Wine and Cheese Pairing

In this world some things are just meant to be together. This July 25th, celebrate the ultimate pairing - wine and cheese.

Going back generations, wine and cheese pairings were based largely on location, with wines and cheeses from the same area, village or even farm providing the optimal pairings, based on common indigenous flavor components. Today, however, the wide world of wine and cheese offerings is readily available to us, allowing for infinite pairing possibilities!

With so many choices, finding a good cheese monger is key to giving you some direction, but armed with a bit of information, you can experiment on your own. Consider intensity. Wines with a higher alcohol content would pair better with more intensely flavored cheeses, and wines with a lower alcohol content would pair nicely with more delicately flavored cheeses. Wine and cheese from the same geographical location traditionally pair well. Robust red wines beg for aged cheeses.

The crisp and fruity apple and pear notes of Chardonnay enhance the characteristics of mild cheeses like Brie and Délice de Bourgogne. The nutty notes would complement a Gruyère or Comté.

An aged cheddar or gouda would pair beautifully with the earthy notes of Pinot Noir. Pinot’s medium body and ripe red fruit flavors also pair well with a nutty cheese like Gruyère.

On a warm summer day nothing refreshes quite like a glass of chilled Rosé. Keep the cheese pairings light and cool too. A creamy goat cheese or goat Gouda offer a tang that pairs nicely with the bright acidity of Rosé. Aged Chèvre coaxes out a Rosé’s mineral nuances. Or take a totally different approach and enjoy a sweet, milky burrata, perfect with the fruity strawberry notes of the wine.

If you’re planning on making it a party and opening a variety of wines, put together a simple cheese board with 4 or 5 cheeses of textural variety and made from different milk. Bringing cheese to room temperature before serving allows the subtle flavors to reveal themselves and will be at their “pairing” best.

At Fog Crest Vineyard our cheese platters feature the cheeses of 4 local artisans. Our current selection has been chosen to compliment our tasting menu of Rosé, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, and includes:

Nicasio Valley Foggy Morning (cow’s milk) – A fromage blanc styled cheese from a family run ranch in Marin County. Rich and milky. (4-time national award winner)

Laura Chenel Chèvre (goat’s milk) – From America’s first commercial producer of goat cheese produced in the traditional French style, this rich tasting cheese has a citrusy tang and is very lightly salted. (Sonoma County)

Valley Ford Highway 1 (cow’s milk) – This producers’s version of Fontina d’Aosta is aged at least 80 days. It’s mildly nutty with notes of forest floor (Sonoma County)

Valley Ford Estero Gold (cow’s milk) – This Montasio styled cheese is fruity with a nice dose of sweetness. (Sonoma County)

Redwood Hill Feta (goat’s milk) – Made in the classic Mediterranean style, gently cutting the curd and forming it into blocks by hand. Finished in a salt-water brine before being aged for at least 6 months. Gold Medal winner at the 2016 California State Fair. (Sonoma County)

We hope you’ll stop by soon for an afternoon of wine and cheese enjoyed on our hilltop patio overlooking the vineyard.

“Wine and cheese are ageless companions, like aspirin and aches, or June and moon,

or good people and noble ventures.” – M.F.K. Fisher