Virtual Cheese and Wine Function

26 October 2020

Who does not enjoy cheese with wine, but how well do we understand what the options might be that will enhance this experience?

Do we just serve whatever wine we have in the glass with our cheeses, or do we give our cheeses the respect of matching them with wines that optimise the taste and textural experience?

We decided to explore this, and the nine members who participated each chose two cheeses and matched them with two wine choices.

The request was, where possible, to focus on Victorian producers given the impact of Covid in our own state.

Amazingly we ended up with 19 different cheeses and 19 different wines. To facilitate the discussion three groupings were made based on the Cheese types chosen.

The outcomes are as below....

Fresh Cheeses/Soft Cheeses

• An organic double cream Brie - served with Seppelt Chardonnay

• Soft White Surface Mould Cheese - Paris Creek Biodynamic Triple Cream - served with Moorooduc Estate McIntyre Chardonnay 2017

• Cows milk white rind cheese - L'Artisan Marcel - served with Scorpo Pinot Gris 2016

• Washed Rind Cheese - served with Tahbilk Marsanne 2013

• Washed Rind Cheese - L'Artisan Mountain Man - served with Austins Pinot Gris 2018 and a main course dish incorporating the cheese

• Surface Ripened Washed Rind Cheese - L'Artisan Organic Petit Rouge - served with Chep Stowe Chardonnnay 2018 from Ballarat but Mount Towong Lagrein 2017 was the better match
  

Semi Hard And Hard Cheeses

• Gouda (Dutch) - served with Rieslings - Blackwood Riesling 2019 and Jim Barry Watervale 2020 - it was thought a more mature and/or off dry riesling would have been better

• Emmental (Swiss) - served with a Shiraz and a Pinot Noir but best match was with D'Arenberg The Noble 2015

• Semi hard Cows milk washed rind cheese (similar to Raclette) - The Peaks Mountaineer - served with Reed "Bambina" Nebbiolo 2019 from Heathcote but Scorpo Pinot Gris possibly a better match

• Smeared Rind Semi Hard Cheese - L'Artisan Fermier with a Charcoal Streak (similar to Morbier) - served with Ingham Road Single Vineyard Heathcote Shiraz 2018

• Cheddar from Warrnambool - served with The Observatory Barossa Valley Shiraz 2016

• Cheddar - Maffra Cloth Aged - served with Blue Pyrenees Cabernet Sauvignon 2013

• Cheddar - Pyengana ( Tas) - served with Chep Stowe Vineyard Chardonnay 2018

• Parmigiano (Italy) - did not work with the Rieslings , lighter body reds considered to be better
  

Blue Cheeses

• Sharp creamy blue cheese - served with Stan Gyles Aged Port

• Milawa Blue - served with Harris Aged Port 1978 , but as 10 years old when released it was 52 years old.

• Wattle Valley ( France - like Fourme D'Ambert) - best with D'Arenberg The Noble 2015

• Stilton made in village of Long Clawson , Leicestershire (UK) - served with Pizzini Per Gli Angeli 2007 (Trebbiano) - like"liquid raisins"

• Buffalo milk - Berrys Creek Riverine Blue - served with Jones Winery Apero from Rutherglen.

Although we were not able to taste each others’ choices we were able to have very good discussions about what worked and why, and made several discoveries. These included how much a wide range of white wines work well with cheese, how well sweet wines worked with blue cheeses and in fact some other cheeses, and how much you can enhance the cheese by specifically matching wines to them.