Whine and Foodie

As a social occasion for participants to top up their cholesterol and alcohol levels, a wine and cheese matching evening would be hard to beat. But as a means to discovering that winning taste combination, it’s about as much use as backing a three-legged nag to win at Newmarket.

I take my hat off to the producers of both Port and Stilton for their great marketing coup, if it was indeed they who came up with the notion that Port and Stilton make the perfect bed-mates. Far more interesting and more to my palate would be a stunningly rich Sauternes to accompany blue cheese – this poses the real question of why drink red wine with cheese – at all? There are way too many clashing components involved, not least the tannin in the wine doing battle with the acidity of the cheese. Given, too, the immense amount of fat in cheese, what chance does any wine have of penetrating a coating that completely smothers the palate and taste buds? An article in the New Scientist last year suggested that proteins in the cheese bind to the flavour molecules in wine, comprehensively suppressing its flavours. A tad scientific for me; I prefer the palate-coating layer of fat theory – easier to visualise!

Some cheeses are almost impossible to match. What, for example, would you drink with mature Cheddar, capable – at its best – of annihilating the roof of your mouth? A bottle of our Broadside ale would stand a far better chance than a glass of red wine and would be very delicious, too. Drinking a glass of red with any hard cheese, to my mind, is about as loony a pairing, as a tumbler of Coca Cola with your fillet of plaice. Of the few combinations that work, try an Old World Sauvignon Blanc – like a Sancerre or Pouilly Fumé – with goat cheese. The freshness and natural acidity of the Loire’s best match to perfection the flavours and lactic acid found in this, my favourite of all cheeses.

In general, my advice would be to go for the white wine option every time, and be happily surprised to see how cheese suddenly comes alive and puts a spring in its step. But with all these things – and to become a visionary of culinary combinations – one must experiment. So how about enjoying that bottle of Port, chilled, with your steak, instead of saving it up for later in the meal? Or perhaps we have the basis here for a really interesting, albeit oddball tasting:  sherry with cheeseburgers, chardonnay with cauliflower cheese, riesling and raclette. Hmm? Vive la différence!

Rob Chase is Fine Wine Manager at Adnams Wine Merchants in Southwold, Suffolk.

Visit Adnams Cellar & Kitchen stores in Southwold, Stamford, Saffron Walden, Woodbridge, Hadleigh, Holkham, Harleston and Holt. Alternatively by mail.