Wine and Cheese Pairing #1

While my parents came to visit, I was able to convince them to partake in this wine and cheese pairing with me. As I have previously mentioned, my parents are not big wine fans, so after much discussion we all came to a pretty consensual agreement on the following descriptions.

First, we tried each wine by itself so we would get an idea of how the wine tasted before being influenced by the cheese:

   First up, the 2014 FlipFlop Riesling had a sweet, floral, somewhat sour, fruity smell and a sweet, light taste with no hint of alcohol in the taste. There was a slightly alcoholic aftertaste but was mostly just sweet and left your mouth pretty fast. Overall, pretty good!

  Next up, the 2010 Frappato Heria had a perfume smell that reminded us of Welch's Crangrape juice. This wine was also slightly bitter on the nose. It had a slightly alcoholic taste with no sweetness whatsoever. This wine had a sour aftertaste and dried out our mouths quite a bit. Overall, this wine was not my favorite as there was not a whole lot of flavor.

 Finally, the 2014 Chateau de Buffavent Beaujolais Nouveau was almost completely opaque and very dark purple in color. This wine smelled like black cherries and had no alcohol nose. It had a light, no alcoholic taste and was sweeter than the previously tasted red wine but kind of bland when compared to the Riesling. This wine had a bitter aftertaste but overall was pretty good, although we all agreed it might be better with dinner rather than by itself.






Now on to the cheeses!

First we tasted each cheese with the Riesling:

1. Tomato Basil Goat Cheese: The cheese makes the flavors in this wine more intense--fruitier and sweeter. The lingering cheese flavor also gives the wine a somewhat bitter taste. The tomato in the cheese mixes with the aftertaste of the wine and makes it feel "summery". Overall a pretty good pairing!

2. Van Kaas Gouda: This cheese cancels out some of the sweetness in the wine and also takes away a lot of the aftertaste of the wine as the cheese aftertaste overpowers the wine. We can taste more of the fruit in the wine with the Gouda as it takes away the sweetness leaving more of the fruity flavors exposed. 

3. Mediterranean Parmesan: The Parmesan makes the wine taste sour and takes away the sweetness. The flavor of the cheese overpowers the wine altogether, cancelling out all of the flavor and leaving behind only the taste of alcohol. Great Parmesan, but not so great with Riesling. 

Next, we tasted each cheese with the Frappato Herea:

1. Tomato Basil Goat Cheese: This cheese makes the wine taste sour however brings out more flavors in the wine making it also taste less bland. With the cheese we can taste a hint of fruitiness in the aftertaste that was not there before. 

2. Van Kaas Gouda: Awesome! The cheese takes away the alcohol taste in the wine altogether, making it taste a little sweeter and slightly floral. 

3. Mediterranean Parmesan: The Parmesan overpowers the flavor in the wine leaving more of an alcoholic and sour aftertaste. We are getting way more of the alcohol to come through with the cheese--not a fan! 

And finally, we tasted each cheese with the Chateau de Buffavent Beaujolais Nouveau:

1. Tomato Basil Goat Cheese: This cheese makes the wine taste slightly sweeter and a little more fruity. It also makes the aftertaste linger which tastes like alcohol and slightly bitter. The tomato flavor in the cheese and the cherry flavor in the wine go well together; pretty good pairing. 

2. Van Kaas Gouda: With this pairing, the wine seems to overpower the flavor of the cheese. There isn't that much of a difference in the taste of the wine however we can taste a little less alcohol than before and more of a sour aftertaste. We are pretty indifferent about this pairing--the cheese doesn't add anything to the wine but also doesn't take anything away. 

3. Mediterranean Parmesan: The Parmesan takes away all of the alcohol taste leaving the wine tasting pretty bland as the cheese overpowers the wine flavor however, not as overpowering with this wine as it was with the other two. If you leave the cheese in your mouth when you take a sip of wine at the same time, the wine tastes a tiny bit sweet. The Parmesan is better paired with this wine than the others but still not great. 

And that concludes my first wine and cheese pairing. Overall a great experience; even though my parents complain about wine even they couldn't whine (get it?) about getting to try a few wines and cheeses!