Wine and Cheese Pairings

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Wine and Cheese Pairings

Perhaps you’re planning a wine and cheese night (our kind of night!), or maybe you’d like to know what to order with a cheeseboard at your local wine bar.

Either way, we’ve got you covered. Here are helpful wine and cheese pairing tips and some tried and true combos that will treat your taste buds right.

General Wine and Cheese Tips

You’ve bought a tantalizing spread of cheeses. Crackers, nuts, some olives, and thick-cut slices of artisan bread. All that’s left is to choose wine. But where to start? Here are some top wine and cheese tips.

When selecting wine and cheese pairings, acidity is always your friend. High-acidity wines offer the perfect counterpoint to cheese’s richness. It livens up the palate between bites and will refresh your taste buds. So start by looking for high-acidity wines, whether red, white, sparkling, or sweet.
The combination of salty and sweet is pretty irresistible. Salty cheeses (think blue cheese or feta) go really well with dessert wines. Off-dry and lush sweet wines (like Port) hit all the right notes. Contrasts, in general, can make for triumphant pairings.
The fizz in sparkling wines, paired with the creaminess of triple-cream Brie or Camembert, is nothing short of magical. For the same reason, the ripe floral flavors of an off-dry Prosecco are the perfect partner to aged Parmesan.
Like for like such as a nutty, savory white wine from the Jura region of France or Palo Cortado Sherry with a nutty Comté or Gruyère shouldn’t be missed either.
Another handy tip is to match your wine to the age and intensity of the cheese. The stronger tasting the cheese, the bolder the wine. Similarly, older cheese loves tannins, which bind to proteins and fat. Save those big, tannic reds for aged cheeses. Low-tannin wines won’t overwhelm young cheeses the way high-tannin ones might. Try soft cheeses with a Gamay or Garnacha.
One of the oldest rules often cited when considering food and wine pairings is “What grows together, goes together.” When in doubt about which wine to sip while you enjoy a cheese plate, look to the region your cheese hails from. What wines come from there? The terroir links to two, and odds are you’ll find locals return to regional wines when pairing cheeses.

Popular Wine and Cheese Pairings

Brie and Sparkling Wine

Rich, decadent Brie calls for something laser-sharp to slice through its creamy texture. The natural choice is a glass of bubbles. Champagne and other traditional method sparkling wines, which see time on the lees, take on a delightful yeasty, toasty note which goes mouthwateringly well with more mushroomy, earthy soft cheeses. If you’re more of a red drinker, stick to fruit-forward Pinot Noir or Beaujolais.

Washed-Rind Cheese and Gewürztraminer

You can’t be shy when pairing powerhouse cheeses like Munster, Taleggio, or Époisses. Be brave. Go bold. Aromatic Gewürztraminer, with its intense layers of tropical fruit and floral notes, won’t back down in the face of a pungent cheese. The nuances of other wines may become lost in the flavors of a washed-rind cheese, but not so with Gewürztraminer. Head to Alsace for the best examples.

The delicious aromas of lychee and citrus in the Sealicious Gewürztraminer 2020 also won’t disappoint when paired with strong cheeses.

Goat Cheese and Sauvignon Blanc

This classic pairing expounds the “grows together, goes together” rule. Famous the world over for both its goat cheese and Sauvignon Blanc, the folks in the Loire Valley may have been first to sample this phenomenal pairing but ask any cheese and wine connoisseur, and they’ll tell you it’s hard to think of one without the other.

Fresh goat cheese (or chèvre in French) has a tangy earthiness, making it a natural partner for the zesty citrus, bright acidity, and minerality of Sauvignon Blanc. There’s a wonderful like-for-like element here; both wine and cheese boast attractive herbal notes that will keep you coming back for another taste of this winning combo.

The Loire Valley’s Abbesse Sauvignon Blanc 2023, with lively flavors of peach and citrus, will be the perfect match with Crottin de Chavignol (the Loire Valley’s most famous goat cheese).

Cheddar and Cabernet Sauvignon

A strong, hard Cheddar that’s seen several months of aging calls for a ripe, bold wine. Something that can stand up to its sharp tang and saltiness. A fruit-forward Cabernet Sauvignon is the trick here. The tannins in the wine will bind with the Cheddar’s proteins and fat, enhancing, rather than overpowering, the cheese.

Aged Gouda and Cabernet Franc

There’s a lot going on in an aged Gouda. It’s sharp, almost spicy on the tongue, with umami-rich flavors that call for fruit and substance. Cabernet Franc offers a medley of red berry and cherry, flavors—plus nuanced layers of ripe red pepper and floral aromas which are a great match for the heady flavors of mature Gouda. Cab Franc’s tannin levels are in the sweet spot for the cheese too. In addition to a classic Loire Valley Cabernet Franc, like Chinon, a Right Bank Bordeaux red with plenty of Cabernet Franc in the blend will also hit the mark.

Bordeaux and full-flavored cheese is a culinary combination that won’t disappoint. We recommend Château Le Coin Bordeaux 2020 with its aromas and flavors of black currant, black cherry and ripe plum.

Stilton and Port

Salty, bold and packed with umami flavor, blue cheeses need something extra to balance them out. The solution? Dessert wine, like red Port. The richly intense and sweet flavors (dark fruits, baking spice, cocoa) of Port wine are a match for blue cheese’s robustness. Other great pairings for blue cheese include Sauternes, Tokaji, and sweeter types of Sherry.

White Port is enjoying a revival, and this offering from Portugal’s Van Zellar family is exceptional. Tantalize your taste buds with a glass of Baronesa de Vilar White Port NV paired with a selection of richly veined blue cheese.

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Beginner’s Guide to Wine and Cheese Pairings