Wine and Cheese

Thursday Night April the 16th my wine partner in crime Renee Robus and I got our wine and cheese on.

Our wines and cheeses were as follows:


Gallo Family Cabernet Sauvignon
and New Zealander

The Cabernet Sauvignon smelled like it was going to be delicious but really disappointed when it came down to it. It gave off a scent profile of warm cinnamon, black currant and caramel. It was not very complex honestly and not one of the more exceptional Cabernet's I have smelled but we pushed on none the less. The flavor of it was just incredibly unpleasant it presented nothing really in the way of any unique flavor and was so incredibly dry that I was not even able to finish one glass of it. However it did pair well with the New Zealander cheese. The cheese tasted like a mix of cheddar and brie so it was a creamy cheddar essentially. The dry bitter harshness of the Cabernet brought out the creamy notes in the cheese and was able to tone back the bitterness. Despite not enjoying the wine I could appreciate that the cheeses paired well. 

Gallo Family Pinot Noir and
Creamy Havarti Cheese

The Pinot Noir presented with fantastic notes of blackberries, warm caramel and warm winter spices. It was one of those wines that reminds you of the Christmas season. The flavor was just as good, slightly sweet yet with the right amount of dry it was easily drinkable and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Pairing it with the Creamy Havarti was the best decision we could have made. The creamy cheese really brought out the flavor of the Pinot and made those spices come to life. It was really like a zingy flavor from the wine followed by a mellowing hint from the cheese and I really liked it.

Gallo Family White Zinfandel
and Aged Vermont White Cheddar

Finally the White Zinfandel. This wine smelled great, it had strong floral and jasmine notes with underlying hints of orange blossom, honeysuckle and lemon. It was a great color and being a guy that enjoys the sweeter things in life I was quite excited to try it out. The flavor was a nightmare. It was the most disgustingly sweet thing I have tasted in my entire life and there was no complexity to the flavors. It tasted just like someone had taken juice from concentrate, added sugar and slammed alcohol into it and sent it on its way for bottling. To make matters worse we attempted to pair it with Vermont Cheddar to complement the sweet with the sharp cheddar flavors. It ended up being disgusting. The flavor of the wine completely overpowered the cheese and by the time the cheese was able to catch up in the pallette (somewhere around the back of the tongue region) it was too late and it was a huge burst of sharp coming out a sweet murky stupor. We ended up pairing the Cheddar with the other two wines to finish it off and left the Zinfandel to spend time on the shelf.  

This wine and cheese pairing was a lot of fun and has been further educating for me. It is a long road for me to understand how wines and foods can pair together and doing exercises like this is really helping me on my way.