Wine and cheese

[Thraz]

There are zillions of theories and rules on wine and cheese pairing, but I find them overwhelming (and overkill, for my palate anyway) - so I stick to a few rules of thumb. The cheeses you mention are all cow's milk, and generally, the softer the paste (brie), the lighter the red wine; the harder the paste, the heavier the red wine can be. Soft paste cow's milk cheeses also work well with white wines such as sauvignon blanc or chenin blanc. These same white wines are also good with goat cheese, soft or hard. Generally, it is easier to overwhelm a cheese with too strong a wine than the other way around, so if you need one wine for many different types of cheese, you might want to stick to a white (I'm partial to Loire for cheese) or a light red. Otherwise, you could have two cheese platters, one with soft paste cheeses next to the wines more likely to go with them, and the hard paste cheeses next to other wines - this will suggest to your guests what to combine, but they will also be free to mix and match. Finally, from the cheeses you say you like, I would think you might also like St. Andre (soft paste from France), and Comte and Piave (hard paste, France and Italy). The Lancashire cheese from England was also very good, and if you like cheddar you would probably like that.

But then again, you can turn the whole pairing thing into the objective of the evening instead of providing guidance: ask your guests to taste and pair at will, and everyone has to give their favorite pairing at the end of the evening.

Sorry I'm getting carried away again - I do have a weakness for cheese.