cheese mystery

[sharon001]

I find that while I usually have a good handle on wine and food pairings, I am mystified by cheese. I can match up a veal blanquette or a tuna steak or risotto with lobster, but faced with cantal or pont l'eveque, I draw a blank. Of course, I know from having lived in France that you pair munster with Alsatian whites (which, though? riesling? gewurz? another?) and goat cheese with flinty white Loire wines. But toss a manchego in my direction, and I'm scratching my head...

Any ideas or tips?

[Innkeeper]

Don't know if you noticed, but there is a thread right under yours at the moment that has twelve postings on the subject. You can also explore Wine/Food Affinities all the way back if you choose.

A good read on the subject is contained in Andrea Immer's "Great Tastes Made Simple."

[sharon001]

True, but it seemed to have veered off course...

Blue cheese and sweet wines (sauternes, port, banyuls, etc.) seems evident.

Camembert? Epoisses? Reblochon? Cantal?

Still in the dark...

[Kcwhippet]

Here's a couple of sites that have cheese/wine pairing suggestions.

www.gourmetsleuth.com/cpairing.htm
www.champagneswines.com/echeeseandwine.htm

[Kcwhippet]

So, Sharon, were these any help. Though they didn't list some of your specific cheeeses, you should be able to make educated guesses knowing the character of the cheeses you list versus others on their list.

[Capocheny]

Hi Sharon001,

I believe the pont l'eveque is also called Moyaux and has a very slight sweetish taste to it with a zingy tang on the finish.

Try the 1999 Burlenbach (Marcel Deiss) with it... it's an Alsatian that's quite delicious.

As an alternate... try a more robust, full-bodied red/white wine with it. A white Burgundy would also be tasty such as the 1999 Puligny-Montrachet from Domaine Latour-Giraud.

Part of the fun of learning about food and wine pairings, IMHO, is the experimentation process. Invite a few friends over and taste the different pairings. If you don't like one pairing... try another until you all reach agreement. The worse of it all is that you'll all have a good chuckle making faces over not-so-favorable pairings. [img]http://www.wines.com/ubb2/smile.gif[/img]

So many wines... so little time!

Cheers

[wondersofwine]

On the other thread about cheese and wine I mentioned that in France I believe Epoisse is matched with a hearty red Burgundy.

[sharon001]

Yes, thank you Kcwhippet for those sites - they're excellent!

Maybe my problem has also been that since cheese comes at the end of the meal, I concentrate more on pairing the other courses with wines, or even am no longer clear-sighted enough to appreciate the pairings by the time we get to the cheese...

I'm surprised, though, about the idea of pairing époisses with a hearty red...