Wine and cheese theory

Rules like "red wine after white" or "white wine with fish" were made to be broken. But isn't "red wine and cheese" a match made in heaven? Not always, discovers Joanne Simon.Remember the days when cheese and wine cocktail parties were fashionable? I was cutting my journalistic teeth back then (and a lot whiter they were, too, having not yet been sacrificed to the wine cause). But even as a rookie political reporter, I discovered that cheese and wine are not always a perfect match.

They may have their obvious similarities - both are made from a base liquid (grape juice or milk) that undergoes fermentation (alcoholic or lactic); both end up with aromas and tastes that are far more complicated than their raw materials; and both require a certain degree of ageing before they reach their peak. But you try talking to the mayor after a polite sip of wine has turned a dainty bite of cheese into some sort of lactic cement...

Still, I'm the first to admit a sense of eager anticipation when the cheese trolley rolls around at the end of a good meal. A few of the more pungent cheeses announce their arrival from several metres away... Some just sit there, youthfully firm and perky alongside the more venerable wedges sprouting whiskers... And then there are those that literally melt under your rapacious stare...

But don't be fooled: however mild some of them may look or indeed even taste, cheeses are often deadly when it comes to wine - and especially when it comes to that expensive red you've been nursing for this very moment.

The rule of red wine with cheese is as revered as that of white wine with fish. Some people say it dates back to Victorian times, when the consumption of claret and port was deemed unladylike. Only once the fairer sex had left the dinner table would these very manly beverages be served - along with the very manly Cheddar and Stilton, of course. But in these more liberated times, and with a burgeoning range of cheeses available, there's only one reason the custom has persisted at all, say the experts, and it's one of sheer practicality - to polish off the red wine left over from the main course.

"I'd like to debunk the myth that red wine goes best with cheese," said James Browne, marketing manager at Hartenberg Estate in Stellenbosch. "White wine is livelier and has more acidity, which cuts through the fattiness of cheese," he proffered to the WINE magazine team. It made sense, so editor Fiona McDonald, deputy editor Christian Eedes and I all volunteered to lay our livers on the line for this good cause: never again would our readers unwittingly turn a deliciously complex (and costly) Pinot Noir into a tongue-curdling cocktail of cranberry juice and chalk.

To this noble end we also enlisted the tastebuds of cheese importers Ludwig and Lodine Maske of La Cotte/Fromages de France in Franschhoek; Katinka van Niekerk, Nederburg's food and wine expert; Christophe Dehosse, French chef/owner of the Bistro at Joostenberg; and Ann Ferreira, public relations manager at Graham Beck Wines.

James had volunteered to raid the shelves at Checkers to make sure our line-up included readily available cheeses ("all credit to Fairview for being so visible") as well as a few French stunners courtesy of Ludwig and Lodine. Christophe, meanwhile, provided freshly baked breads to prevent the tasting from becoming too clinical. "After all, cheese is usually served at the end of the meal when you've got all sorts of rich flavours roaming through your head."

We all agreed that the cheese course is one of sheer decadence - which is all the more reason to make sure the experience is a positive one, rather than ending the evening (often quite literally) on a sour note.

Our plan was to match each cheese with a different wine style: an unwooded white (Sauvignon Blanc), a wooded white (Chardonnay), a sweet white (Noble Late Harvest), a "light" red (Pinot Noir), a "full" red (Cabernet Sauvignon) and a port (Cape Vintage Reserve). First up were the cow's milk cheeses, with Fairview Vintners Brie and Fairview Royden Camembert representing the white rind category. When young these tend to be a little bland - and local examples are typically even less flavourful than their French counterparts. "I can almost understand the strange habit of serving South African cheeses with fig preserve, even though this usually only makes the leftover wine taste worse!" muttered Ludwig.
The cheeses certainly made the "light" red - a pukka Burgundy - taste chalky, while the fuller red and port completely dominated the cheese. "Tannins and cheese don't go, especially in older, riper, soft cheeses where the ammonia comes through," said Ludwig. "But these cheeses are still young so the red wines aren't a disaster though the body and texture of a Côtes-du-Rhône might have worked better." James liked the richness of the sweet wine but Christophe felt the flavours of this combo "stormed all over the place", adding that "a perfect match is one where everything just flows and you can enjoy it without having to think about it".

MY VERDICT: The dry whites, with the Sauvignon Blanc a little too acidic, making the wooded Chardonnay the best bet with its balancing creaminess.

Next up were the washed rind cheeses, with Fairview La Beryl representing the local scene alongside a tangy Pont l'Eveque from Normandy and a slightly alcoholic Epoisses de Bourgogne (Burgundy). "Nothing is going to go," predicted Katinka rather morosely. "Then our approach should be like buying a bra - finding the best of a bad fit," quipped Fiona.

There was less consensus in this round. Christian thought the Pinot Noir too acidic but felt the Cabernet worked well. Christophe disagreed, pointing out that the full-bodied red dominated the lighter local cheese, and that while it wasn't "offensive" with the stronger French cheeses, it didn't work particularly well either. Noting that the port continued to be "very disappointing", he opted to vote with Ludwig, Lodine, Ann and Katinka for the wooded white. "An unwooded Chardonnay might've been better, and the best match might not have been any wine at all," said Ludwig, pointing out that this type of cheese evolved in northern France where cider and calvados are produced... and traditionally make a better match.

MY VERDICT: The best compromise for washed rind cheeses is probably an unwooded white wine with a little sweetness.

Then it was the turn of the Gouda, a Frico from Holland, served alongside a Fox & Crow 6 Month Cheddar and a Zevenwacht 9 Month Cheddar. "The Gouda with the Sauvignon Blanc was good but everything else was 'ish'," commented James. "A little Riesling would've done it," suggested Katinka, adding that only a mature Gouda can stand up to Cab. As for the Cheddars: "The problem is that they are both a lighter style of Cheddar so the flavours don't carry through with the red wines," explained Lodine. "The cheeses did bring out an attractive floral note in the Chardonnay," noted Fiona. "I don't think anything would go with these except maybe a tomato sandwich," quipped Christian.

MY VERDICT: I'd like a nice cold beer, please! But if forced to choose a wine for this category, the whites do perform better than the reds. Cheeses with a more robust flavour would stand up to the tannins better. As for the port? A disaster...

"Believe me, you can make cheese from any mammal that produces milk," said Ludwig on a lighter note. "But when it comes to red wine, the worst possible match is goat's milk cheese."

Under scrutiny were a Fairview St Martin, a Fairview Crottin and a French Sainte-Maure de Touraine (with its distinctive straw through the middle). We wondered whether the Loire Valley origins of this last cheese might provide a clue as to the best wine match for the category, with the old culinary adage "what grows together, goes together" putting us firmly in Sauvignon Blanc and Chenin Blanc territory. "The Burgundy didn't work too badly," commented Christophe. "Cabernet Franc from the area [Chinon] might have been a better red wine match because of its high acidity, which is important for goat's cheese," said Ludwig, voting for the unwooded white along with Katinka: "With its fabulous acidity, Sauvignon Blanc actually improves the cheese."

MY VERDICT: Acidity is key. Even a fatter, more tropical style of Sauvignon Blanc ... with high acidity ... would work well.

Next came something quite unusual, a sheep's milk cheese from France's Basque region called Ossau-Iraty-Brebis and also commonly sold under the name of Fromage de Brebis des Pyrénées (ewe's milk cheese of the Pyrenees). "When you order a cheese platter in the Pyrenees, all you get is a slice of this, served with a cherry confit," revealed Lodine. "Perhaps that's why the cherry sweetness of the port goes quite nicely here," said Ann.

Fiona preferred the Cabernet but Ludwig said a wine from the region would have been better: "A Cahors, perhaps, but forced to choose in its absence I have no objection to the Sauvignon Blanc or Chardonnay." Christophe suggested that a dry fino Sherry might also be a good match, eliciting several oohs and aahs. But Christian wasn't convinced: "Forget about the wine; just eat this cheese!"

MY VERDICT: The cheese's nuttiness and fruitiness are best served by a wine with high acidity - an "explosive" match with the Sauvignon Blanc.

And so, last but not least, onto the blue cheeses: a
Simonsberg Simonzola and a Cropwell Bishop Finest Blue Stilton. "Where we matched acidity with acidity in the previous rounds, here the trick is to match body with body," said Katinka. "The port is perfect with the Stilton but something interferes with the Simonzola. Perhaps it's too creamy to judge as a blue; maybe it's the bacteria - a case of noble rot meets noble rot - but the Noble Late Harvest is a better match."

James agreed that the Simonzola was "not quite blue enough" but argued that its "top-end" creaminess made the Sauvignon Blanc a better foil. He liked the Noble Late Harvest as much as the port with the Stilton: "The sweetness is such a relief from the dryness or even bitterness inherent in the cheese."

MY VERDICT: The Stilton and port combo is sheer bliss. Likewise the sweet wine and the creamy blue.

So where does all of this leave us? "Apart from the goat's cheese and Sauvignon Blanc, this tasting was hard work - in fact, I'm wondering whether wine is meant to be drunk with cheese at all!" said devil's advocate Christian. "There's always beer," laughed Christophe. "But who wants to move on to beer after a gourmet meal?" said Fiona. "Well, gone are the days of white before red - it's now acceptable to drink dessert wine with starters like foie gras or sushi, so why not have a little vodka sorbet to cleanse your palate after the meat course, followed by a refreshing beer or cider?" asked Ludwig. "Freedom at last!" said Katinka. "The only problem is that I love wine and I love cheese..." Which made Lodinen giggle: "I love lots of wine and lots of cheese!"

Ann suggested that this tasting may have proved one thing: that it's better to serve one beautiful piece of cheese, perfectly matched with a wine, than to go "oink oink" over a huge selection. "There's nothing like a cheese trolley to bring out the glutton in all of us," agreed Fiona. "The problem is finding a wine that will go with a number of different cheeses."

Based on this tasting, that wine does not appear to be red. If nothing else, we've successfully broken with tradition and proved James's theory that white wine is more versatile when it comes to cheese. "Next time perhaps we'll make it our mission to find a few more specific matches," he said.

MY VERDICT: It seems to me that there are no absolutes. While some matches are obvious (Stilton and port or goat's cheese and Sauvignon Blanc, for example), a lot of the matching comes down to personal taste. It's neither science nor art but fun ... so get tasting!

A FEW CHEESE AND WINE TIPS

Fruity but dry whites are a good bet with creamy and pungent cheeses, which tend to deaden red wines (or at least kill their nuances). The creamier the cheese, the more acidity needed in the wine.

A white wine after a big red is not ideal. So have a break - serve the salad! If you absolutely must continue with the red wine, remember that the harder the cheese, the better it can cope with tannins. The older the cheese, the more robust the wine.

Blue cheeses can be rich and creamy or salty and tangy, which is why the safest match by far is the time-honoured one of sweet wine (Noble Late Harvest for milder cheeses; port for the more powerful ones).

Keep it simple. You're probably better off serving one cheese (or style of cheese) than juggling four or five wedges.

Make sure your cheeses are ripe and have been at room temperature for a few hours. Always start with the mildest cheese, building up to the strongest.

Salty biscuits can ruin an otherwise well-matched cheese and wine experience. Use neutral biscuits or freshly baked breads.

Tasting cheese is similar to tasting wine. Firstly look at it: does it seem in peak condition? Then smell it: those pongy farmyard smells are half the enjoyment! Finally, taste it - that is unless you also want to use a fourth sense and feel it (or at least imagine it oozing, seeping, sticking, dripping...).