For this pairing blog, my friends and I made a small charcuterie board with Mozzarella, Parmesan, and Feta cheese. We chose these cheeses because we eat them quite a bit and wanted to try and find the best pairings for them. We tried each of the wines with all of the cheeses and also ate them with some rosemary crackers and various types of salami.
Wines from left to right: Vendange Sauvignon Blanc, Lamarca Prosecco Rose, Barefoot Merlot
Cheeses from left to right: Cheddar (not included in tasting), Mozzarella, Parmesan, Feta
First pairing: Mozzarella and Vendange Sauvignon Blanc
We first tried the wine on its own, and it had fruity (maybe pear?) and floral notes. It was difficult to pick up on the flavors because the wine was very light-bodied and almost tasted watered-down. The mozzarella also had a very mild flavor, but it was very fatty and tasted good. This was an amazing pairing. Both on their own were mild flavors, but when paired, they really brought out the sharpness and deeper flavors of both. The fattiness of the cheese made the wine taste more tart and fruity and made it much more refreshing. When we tried the mozzarella with the parmesan, it didn't taste like much, and we felt like the parmesan totally overpowered the wine. The feta also overpowered the wine, but it did bring out the sweetness of it. I think that the saltiness of both of these overpowered this light wine and made it taste more bland/watered down.
On its own, the Prosecco Rose was light and refreshing, with floral notes. When paired, the feta brought down the acidity of the wine and brought out the deeper, more rich flavors of both. We think that this would have paired even better with a regular dry rose because the lightness from the carbonation made its flavors milder. It did make the cheese less intense, and it compliments the saltiness of it. When we tried it with the parmesan, it was a decent pairing, but the flavors didn't complement each other as well as they did with the feta. With the mozzarella, the flavors were very mild, and it tasted like we were just drinking the wine on its own.
Third pairing: Parmesan and Barefoot Merlot
The Merlot, on its own, was my favorite wine out of the three. It was rich and full-bodied and had notes of dark berries and dark chocolate. It was also kind of woody, like oak. With the parmesan, it was a little overpowering, but it did bring out the deeper, more chocolatey flavors of the wine. It paired well, but I think this wine has a lot of depth to it that overpowered the parmesan. We tried it with the mozzarella, and it ruined the flavors of the cheese and the wine; we think the wine was too full-bodied for the fatty cheese. With the feta, it wasn't bad with the saltiness of the cheese. They both had strong flavors, but they blended/paired pretty well, which we were kind of surprised by. Overall, I think all of these pairings were pretty good, but my favorite was the feta and Prosecco Rose and in the future, I'll definitely be trying feta with a dry rose.
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