Paying Homage to the Fromage
Can you believe we spend £2 billion on cheese at Christmas - or £37.50 per family - and that 2m kilos of it ends up in the bin as we’re simply too full to finish it off before it starts to stink? What a crime, I hear one or two of you say; well, the real crime is what we’re drinking with it. If you get your wine matching wrong, you may as well drink chalk with it. Alternatively, here’s a few MediaVino tips to get the best out of your festive cheeses. You could even try a proper cheese and wine tasting to make that £37 go further and ensure you have a bin free Christmas.
Don’t just pair your best cheeses and your best reds. It’s a natural outcome, but really there are better alternatives. Many strong cheeses are just too complex and dominant in their own right to let your powerful reds live and breathe. If you desperately want a red, then enjoy it with hard English cheeses (mature and seasonal cheddars are great) but make sure there’s a degree of acidity and avoid very heavy tannins to match protein-heavy cheeses. Cabernet Sauvignon, Rioja, a Burgundy or a Cotes du Rhone will work, but avoid Stilton with this and if you’re attacking the cheese board, then try something else. Like a beer. Or something like a Viognier - a more complex white - an oaked Chardonnay full of flavour, or something from the Alsace with a bit of bite. It’ll bring out the best in your harder cheeses, as will a Champagne, any Sparkling White or Sherry. If you’re going local with a comte or a manchego, then match it with a local wine - a white Burgundy, an amazing Jura white, or a sizzling Cremant for a comte, or a Fino sherry with your manchego. Everything will taste better.
Try a dessert wine, or a port, with those strongly flavoured cheeses. Taste the difference and be exhilarated at the same time. You’ll need that by the 28th. We buy stilton and then sometimes find it too much. If you’ve splashed out on something pungent, then make an afternoon or evening of it, tingling and educating your taste buds in front of Elf or Michael Buble’s Effing Christmas special, with something different like a dessert wine. (I shouldn’t knock Buble; it’s on the Sky Plus ready to go). Anyway, complement stilton’s salty bequest with your best tawny or young vintage port. Or try a delicate sweet or late harvest Tokaji or that Sauternes you’ve never had cause to open. Remember: eat, sip, savour and the salty food will positively transform what you’re drinking and turn it into something like a fine Burgundy - an incredible transition in your mouth. Sherry will also work - at the more intense end of the scale. If you have a rocquefort, a reblochon or something from Savoie, then go deep into the red with your white, so to speak. A sweeter Riesling (they’re not that alcoholic, so you can drink loads) or a trendy Ice Wine will thrill. Give it a go.
For your creamier cheeses (no, not Dairylea) then once you’ve left them out of the fridge long enough to collapse like a Brexit negotiation just by looking at it, then try the following. If its a Brie, then a sturdy Burgundy or any Chardonnay will work wonders. Even better is a Blanc de Blanc Champagne or a Cremant to cut through the creamy/fatty content. Lovely. Camembert tends to be stronger in flavour, so up the ante on the richness of the white wine. A Rose will work here, or reds from Burgundy and Beaujolais to some Aussie or Rhone reds will suit, but it’s certainly a chance to enjoy the more complex, expensive whites as a treat. I’m loving goats cheese at the moment; the classic paring here is a Sauvignon Blanc - which won’t overpower the more delicate flavour of the cheese - but here’s a chance to try some great English whites, Bacchus grape varieties or a Muscadet. Grassy, clean, acidic wines will cut through the flavour of the cheese brilliantly. a lighter Riesling from France or Australia will work as well.
Just a few thoughts to get the most out of your cheeses this season. Don’t end up throwing them away. Better still, pick and choose on the basis of the above and enjoy a fabulous wine treat to transform the flavour of both. Once you’re over Christmas, get back to normal with a cheese toastie, accompanied of course with something acidic, fresh and easy drinking - red or white. Until then, eat, taste and then sip your wine to make this Christmas one to celebrate your Cheese Board, not be cheese, bored.