Entertaining
Holly Shaw, DipWSET, ReserveBar Wine Contributor
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Looking for ways to elevate your next stay-at-home date night? A night at home might sound like any given Tuesday lately, but if you’d like to create something a little more special, let’s set the mood with some candles, maybe a fire, and soft music. A wine and cheese pairing is perfect for date night because it isn’t labor-intensive and can impress both the educated wine connoisseur and be enjoyable for the novice. You can keep it simple by picking out your favorite wine and then pairing it with a specific cheese variety, or get more creative with a more elaborate cheese or charcuterie board. The options are endless, and with a few core pairing principles, you can set the foundation for your masterpiece. When pairing wine with food, your basic mantra will be: “what grows together, goes together.” Wines and cheeses (or other foods) that come from the same region are meant to be matched. Once you have identified your desired wine variety, choose the cheese that complements and build from there. Here are some wine and cheese matches to help you to get started, as well as some offered extras, depending on how creative you want to be.
Champagne’s bubbles dance around the mouth with every bite of brie. The nature of Champagne’s high acid creates a tart flavor that cuts through the buttery richness of the cheese. When paired together, it creates a light, refreshing taste that leaves you reaching for more. Make It Extra: Add creamy goat cheese, honey, blackberries, walnuts, dried apricots, or marmalade. Paté or prosciutto will also be a great addition.
This IS the quintessential wine and cheese pairing. Sauvignon blanc, in general, is a great accompaniment for food and cheese. It can happily be sipped alongside a single cheese or a full charcuterie board. Chavignol is a little village in the Loire valley close to the hills of Sancerre. The freshness of Sancerre’s high acidity is a perfect complement to this famous goat's milk cheese. Make It Extra: Add another soft cheese such as brie or comté, dried or chocolate-covered strawberries, melon, prosciutto, salmon and roasted hazelnuts. If you want to add vegetables and dips — this is your time!
Chardonnay can range in flavor and texture depending on the style of wine, oak usage, and region or country where the wine is from. A chardonnay with balanced oak works well with the texture and flavor of a triple cream brie, such as Saint Andre. The texture of the wine can match the creaminess of the cheese and enhance flavors in both wine and food. For a bigger, fuller oaked Chardonnay, reach for brie, swiss cheese, and comté. Be sure to avoid pungent cheeses. An unoaked, leaner style of Chardonnay is dry and crisp and pairs well with a variety of food and cheeses. Make It Extra (Unoaked): Complete your board with soppressata, shrimp, shellfish, sushi, mozzarella, ricotta, pecans, strawberries, and olives. You can even try a little fondue. Make It Extra (Oaked): Avoid too much salt or spice; add some lobster, shrimp, and olives. If you want to showcase a few kinds of cheese, add a camembert or a sheep's milk cheese (Bellwether Farms or Hook's Cheese Company have great examples of this).
Pinot noir has often been referred to as a white wine in red clothing. That is because the smooth tannins and crisp nature of pinot noir lends itself to a variety of food. Gruyere is a yellow hard cheese made from cow's milk and named after the Swiss city Gruyere. The aromas of pinot noir with hints of strawberry and cherry are a perfect match for the creamy, nutty flavors of gruyere. Make It Extra: Try paté, strawberries, cherries, speck or prosciutto, hazelnuts, and Kalamata olives. Take it up a notch with a more unconventional pairing like sliders — pinot noir is very versatile and will complement most foods.
This pairing is the epitome of “what grows together, goes together.” Rioja’s body, weight, and rich tannins work well with a cheese that has oily or fatty components such as manchego. The wine cuts through the slightly salty, oily mouthfeel, giving manchego a rich, dreamy texture. Also, who doesn’t love an excuse to reach for a Rioja? Make It Extra: Add chorizo, pan con tomate (tomato bread), green Spanish olives, serrano ham, meatballs, red peppers, shishito peppers, and salted almonds.
A malbec's velvety medium-bodied texture pairs perfectly with a harder, slightly nutty cheese such as gouda. Malbec on its own can be big and bold and overpower most cheeses, but this combination softens the malbec and allows both the wine and cheese to shine. Make It Extra: Add a matured cheddar, gorgonzola, or melted swiss cheese. Soppressata, salami, coppa (cured meat), dried apricots, cornichons, walnuts, salted cashews and dried fruit. Because Malbec is a full-bodied wine, you can take it up a notch with some lamb chops or rice and mushroom stuffed red peppers.
Tuscan wine was created for a cheese plate. Pecorino, the most famous cheese from Tuscany, pairs with a bigger tannic wine, such as chianti Classico. The combination balances both flavors, creating a bit of overindulgence. Make It Extra: Italian cured meats, prosciutto di parma, paté, truffles, mushrooms, mozzarella, basil and tomato, marinated artichokes, Castelvetrano olives, honey, pears, almonds, and pistachios.
My recent trip to Portugal only further confirmed this perfect combination. Typically, high alcohol wine can be hard to pair with food or cheese, but this wine enhances every bite of the blue cheese. As port ages, the tannins soften, and the wine gets sweeter. In the pairing world, this means the older the port, the stinker the cheese can be. Because aged port will soften the flavor of the cheese or, in other terms, the sweeter the wine, the saltier the cheese should be. Also, my favorite combo is a smoky blue cheese with a tawny port. Make It Extra: Consider salted cod, pork sliders, pork belly, sausages, Queijo da Serra (cheese), dried fruit, fig, salted nuts, chocolate and chocolate-covered strawberries.
I love the idea of a wine and cheese pairing for a date night when time alone has to be squeezed in, whatever the reason. Prep can be as easy as a trip to the wine and grocery store with 15 minutes to make the presentation fit your hosting style. You can also look in your area for a specialty cheese shop where a customized cheese or charcuterie board can be purchased or recommendations made. Since this is a popular new way to entertain, I’ve been fascinated by all the creative spreads found on social media and in entire books now dedicated to the subject, which may offer you some inspiration as well. For that intimate date night, start small and simple. After all, it’s just the two of you. Shop The All Wine Collection