Wine and Cheese Pairing #1

Well here is the second part of my friends and I's adventure on Tuesday evening. We had first completed a Drink This Now! lesson and then did a wine and cheese pairing. Let me tell you, we had A LOT of wine that night. I'm still recovering from it.

When we had decided on our wines and cheese for the pairing, some of us already had wine laying around and I had actually bought the cheeses. When I had gone out to pick up the cheeses, I made sure to get cheese that people said paired well the wines. I did not want to run in a case of all the wines and cheese not pairing well one another.

The three wines we had:

1. 2015 Virginia Riesling from Barboursville Vineyards
2. California Barefoot Moscato
3. 2013 Monte Antico Toscana (85% Sangiovese, 10% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Merlot)

Riesling, Moscato, Toscana

In addition to the cheeses, we also included the Ciabatta baguette from the Drink This Now! lesson. We figured having bread between the drinking and eating of cheese would help 'reset' the palate. The three cheese we had:

1. Murray's Comté Cheese
2. Fairbault St Pete's Blue Cheese
3. Sartori Extra-Aged Asiago Cheese

Comté, Blue Cheese, Asiago

So once we had our wine and cheeses all laid out. We began our sniff and swirl and tasting of the wines. Then ate the cheeses to get a feel of the flavors. And then did the wine and cheese pairings in two ways: ate cheese before the wine and ate cheese after the wine. We wanted to see if eating the cheese before and after the wine would affect the taste of the wine and cheese.

Final Set Up

~ The Thoughts ~

Wine #1: 2015 Virginia Riesling Initial Impression: Comté paired really well with the Riesling.

• Smell and Taste Without Cheese: Wow this smelled really moldy cork-like, and even an ethanol smell. There really wasn't any other smells or aromas that was distinct enough to pick out. I was really hesitant about drinking this wine since it did not smell good. But, the taste was so much better. I could taste a hint of apricot. It was a drier wine and had a nice crisp finish.
• Comté Cheese: The cheese really emphasized the crispness of the wine, and the wine really emphasized the smoothness of the cheese. The cheese had a nice creamy flavor, which blended and complemented the fruit taste of the wine. The wine even tasted sweeter with the cheese. I did think that the wine masked the cheese flavor if you drank the wine after having the cheese. 
• Blue Cheese: This cheese was too strong and pungent of a cheese for this wine. The herbal taste of the cheese did not complement the fruit taste of the wine. The crispness of the wine was just torn apart by the pungent cheese. But the wine did mute some of the strong blue cheese smell. 
• Asiago Cheese: The smoothness of the cheese was okay with this wine. The milk flavor of the cheese really was emphasized with this wine. The crisp finish of the wine was brought out some, but the taste of the wine overall was a bit muted. 

Best to Least Rankings: Comté 🡲 Asiago 🡲 Blue Cheese

Wine #2: Barefoot Moscato Initial Impression: Comté paired really well with the Moscato.

• Smell and Taste Without Cheese: There seems to be a theme of apricots and peaches in our white wines. This wine had a nice apricot and peach smell. There seemed to be even a lycee aroma, though very subtle compared to the other two smells. As you continue to smell the wine, you'd find a subtle floral and melon undertone. The wine had a pleasant fresh washed peached taste and had a sweet texture. There was also a bit of a tingling finish.  
• Comté Cheese: The sweetness of the wine and cheese came out more when these two were paired together. I found that the smoothness of the cheese complemented the fresh peach taste. I would definitely have these two together if I had them. The Moscato was a bit stronger in flavor than the cheese, but it wasn't too overpowering.  
• Blue Cheese: I was actually surprised that these two went decently well with each other. The blue cheese was smoothed out and the Moscato ended with a bit of a stronger tingly feel. The smooth beginning with a tingly feel at the end definitely is a good balance I thought. I would not have the cheese after the wine though. The cheese was too strong then because you'd start off with a tingling feeling due to the wine. 
• Asiago Cheese: These two did not go well with each other. The cheese was too bitter with the wine and the wine was too sweet with the cheese. The cheese ended with an unpleasant bite. 

Best to Least Rankings: Comté 🡲 Blue Cheese 🡲 Asiago

Wine #3: 2013 Monte Antico Toscana Initial Impression: Asiago paired really well with the Toscana.

• Smell and Taste Without Cheese: There was a deep velvet sort of smell, sort of like a velvet covered cushion. But there was also a pleasant fruity undertone aroma. I found that it was lighter in body than a typical red. This was was really tannic and you could definitely taste the black cherry. I was not a fan of this wine, but I'm not a fan of Cabernet Sauvignon, which this wine did have.
• Comté Cheese: These two did not pair well with each other. The cheese was too sweet and had too much flavor. The spices in the wine just overthrew your palate. I found that the cheese was too creamy sweet and the wine was too tannic for this pairing. 
• Blue Cheese: The blue cheese balanced decently with this wine. The cheese was a bit too pungent in smell, but you can't really get rid of that with wine. There was still a bit of a kick in the wine. There was a bit of a weird aftertaste with the wine and cheese, sort of a bitter taste.
• Asiago Cheese: I was surprise to find that these two went really well with one another. The smooth milk flavor and the spicy tannic wine really blended and balanced each other. I would say that the subtle smell of the cheese helped lessen the bold smell of the wine. 

Best to Least Rankings: Asiago 🡲 Blue Cheese 🡲 Comté

The mess afterwards

Conclusion
I really enjoyed the Riesling with the Comté cheese. If the Riesling didn't have such a strong moldy smell, I probably would have enjoyed the pairing even better. This pairing lesson really had made me more aware and appreciative of the effects that food, especially cheese, has on wine and vise versa. I definitely look forward to doing more pairings and seeing how the different flavors and aromas will affect one another!

And we are done!