Wedding menu: which wine to serve with cheese?

Between a fusion agreement in which the wine and the dishes have the same aromatic style and/or are products from the same region, or an opposition agreement between power and freshness for example, the sommelier expert gives all his tips for perfect tasting with each style of cheese.

We realize that the perfect pairing is white wine with cheese.

SHE at the table. – What wine to serve with a cheese platter?

AP – So white or red? Like foie gras, it's a bit of a mistake, if you can call it a mistake, that has always been made. We realized scientifically that the lactose molecules did not match the tanicity, the tannic side of the wine. We realize that the perfect pairing is ultimately white wine with cheese. And each wine has its own accord.

HER at the table. – What wine to serve with goat cheese?

AP – Loire goats, from the Loire Valley, will be very interesting with white, floral and mineral Sauvignon blanc.

SHE at the table. – What wine to serve with blue cheese?

AP – We can look for the agreement of opposition as the English do at tea time where they serve stilton which is a very well-known English blue, with “port wine” as they call it, therefore Port, a sweet wine which finally waters the blue. Here, we are looking for the opposition agreement, that is to say the power of blue and the sugar of Port which brings deliciousness and attenuates this power.

In the same way in France, you can serve this Sauternes side with a blue cheese, a Roquefort for example, it's an interesting pairing and it always has its effect.

So in summary, rather dry white wine with rather light cheeses, on the floral side, and then we can look for more power in the whites, or even sweetness in the very powerful cheeses.

SHE at the table. – What wine to serve with cooked pressed pasta?

AP – Cooked pressed cheeses – Comté, Beaufort, Cantal – will be very interesting with beautiful Chardonnay or savagnins from Jura because we will look for texture, this salty touch that we find in the cheese, in certain Cantal which are a little evolved , or Comté, where we will look for the fusion agreement with the wines of Jura for example. Franche-Comté in general is very interesting when it comes to white wines.

SHE at the table. – A word on red wine with cooked pressed pasta?

AP – If you want to serve red wine, you can, but look for red wines that have very little tannin, pretty Gamay from the Rohannaise coast or Beaujolais. Really something fruity which, like a jam on cheese, will serve as a condiment and will not clash in the way you could serve a Châteauneuf-du-Pape with Camembert, the two clash in the mouth and we don't feel anything anymore.

In summary, with cooked pressed pasta, white wine or very fruity red wine.

Palace Hotel
1, avenue de l’Impératrice
64200 Biarritz