Wine and Cheese Pairing

 For this pairing blog, my friend and I wanted to find pairings for our favorite cheeses, including white cheddar, gouda, and brie. We tried each of the wines with all of the cheeses -- and found one winner. 

 Wines from left to right: Vendange Cabernet Sauvignon, Liberty Creek Pinot Grigio, Liberty Creek Moscato

                           Cheese from left to right: White cheddar, Gouda, Brie

The first pairing was Brie and Liberty Creek Moscato. On its own, the Moscato was delicious. It was very fruity, with notes of pear/peach and citrus. It was very refreshing and sweet, but not too sweet. For being so cheap, it was very good. When we tried it together, we felt it really brought out the deeper flavors of the cheese and the sweetness of the wine. When we tried this wine with the cheddar, it made the wine much sharper and less sweet, but it was a decent pairing. We think that the saltiness of this cheese made the wine more intense. When we tried it with gouda, we mainly felt that it overpowered the cheese (however, we think our gouda may have been sitting in the fridge too long-- it didn't taste great with any of the wines). 

 Liberty Creek Moscato

Our next pairing was Gouda and Vendange Cabernet Sauvignon. On its own, the Cab was smooth and had fruity and woody notes, including smoky and cherry flavors. This pairing was bad. We felt like we could not taste the flavors of the cheese at all, and it made the wine taste very bitter. What made us sure of this was the other cheeses. We tried it with the cheddar, and it was amazing. It was very, very smooth and took away the acidity of the wine. It brought out the deeper flavors of the cheese and made it less salty (the cheddar was delicious, but we felt it was much saltier tasting than the others). This wine did not pair well with the brie. They both had strong flavors and brought out the worst of each. It made the cheese taste fattier, overpowered the wine flavors, and the wine flat out made the cheese taste bad. 

 Vendange Cabernet Sauvignon

Our third and final pairing was white cheddar and Liberty Creek Pinot Grigio. On its own, the Pinot Grigio was very light-bodied with strong notes of citrus and apple. It was also a bit acidic. With the cheddar, we felt it paired well with the saltiness of the cheese. Neither overpowered the flavors of the other, and the wine brought out the deeper flavors of the cheese. We also felt that the cheese made the wine more refreshing and brought out the fruitiness more. When we tried this with the gouda, it was terrible. It took away the fruitiness of the wine and made it taste bitter, and the wine overpowered the cheese to the point we could barely taste it. With the brie, it wasn't as bad, but it still wasn't a great pairing. We felt it maintained the fattiness of the cheese but that the flavors overpowered each other. 

 Liberty Creek Pinot Grigio

Overall, it was very fun seeing how these different cheeses and wines changed the flavors of each other. We found our overall winner to be the Cabernet Sauvignon with the white cheddar. They complimented each other perfectly, and it is definitely a pairing I would have again (and it wasn't even an original pairing!)

 Me with all the wines