Wine and Cheese Pairing #2

Since I already had cheese leftover from my last wine and cheese pairing--and cheese is not cheap at all--I decided to take advantage of the opportunity and choose three different wines to pair and do a second wine and cheese pairing with my boyfriend. Seeing as he is a lot more open to wine (because I guess anything with alcohol appeals to a college-aged boy) the convincing and coming up with descriptions was much easier than the first pairing I did with my not-so-eager parents.

First we did an initial taste test so we could fully determine how the cheese changed the flavor of the wine and vice versa. 

First up, my all time favorite wine--Schmitt Sohne Riesling:

This 2014 German Riesling smelled of sour pear and alcohol and tasted sweet, yet not overly sweet, light, a little buttery, and with no alcohol at all. There was a bland aftertaste that dried our mouths out slightly. We both thought this wine would pair well with alfredo (which made me excited to pair it with cheese).








Second, Oak Leaf White Zinfandel:

 The first thing we noticed about this wine was that its' smell was similar to stinky feet and moldy cheese. However, the taste was sweet/sugary, light, floral, a little bland, and with no burn of alcohol at all. There really was no aftertaste. This wine was pretty good!








And finally, Oak Leaf Merlot:

This wine was dark magenta in color and not completely opaque but still pretty dark. It smelled of flowers and soil almost like a flower bed however also had a slight dark cherry smell as well. The taste was not very sweet in your mouth as we could taste the alcohol upfront where the sugar only come through after the wine was swallowed leaving a sweet aftertaste. Not too shabby!







Now on to pairing each of the wines with three different cheeses!

First, we tried each of the three cheeses with the Riesling:
1. Tomato Herb Goat Cheese: Together, the wine intensified the cheese  really bringing out the tomato and herb flavors stronger than when the cheese was consumed alone. This cheese made the wine taste light and sweet--almost like just having fruit juice rather than wine. The cheese gave the wine a stronger pear/fruitiness flavor and took away some of the sugar in the wine. Good pairing!
2. Haas Gouda: The sourness in the Gouda made the wine taste more sugary and sweet where the sweet wine brought out more of the sour flavors in the cheese. We could taste much less fruit when paired with this cheese and a slight alcohol aftertaste was noticed in the wine from the bitterness of the cheese. This bitter cheese did not seem to go well with such a sweet wine!
3. Parmesan: This cheese took away most of the sweetness in the wine and left no alcohol burn whatsoever. The cheese definitely overpowered the taste of the wine and brought out a sour aftertaste in the wine as well. Surprisingly, we both thought this was a pretty good pairing.

Second, we tried each of the three cheeses with the White Zinfandel:
1. Tomato Herb Goat Cheese: Right away this combination weirdly reminded us both of yogurt. This cheese left a bitter, alcoholic aftertaste from the wine and took away most of the sweetness tasted earlier in the wine. This combination brought the stinky feet/moldy cheese smell to taste; we did not think that this was very good!
2. Haas Gouda: The Gouda made the wine taste pretty sweet in your mouth and then bitter afterwards. The Gouda also gave the wine a burn at the end and took away any hint of fruit that was there to begin with. After a few sips however, we did notice a slight floral taste in the wine that was brought out by the sourness of the cheese.
3. Parmesan: This cheese took away a lot of the sweetness in the wine; it takes away almost all of the flavor of the wine actually making it kind of just there and nothing special.  However, the wine helps dumb down the strong, sour flavor of the cheese. All in all we were pretty indifferent about this pairing.

Finally, we tried each of the three cheeses with the Merlot:
1. Tomato and Herb Goat Cheese: This cheese overpowered the flavor of the Merlot altogether making the wine taste very bland. After pairing, the wine left a really bitter, alcoholic aftertaste with none of the original sweetness coming through at all. Bad Pairing!
2. Haas Gouda: This cheese made the wine taste only alcoholic and bitter with no sweetness coming through, drying out our mouths quite a bit. There was a sour aftertaste that lingered and just did not seem to leave for a long time.
3. Parmesan: The cheese gave the wine a slight floral taste at the very beginning but the Parmesan still overpowered the flavor of the wine giving alcoholic and bitter tones to the wine. This pairing was not great but definitely better then the two previous pairings.
Note: We did not think Merlot paired well with any cheese at all; I wonder if Merlot is just not supposed to be paired with cheese or if maybe we just overlooked the cheeses that were meant to pair well.

And that concludes my second wine and cheese pairing. I really enjoyed getting to see another person's perspective on the tastings as it was quite different from the first and honestly pretty educational. I will definitely continue to do wine and cheese pairings while taking notes even if I can no longer receive points for it!