01/26/09 Red Wine & Cheese

Welcome to Vine to Wine this is your host Linda Moran. Trends come and go and as it happens every few years I read an article debunking the merits of combining cheese and red wine. Cheese and red wine such a fabulous combination  right? Well I remember reading an article back in the late 1990's in which several well known restaurant sommeliers were expressing the feeling that white wine is a better match to cheese. I was in agreement at the time however, the message never really seemed to reach most restaurants or the general consumer. I recently shared a cheese plate with a friend and ordered a glass of red and a glass of white just to revisit it for myself. It was true, the white wine was livelier, had more acidity and that seemed to balance out the fattiness of the cheeses. It brought us a conversation about my favorite dessert which is a small slice of high quality Roquefort with a sweet dessert or a sherry. The sweetness is a lovely compliment to the strong cheese. What is amazing is how much a red wine battles with a strong cheese such as the Roquefort. It really overshadows any subtlety the wine may have. So give a nice white wine a chance the next time you enjoy a cheese plate. Remember to send your wine questions to linda at vine to wine dot net and thank you for joining me on today's Vine to Wine.