Wine and Cheese Tasting #1

 We had a few friends over for wine and cheese night. Not all were in the class, they just wanted to experience the different cheeses and wines we had picked out for the evening event. We had four wines: 

- Yosemite Road Moscato

- Liquid Lighter Sauvignon Blanc

- Terra Sangue Di Guida 

- Miguel Torress Cordillera de los Andes 

I have already done Miguel Torress Cordillera de los Andes for a wine blog so it will not be included in this post.

 We paired these wines with three different types of salami, some crackers and four cheeses: 

- Stilton 

- Manchego 

- Brie

- Fromage d'Affinois

 

We started with the white wine Liquid Light Sauvignon Blanc as it is best to start with white wine first. The wine is from Washington state. Trying the wine by itself it felt light but less sweet than other white wines I've had in the past. It almost felt like it was sparkling. It was citrusy but not overpoweringly fruity. Trying it with the manchego left the buttery texture of the chese, but I do feel like the cheese slightly overpowered the wine. On the other hand, the d'Affinois was completely overpowered by the wine leaving the cheese with no taste. I did not try it with the brie, but the best pairing was this wine with the stilton blue cheese. The tartness of the cheese mixed with the tartness of the wine left a very balanced taste between the two. 

Next we tried the Terra Sangue Di Guida. A red wine that is a favorite of one of our guests. It was one of the sweeter wines I've ever had. Many of us described it like drinking juice, the taste of grape and fruits was very prominent. (I did not add the Miguel Torress Cordillera de los Andes wine in this blog but it was tried right before this wine. The stark difference in sweetness made this one taste even more sweet.) I felt that the stilton blue cheese paired fairly well with the wine. The sweetness of the wine and tartness of the cheese brought out the best in each other. I also thought the manchego paired well with the wine as it brought out the butteryness of the cheese. Same with the manchego, the wine left the fatty taste of the cheese. All in all out of all the wines this wine worked best with all the cheeses.

Lastly we had the Yosemite Moscato Road. This was a favorite among our guests, and personally one of my favorite wines from the night. Just smelling it there were notes of apples and honey suckle. It was much sweeter than the other white wine we had that night, and maybe sweeter than other white wines I've had in general. The wine was very floral and almost smelled like perfumes. As for the cheeses it brought out the buttery flavor of the brie and the d'Affinois. All of the cheeses tasted good with the wine but I would not say any of them paired especially well. 

This was a very fun experience. I have never been that big of a fan of cheese but really taking time to take notes and discuss how the flavors interacted with a group of people showed how delicious this mix could be. I understand more about how wine can bring out the good and cheese, I even enjoyed blue cheese for the first time just because it paired so well with the sauvignon blanc. I can't wait to taste more cheese and more wine throughout this semester.