Are you drinking the wrong wine with your cheese board?
The words cheese board, port and red wine are almost inextricably linked, but why is that? Most cheeses actually go much better with white wine. This is what you should drink with your cheese:
I’ll get straight to the point. The biggest mistake you can make is drinking port with your cheese board. The whole thing about a cheese board is that there is almost never just one piece of cheese on it. Port goes well with blue cheese because the sweetness works well with the saltiness of the cheese. With other cheeses, port is not a good combination at all.
So what should you drink with a diverse cheese board? A German spätlese is a wine that goes with most cheeses. It has plenty of residual sugar, which makes it delicious with blue cheese, but also with a white mould or washed-rind cheese. Still want a specific wine with a specific cheese? We asked Stephanie Lucken, co-owner of restaurant Rijsel in Amsterdam, for advice.
Region
Want wine with a specific cheese? Then always remember: the stronger the cheese, the stronger the wine. “Sancerre can be a beautiful match for goat’s cheese. A triple-cream cheese goes wonderfully with an aged chenin blanc. Chaource comes from the Champagne region, so champagne also goes very well with it. In general, a wine from the region where the cheese comes from often goes well with that particular cheese,” Stephanie explains.
Beer
Something other than wine? “Washed-rind cheeses are sometimes washed in a beer crust, so they’re also absolutely delicious with beer. A tasty tripel such as Dulle Teven from Dolle Brouwers, for example. Don’t go for beer that’s too dark, as it can turn out too nutty with a red mould cheese, but it can be delicious with blue cheese. Think Rochefort Trappist with Achelse blauwe. A stinky washed-rind cheese such as Époisses goes wonderfully with a rich white Burgundy. There is also cheese washed in Calvados, and Calvados pairs well with that.”
Read also:
- Supermarket wine: what should you look out for?
- Why you’re drinking your wine incorrectly
- Fact or fiction: beer after wine brings misery
