Wine and Cheese Pairing #1

 

My friends and I with our wine :)

My wine group and I decided to take our wine and cheese night to the fabulous and famous Wine Lab! After a lengthy conversation with the resident sommelier, Cassandra, I chose to sample the Old World Flight, which included the 2020 Sauvion Muscadet from France, the 2017 Time Waits for No One Monastrell from Spain, and the 2012 Dom. Fontbonau Cotes du Rhone Rouge from France. Cassandra recommended that we pair our Old World wines with some Old World cheeses, so we chose the Fromager D'Affinois Herb cheese from France, the El Trigal Manchego from Spain, as well as the Vermont Honey Truffle which is not an old world cheese, but our friend highly recommended it so we had to give it a try. Now, I am very picky about cheese in general, so I was hesitant approaching this tasting. I prefer soft and creamy cheeses such as Brie, but I was willing to put aside my own preferences and go out on a limb for the Manchego. 

Our three wines for tasting.

The stunning Charcuterie board with the three cheeses (from left to right): Truffle, Fromager, and Manchego

For the individual wine tasting, we started with the white from the Loire Valley in France, the 2020 Sauvion Muscadet which is made exclusively from the Melon de Bourgogne varietal. It had a pale yellow color and had an aroma of green apple and pears. It had a light body, slightly acidic, and was semi-sweet, green apple and citrus came through strongly and was delicious. The 2017 Time Waits for No One from Jumilla in Spain was of the varietal Monastrell. It had a dark red color and smelled of red fruits, especially cherry. When tasting, I found it to have a medium body and was very dry and tannic, even astringent. It also had some subtle earthy and woody notes. The last wine was the 2012 Dom. Fontbonau Cotes du Rhone Rouge from Rhone in France which is a blend of 95% Grenache and 5% Syrah. It had a dark brownish red color and smelled rich and somewhat floral. Upon tasting, some floral and oaky and smoky notes emerged. It was very dry and bold, but had a good balance of tannins to acidity. 

When tasting with the cheeses, I found the Sauvion Muscadet to pair best with the Honey Truffle, creating a sweet honey apple flavor, though it was slightly overpowering. The Manchego did not pair as well, the flavors of the wine seemed more muted and tasted drier because of the lack of fattiness and sweetness in the cheese. The Fromager seemed to cut the acidity and give a bitter aftertaste, the herbs kind of clashed with citrus although I found it to be a nice contrast. 

The Monastrell paired with the Manchego was a very bitter pairing, but also brought out some strong earthy and woody notes. I thought they paired fairly well but it wasn't necessarily my favorite. The best pairing for this wine was the Fromager, in my opinion. The herbs of the cheese paired fantastic with the earthiness, woodiness, and fruitiness of the wine, while the fattiness cut the astringency of the wine. The Honey Truffle was an interesting pairing, the sweetness of the cheese overpowered most of the flavors in the wine, but I thought the fattiness cut the astringency similar to the Fromager. 

The Cotes du Rhone Rouge paired best with the Fromager, the herbs of the cheese enhanced the woody and smoky flavors beautifully and brought out more of the tannins in the wine. The Honey Truffle was not a good pairing with this wine, it covered pretty much all of the flavor in the wine and the dryness made the cheese taste unbearably sweet. The Manchego mostly overpowered the wine as both were fairly bitter, but the aftertaste was actually more pleasant than the initial taste because the wine mellowed out on my palate. 

Overall, I think my favorite pairing was the Cotes du Rhone Rouge with the Fromager because of the herb and earthy combination that was new to me but very enjoyable. 

Cheers to good friends and good wine! And good bourbon I guess hahah :)