Wine and Cheese: Why Pairings Don't Really Matter Gilt Taste

Clark Wolf points out over on Gilt Taste that there really is no perfect wine and cheese pairing. Actually, quite the contrary: Wine and cheese, in a taste sense, just don't go very well together. I know what you're thinking: What?

Clark feels all the fuss over wine and cheese pairings is a big oversight and more of a product of history and tradition than taste. He points out:

"We harbor the assumption that finding the right wine for your cheese will make them both sing. But really, much of the nuance and many of the most treasured flavor dimensions of a wine—berry, dried fruit, oak, mushroom, vegetal and bell pepper aromas—are actually greatly diminished (if not lopped off totally) when your mouth is full of butterfat."

In terms of complementing the complex and heavy tastes of cheese, Clark suggests pairing them with beer, cider, single malt scotch, and port. And, as we all know, wine isn't exactly bad with cheese. Stick with your favorites and let yourself off the hook when making selections for your next dinner party. Just don't go crazy (read: spend extra) on so-called perfect pairings because they're not so perfect, after all.

Do you pair cheese with alcohol other than wine?

• Read more: Don’t Take Wine and Cheese Pairings Too Seriously at Gilt Taste

(Images: Tio Pepe; Faith Durand))

Comments (9)

Beer and cheese is my go-to dinner when I'm tired.

BEER! Beer and cheese...oh it's the most perfect pairing ever. I mean, we all know that bread and cheese are made for each other. And beer is like, erm, extra fermented, liquid bread! Heh, clearly, cheese and beer are meant to be together.

A local bar had a "beer-and-cheese" themed tasting in March for their monthly beer tastings. Delicious! The beer guru who runs the tastings basically said that wine and cheese are meh, but beer and cheese are made for each other!

Another vote for beer and cheese! In fact, a number places that make beer also make cheese. Chimay isn't just good beer, it's an excellent cheese, as well. I think the monks have it dialed: Beer, bread, cheese and silence.... Now if they'd just lose that pesky celibacy stumbling block.....

I love wine.

I love cheese.

Therefore they go great together.

@akay. You should be my bff. I totally agree.

I can't think of anything that wine doesn't go with; and I can say the same for cheese. I love them both and will gladly eat them together regardless of what the experts say.

Ditto on beer. I love wine, but a sharp cheddar and a bitter beer? Yes. The real question is--which mustard?

I might have agreed with Wolf until I spent my honeymoon in Burgundy being handed very nicely paired wines and cheeses. I am no expert and this was not true with every pairing, but time after time the cheese or the wine would not appeal to me until I tried it with the other. Then they did "sing".