Wine and Cheese: Which Cheese Pairs with Which Wine?
Table of contents
- Pairing wine and cheese: to find great flavor synergies, you need to combine the right wine and cheese types.
- Cheese with white wine: Chardonnay is the white grape that pairs best with cheese. Bold, oak-aged white wines can be enjoyed nicely with cheese. Pinot Blanc is a good choice with fresh cheese and semi-hard cheese varieties.
- Cheese with red wine: not all red wines pair with cheese. Lighter red wines like Pinot Noir can be combined with various cheese types.
- Want to experience different wine-cheese combinations yourself? Join my wine and cheese tasting in Berlin.
"Wine and cheese actually don't go together at all. At least red wine and cheese don't." These days, you hear surprising claims like this more and more often from wine experts. So is there really only one truth when it comes to wine and cheese?
Tips: How to Pair Wine with Cheese
Cheese and wine don't necessarily belong together by default. Their culinary histories developed separately, even though people in the past certainly enjoyed a good piece of farmhouse cheese with a nice country wine. Or bread, potatoes, game meat (probably a better choice), or apples, basically whatever happened to be on the table.
We need to seek out specific wine and cheese combinations to get the best results, and find them with a bit of effort. Keep in mind that there's no wine that pairs well with an undefined cheese board.
Different wines pair well with specific types of cheese, and even then, rarely a hundred percent, but even an 80% match can be an exciting flavor experience!
Which Wine Goes with Cheese?
Let's look at various wine and cheese combinations that pair well together.
Sparkling Wine and Cheese
A good sparkling wine (Champagne, Crémant, winemaker's sekt, Cava, Prosecco, etc.) can beautifully round out a spontaneous cheese board, just like almost any meal. For this, it's best to choose slightly more upscale cheese varieties and sparkling wines, not the cheapest sparkling wines, which tend to work better as refreshing drinks.
Sparkling wines vary in style and flavor, which is why some varieties pair better with certain cheeses than others. Generally speaking, though, sparkling wine is always a solid choice with cheese.
Sparkling Wine and Soft Cheese
For example, sparkling wine pairs beautifully with soft cheeses like Camembert or Chaource, which can otherwise be tricky to match with wine. Also try a nice Prosecco Spumante Extra Brut with a well-aged Parmigiano Reggiano, it's a surprisingly great wine-cheese pairing!
Camembert pairs well with sparkling wine
Lambrusco and Spicy Cheese
An interesting option, even with very spicy cheese, is Lambrusco, whether the standard sweeter style or a dry Lambrusco. Just pay attention to the wine's quality, which has actually improved enormously over recent years.
White Wine and Cheese
White wines with cheese are definitely more in fashion today than red wines with cheese. Part of the reason is that we now have a far broader range of white wines available than we did 20-30 years ago, from Blanc de Noirs to orange wines, and increasingly barrel-aged white wines too.
Riesling and Sauvignon Blanc with Fresh Goat Cheese
That said, there are "cheese wines" and white wines that don't pair as well with cheese. For example, a dry Riesling or a Sauvignon Blanc only works with certain cheese boards. Dry Riesling and Sauvignon Blanc pair nicely with fresh goat cheese and honey. Beyond that, finding the right cheese match gets tricky, since these wines have noticeable acidity, which doesn't harmonize well with the lactose in cheese.
Fresh goat cheese pairs with Riesling and Sauvignon Blanc
Silvaner, Pinot Gris, Muscat, and PIWI Varieties with Cheese
Also experiment with Silvaner, Pinot Gris, Muscat, PIWI varieties (newer breeds like Solaris, Cabernet Blanc, Sauvignac, and others), and of course with white wines from Spain, Italy, France, or South America, which are often a bit bolder than German white wines.
Cheese fondue with white wine
Chardonnay and Cheese
There's one undisputed favorite among white wine varieties, and that's Chardonnay. Chardonnay held the top spot among the world's most popular wines for a long time. This white wine can be aged in either stainless steel or oak. Oak-aged Chardonnay works especially well as a cheese pairing, and as a food pairing in general. Even a "stubborn" washed-rind cheese (Chaumes, Munster) pairs well with Chardonnay.
Orange Wine and Spicy Cheese
Unconventional wines like orange wines or even amphora wines get their moment, even among traditionally minded wine lovers, when paired with pungent, spicy, aged cheeses, like Comté or Deichkäse.
Rosé Wine and Cheese
Rosé wines deserve far more attention when it comes to cheese pairings, and not necessarily very dry ones, off-dry (semi-dry) rosés actually have even more potential alongside cheese. Try them with Harzer, feta, Emmental, Gouda, Gudbrandsdalen, or fruit-infused cream cheese spreads. Of course, rosés vary quite a bit in flavor, so they won't always complement cheese equally well.
Red Wine and Cheese
Does red wine go with cheese? We're certainly not saying goodbye to red wine. That said, complex and heavy red wines shouldn't be poured alongside a cheese board, since either the red wine or the cheese will end up overshadowing the other.
Tannin- and body-heavy wines generally don't pair well with cheese, whether mild or intensely flavored. The fact that Bordeaux, Rioja, and other red wines were once considered classic cheese companions had more to do with tradition than actual culinary harmony.
Pinot Noir and Cheese
Pinot Noir pairs well with a variety of cheeses and dishes. Red wines from Germany, Austria, southern France, or northern Italy are also often good companions for cheese boards, provided they weren't aged in oak barrels but rather in stainless steel or large casks, and are soft and fruity in character.
Which Wine Pairs with Blue Cheese?
A noble sweet or fortified wine is a must with blue cheese. Classic Sauternes, fine German Auslese wines with high fruit sugar content, ice wine, Vin Santo, sweet port, sherry, or Madeira all pair wonderfully with Roquefort, Danablu, and Blue Stilton. Pear or apple also pair beautifully with this wine-cheese combo, adding a delightful contrast in flavor.
So there are plenty of exciting wine-cheese combinations to try and experiment with, ranging from similar and complementary to vividly contrasting flavor profiles. That said, if you really want to experience the true flavor of both wine and cheese, enjoy the cheese separately from the wine. Discover {nrEvents} wine tastings in Germany and Austria.
About the author: Jana Ilkun is a certified sommelière and managing director of DeliKater Weinstudio in Berlin. Since 2016, she has been leading wine tastings and wine evenings. With her training (including WSET Level 3, Sommelière) and years of experience, she gives a clear, engaging perspective on how wine is tasted, made, and appreciated.
