some sweetness
- Brut Champagne
- Cava
- Franciacorta
- Trentodoc
- Prosecco
- Moscato d’Asti
- Brachetto d’Acqui
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White Wine
- Light white wines
- Crisp, dry and young bottlings
- unoaked Albariño
- Arneis
- Assyrtiko
- Chablis
- Chardonnay (unoaked/young)
- Chenin Blanc
- Muscadet/Melon
- Pinot Blanc
- Pinot Gris/Pinot Grigio
- Soave
- Verdejo
- Vermentino
- Floral whites
- Gewürztraminer
- Viognier
- Muscat/Moscato
- Malvasia
- Herbaceous whites (especially with goat)
- Sauvignon Blanc/Fumé Blanc
- Sancerre
- White Bordeaux
- Grüner Veltliner
- Off-dry wines (specially for salty cheeses like feta)
- Riesling, dry through sweet
- Trocken (bone dry)
- Kabinett (sweet)
- Spätlese (Late Harvest)
- Auslese (Select Harvest)
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Rosé Wine
- Rosés with apple, stone fruit, tropical, citrus, or melon flavours
- Crisp, dry rosé
- Tavel
- Bandol
- Côtes du Rhône
- Provençal/ Provence rosé
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Red Wine
- Light bodied reds with low tannins
- Lambrusco (Sparkling style)
- California Grenache/Garnacha
- Very young, fruity, unoaked red wines
- Loire Cabernet Franc
- Pinot Noir
- Gamay
- Burgundy/Bourgogne)
- Gamay Beaujolais
- Valpolicella
- Zweigelt
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Dessert Wine
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Fresh and soft cheeses – Soft-ripened and Bloomy-rind
Note: Milder blue cheese like Cambozola share the same potential matches as bloomy cheeses.
Mild
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Sparkling Wine
- Dry, traditional-method sparkling wines, white and rosé
- Sparkling whites – NV (Non-Vintage) for young cheese, vintage for riper, more pungent cheeses)
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White Wine
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- Light-bodied, dry, unoaked Chardonnay
- Restrained, dry, light-bodied Sauvignon Blanc
- Dry, young Riesling
- Dry Chenin Blanc
- Grüner Veltliner
- Aged Hunter Valley Semillon or textured white Rhône varieties
- Marsanne and Roussanne
- Châteauneuf-du-Pape Blanc (Specifically for ripe, pungent cheese)
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Red Wine
- Dry and light-bodied wines that are young, fruity and unoaked
- Pinot Noir
- Dolcetto
- Barbera
- Gamay
- Cabernet Franc from the Loire
- Bonarda
- Mencía
- Zweigelt
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Other (Cider/Beer/Gin)
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For Goat’s and sheep’s milk cheeses, you can break the rules, as long as you stick with a fresh wine with lively acidity, it is best to avoid very mature sheep or goat cheeses as they can be very strong.
Mild
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White Wine
- Sauvignon Blanc (classic wine pairing for goat cheese)
- Pinot Grigio
- Chardonnay
- Sancerre
- Dry Riesling
- Rhône varieties (if aged)
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Rosé Wine
- Crisp dry (for goat cheese)
- Provençal/Provence rosé (particularly for a summer picnic)
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Red Wine
Fresh fruity red (for goat cheese)
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Dessert Wine
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Semi-aged and medium-hard cheeses/Moderately aged cheeses
Semi-aged and medium-hard cheeses have a firmer texture and stronger flavours. They need medium-bodied whites, fruity reds, vintage sparkling wine, and aperitif wines that offer a balance between acidity, fruit, and tannin. In other words, a wide range of wines, from youthful to vibrant, but stopping shy of the biggest, boldest reds.
Pair with semi-aged and medium-hard cheeses with medium-bodied white, fruity red, and vintage sparkling wines.
Mild Cow, Mild Goat, Mild Sheep, Swiss or Swiss style.
Moderately aged cheeses have developed some complexity, but remain smooth and mild tasting. That makes them partner best with wines that, like them, have some complexity but retain refreshing acidity.
Medium
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Sparkling Wine
- Sparkling wines – especially vintage
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White Wine
- Medium-bodied whites
- white Burgundy
- white Bordeaux
- Pinot Blanc
- Viognier
- white Rhône blends
- Medium-bodied whites Dry, white wines with a touch of oak (oak-aged)
- Chardonnay (lightly oaked)
- Pinot Gris/Pinot Grigio
- White Rioja/Rioja Blanca
- Riesling, especially off-dry through sweet
- Spätlese (Late Harvest)
- Auslese (Select Harvest)
- Beerenauslese (Berry Select Harvest)
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Rosé Wine
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Red Wine
- Light or fruity reds
- Dolcetto
- Barbera
- Beaujolais
- Grenache//Garnacha
- red Burgundy
- Pinot Noir
- Zinfandel
- Lambrusco (Sparkling style)
- Gutsy, rustic, crunchy wines without much oak
- Côtes de Rhône
- Corbières
- St-Chinian
- Chianti
- Mencía
- young Bordeaux blends
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Dessert Wine
- Aperitif and sweet wines
- Vintage Port
- Late Bottle Vintage Port
- White Port
- Young Tawny Port
- Calvados
- Oxidative styles
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Other (Cider/Beer/Gin)
- Hard cider (dry to off-dry)
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Semi-aged and medium-hard cheeses/Moderately aged cheeses – Washed Rind
Washed Rind is often referred to as ‘stinky cheese’.
They tend to be quite pungent especially as they mature so don’t expect anything great in the way of a wine pairing.
They call for light-bodied wines with demure aromatics that complement rather than compete.
Oddly a crisp dry white wine (can work better than a red wine).
Meaty, creamy cheeses need a palate cleanser or a drink that stands up to the FUNK. Wine.
Avoid: Pungent washed-rind cow’s cheeses will lose its stinky characteristics when paired with Chardonnay, but you can also opt for milder, traditional triple cream cheese to avoid the smell.
Medium
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Sparkling Wine
- Dry, traditional-method white sparkling wines
- Brut
- Franciacorta
- Brut California bottlings
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White Wine
- Dry and off-dry, unoaked white wines
- Gewürztraminer
- Pinot Gris/Pinot Grigio from Alsace
- Chenin Blanc from the Loire
- Dry, structured whites (for ripe, pungent cheese)
- Marsanne
- Roussanne
- mature Hunter Valley Semillon
- Riesling from Clare or Eden Valley, Australia
Oddly a crisp dry white wine (can work better than a red wine) |
Red Wine
- Beaujolais Villages
- Pinot Noir
- Poulsard or Trousseau (Bastardo) from Jura
- Red Burgundy
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Dessert Wine
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Other (Cider/Beer/Gin)
- a strong Belgian-style ale (can work better than a red wine)
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Hard aged cheeses
(Aged Cow, Aged sheep, Grana)
Bold red wines pair best with aged cheeses. In other words, pair older cheeses with bigger, aged wines. As cheese ages and looses water-content, it becomes richer in flavour with its increased fat content. These two attributes are ideal for matching bold red wines because the fat content in the cheese counteracts the high-tannins in the wine. For the best results, select cheeses that have been aged at least a year.
Pair Hard aged cheeses with full-bodied, tannic, oxidative and aromatic wines.
They’re the easiest type of cheese to pair with wine – a medium bodied red (to compliment the bold flavours) like a cabernet sauvignon or a Rioja is probably going to be the most enjoyable pairing for most people.
Aged hard cheeses need wines with oomph to balance their dense, salty, and very savoury flavours. They work best with earthier wines with big, ample structure, meaning those with some tannin. That’s because tannins bind protein and fat, essentially scrubbing the palate clean after every bite.
Avoid: Fatter cheeses, like Parmesan, are hard to digest. If mixed with a very sweet and high alcohol content wine, such as Porto, the effect can be disastrous.
Bold
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Sparkling Wine
- White Sparkling wines – especially vintage traditional-method (for younger cheese)
- Champagne
- Franciacorta
- Cava
- Trentodoc
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White Wine
- Big, oxidative, or highly aromatic whites
- Gewürztraminer
- Muscat
- Viognier
- aged white Burgundy
- aged white Bordeaux
- Roussanne
- Vin Jaune
- orange wines
- Riesling, especially off-dry through sweet
- Spätlese
- Auslese
- Beerenauslese
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Red Wine
- Full-bodied reds
- Zinfandel
- Merlot
- Barbera
- red Burgundy
- Oregon Pinot Noir
- Petite Sirah
- red blends from California
- Structured reds
- Barolo
- Barbaresco
- Brunello
- Barbera
- Amarone
- Chianti
- Sangiovese
- Nero d’Avola
- red Burgundy
- red Bordeaux blends
- Cabernet Sauvignon
- Syrah (AKA Shiraz)
- Cabernet Franc
- Monastrell
- Ribera del Duero
- Rioja(Spanish wines especially with Manchego)
- Bold wines with some age
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Dessert Wine
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Other (Cider/Beer/Gin)
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Comté, Emmental, Grana Padano, Gruyère, Manchego (sheep), Montgomery’s Cheddar, Parmigiano-Reggiano, Pecorino (sheep)
Go for a rich, dry white wine or a light to medium-bodied red wine, as their tannins and weight will work well with the structure of the cheese.
For the easiest cheese match with your wine, look for one that is relatively young and relatively hard – not too much strength or age.
Blue cheeses
Match super funky Crumbly stinky Blue cheeses with sweet wines.
Blue cheeses need wines with both oomph and sweetness to balance their bold flavours and usually very salty, savoury body.
The classic match for Blue cheeses is sweet wine. It works particularly well if the cheese is creamy. You get the complement from the creamy texture of the cheese and structure of the wine, as well as the contrast from the salty and sweet.
Avoid: Blue cheese with a youthful, tannic red wine can make the wine taste metallic.
Strong
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Sparkling Wine>
- Sparkling wines – especially vintage
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White Wine
- Riesling, especially off-dry through sweet
- Spätlese
- Auslese
- Beerenauslese
- Late-harvest wines (for cheeses not overtly pungent)
- Riesling Spätlese
- Gewürztraminer
- Vendanges Tardives
Noble Rot sweet wines (for sharp, salty cheese) |
Dessert Wine
- Aperitif and sweet wines
- Oloroso sherry
- Amontillado Sherry
- Madeira
- Tawny Port
- Recioto
- Tokaji
- red Port
- sweet sherry
- Pedro Ximénez Sherry
- Noble Rot sweet white wines (for sharp, salty cheese)
- Sauternes
- Barsac
- Monbazillac
- Riesling Trockenbeerenauslese
- Quarts de Chaume
- Dessert white wines from dried grapes
- Vin Santo
- Jurançon
- Recioto de Soave
- Sweet, fortified reds
- Vintage Port
- Late Bottle Vintage Port
- LBV Port
- Maury
- Banyuls
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Other (Cider/Beer/Gin)
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