Yesterday, I completed my first Wine and Cheese Pairing assignment. I used the Wine Folly textbook's advice on cheese and wine pairings and decided on the following pairings: chianti and asiago, riesling and havarti, and red zinfandel and pecorino. I am not positive about this, but am fairly certain that I have never tried pecorino cheese, and it's possible that I've never had havarti either. I was a bit apprehensive, because I would hate to spend money on something I'd end up throwing away after the assignment and I am very particular about cheese. However, I ended up really liking them, especially pecorino! I would venture to say it's my new favorite cheese.
The wines we purchased were the 2021 gabbiano chianti, 2021 chateau ste michelle riesling, and 2020 bogle zinfandel. For starters, I liked all of these wines. I must say that this wasn't my favorite chianti in the world (chianti is quickly becoming my favorite wine), but on their own, I liked them all. My boyfriend and I deliberately decided to do these three wines because they are our three favorites, and we wanted to try some cheeses with them to elevate our experience even further.
The 2021 Gabbiano Chianti, which I thought wasn't very good compared to other chianti wines that I have tried. Perhaps this was a bad year for the vineyard, or something happened with this particular bottle. It originated in Mercatale, an Italian village in al di Pesa. It had a weird smell, and I think that was my main issue with it. It smelled a bit like rubbing alcohol, and the bouquet wasn't very complex in general. This brand of wine has existed since 1480, so clearly they've made at least a few good bottles along the way! It was hard to get past the rubbing alcohol scent, but I did taste a bit of dried cherry and it was medium-bodied with a nice mouthfeel.
It paired well with the asiago, just as I expected, but the asiago that we had was mixed with a blend of rosemary and olive oil (it was the only one we could find, but I thought it would taste nice anyway). I didn't like the cheese itself. I've had chianti with asiago before, and was pretty sure I liked them together, but I definitely thought that the rosemary and olive oil were not meant to pair with the chianti. It was alright, but not the best. There were too many flavors at once and even though none of them particularly clashed, it wasn't my favorite thing in the world.
The chianti went very well with the pecorino, especially because I really liked the pecorino. I thought that the pecorino rounded out the rough edges of the chianti in a way that it definitely needed. The smell of the chianti was still kind of weird, but the flavor and slight aroma of the cheese made it more bearable and brought out some of the flavors that I was looking for but couldn't find with the chianti on its own. I thought that the chianti almost tasted like pepperoni or some other peppered and dried meat when paired with the cheese, and the other flavors in the wine gave it the kind of flavor palette that cheese pizza gives me, where there are very different flavors all combined together in a good way (unlike the asiago).
I liked the havarti with the chianti, but not as much. I really did think they paired well together, as the havarti did the same thing the pecorino did: made the chianti taste better, take away some of the harsh flavors and smells, and the fat in the cheese softened the tannins. I didn't like it as much as the pecorino because I liked the pecorino better on its own, but thought, strangely enough, that the havarti brought out some coffee flavors in the chianti. It almost was like a hint of coffee with cream, the body of the wine felt fuller like coffee, and the cheese tasted different as well. It overpowered the wine in a good way.
The 2021 Chateau Ste Michelle Riesling, from the Columbia Valley in the state of Washington. We deliberately chose a dry riesling because we had never had one before, and thought it might pair nicely with the fats in the cheeses. It had a bit more carbonation that I've had in other rieslings, which I thought was great. I thought that since this was a "dry" riesling, that it would taste more tannic and less sweet, but I thought that it still was very sweet and not really tannic at all. It was interesting because I liked it more than other rieslings I've had, and I know that rieslings are notoriously the most variable of all the wines. I suppose I can't say for sure that I like "dry rieslings" because of this, but I certainly liked this one. It had a green apple and pear flavor which was very nice when paired with the bubbles.
I thought the asiago was nice with this one, the issues that I had with it when paired with the chianti were endearing in this case. I liked it with the herbs in the asiago, and the texture of the hard cheese was nice when paired with the bubbles in this wine. It brought out some of the flavors of the asiago, strangely enough, and not vice-versa. I thought that the wine enhanced the cheese and gave it a nice finish with lots of nutty flavors. The wine was not necessarily enhanced by the cheese, I felt that I liked it equally as much on its own. I think this is because it was not as dry as the red wines, so pairing it with cheese didn't really help soften it in any way. But pairing the cheese with the wine helped break it down a bit in my mouth and I thought they were very nice together because the wine made the cheese sweeter (in a good way).
The pecorino was my favorite with the riesling, probably for no reason other than the fact that I was experiencing pecorino for the first time and absolutely loved it. I thought the pecorino was the perfect texture for the wine, it had a nice simple but salty and greasy taste which worked very well with the light flavors of the wine such as pear and lemon, and just in general was delicious together. Unlike the asiago, I did feel like the wine was better with the cheese.
The havarti was my least favorite, and I think it was because it was a little too creamy to be paired with the light acidic taste of the riesling. Some people might think it works, in fact my boyfriend said it was his favorite pairing, but I couldn't get into it. I could definitely see how they would work together, but it wasn't my favorite. In a way, I felt that the havarti tasted more bland when paired with the wine than it did on its own, and I wasn't a fan of that. Havarti is a buttery cheese and was perhaps sweeter than the wine, which was part of the problem for me I think. It made the wine taste almost sour. However, when I ate the havarti on a pita chip and combined it with the wine, I thought that made the two flavors work a bit better together. Maybe it was the salt on the pita chip, or adding a neutral base, but it did work better this way.
The 2020 Bogle Old Vine Zinfandel from Clarksburg, California. This was a great wine! Probably my favorite on the table. It had a blackberry and plum flavor with a very full aroma. I thought it was the perfect blend of tannins, sweetness, and body. I especially liked the scent of the wine, but thought that it had a very nice and complex flavor as well. I liked it very much on its own, but could tell that I would enjoy it more with the cheese to break up the dryness a bit. It almost had a cinnamon flavor, but only on its own.
I thought this wine went very well with the asiago, perhaps better than the chianti (although that could be because of the weird situation with the chianti). Even though the rosemary and olive oil didn't really work with the chianti and asiago flavors, I thought the zinfandel brought them together nicely. The cheese tasted more creamy with the zinfandel, and since zinfandel already has a strong body, they seemed to be strong together and created a full and rich taste. This was almost the equivalent flavor profile of those people who dip strawberries into hot cheese. I don't like it, but I feel like this more classy version of it made me appreciate that urge more than I have in the past. The zinfandel also brought out the nutty/almond flavor along with the herbs that the asiago had and broke it down enough that it was soft and mild. I thought that the zinfandel tasted even better with the addition of the asiago, even though I thought it was great on its own.
The pecorino, again, was my favorite. But I really think it was perfect for this wine. Further, I really liked the pairing of the red pepper jelly on a cracker with pecorino, and a sip of the zinfandel. I haven't really mentioned the jellies that we bought because they hadn't really paired well with the wines (even though they were both great with the cheeses!) and I thought it wasn't worth mentioning, but this combination is certainly worth bringing up! This is especially because the spicy jelly was mellowed by the cheese, and then complimented by the strong, almost distracting flavor of the wine, all combined with the pita chip as a hearty base. Alone, though, the pecorino was very nice with the wine. It broke up some of the tannins while simultaneously adding body. The slight plummy and jammy flavor of the wine went with the cheese in the same way that the literal jams went with the cheeses. I thought that the opposite flavors were perfect together, and the cheese brought out some more fruity flavors.
I thought that the havarti was pretty good with this wine, but it was a little more buttery than I would've liked with it. Cheese that tastes like butter is not something that I look for, and it tasted more like butter when paired with this wine than I liked. I think I liked both better on their own than together, because the wine didn't exactly taste great with the addition of the cheese. Even though it was a fatty cheese, it didn't break up the tannins in the wine in a good way, and the cheese was sweeter than the wine which tasted a bit off. I also thought that the wine tasted more acidic with the cheese.
Overall, I thought most of these pairings were average, if not great. Even the ones I didn't particularly like weren't terrible. However, I will definitely be purchasing fresh pecorino in the future for wine and cheese nights!
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