Wine and Cheese #1

For our very first wine and cheese night, my friends and I took a little trip to the Wine Lab in Blacksburg, VA. We decided to each get a flight of wine, which consisted of three 2 oz samples, and a platter of 3 cheese with accoutrements.

Old World Flight:

• Sauvion Muscadet '20
• Time Waits for No One Monastrell '17
• Dom. Fontbonau Cotes du Rhone Rouge '12

Cheese:

• Vermont Honey Truffle
• Fromager D'Affinois Herb
• El Trigal Manchego

Wine Review

The Sauvion Muscadet '20 was a white wine from France and cost $48/bottle. It had an aroma that was sweet and acidic that reminded me of apples. It was pale yellow in color, with an alcohol forward taste that evolved with time. Tasting notes of the wine include a tartness, like a citrusy apple. It had an ABV of 12% and is what I would describe as dry with medium body.

The Monastrell '17 was a red wine from Spain and cost $36/bottle. It had a sweet cherry and blueberry aroma. It had a light-to-medium body and was ruby red in color. The wine was smooth and a little sweet, with a slight bitterness/astringency which probably came from the tannins. It did not have many fruit notes, but was what I would describe as "earthy." The alcohol content was 14.5% ABV.

For the Rouge '12 from France, I got flowery and light red fruit notes such as strawberry on the nose. The color was a brownish-red with a medium body. This wine tasted sweet, but also was very astringent. It left my mouth very dry after drinking. It did not taste very fruity, but it did have some floral tasting notes to it. It cost $52/bottle and had an alcohol content of 15%.

Cheese Review

On their own, I really enjoyed the cheeses. The honey truffle was very sweet, creamy, and enjoyable. It had a certain earthiness and fruitiness to it that I did not expect. The Fromager was a little less creamy, with smoky notes such as bacon. It was buttery, salty, and delicious on a cracker. The Manchego was my least favorite of the three, at least on its own. I did not detect many dominating flavors; it just seemed hard and dull.

Wine and Cheese Pairing

Starting with the Muscadet, I found that this wine was made much tarter by the honey truffle. I believe the sweetness of the cheese made the subtle sweetness of the wine nonexistent. However, I found that this wine paired well with the Fromager; it made the taste and texture of the cheese smoother and more buttery. The Manchego cheese, while my least favorite of the three, paired excellently with the Manchego. The dull saltiness of the cheese accentuated the brightness of this white wine, making it taste crisper and sweeter.

Moving on to the Monastrell, this bitter red wine highlighted the sweetness inherent in the honey truffle. The earthiness of both were in a nice balance. As for the Fromager, the herbs of this cheese were brought forward in this pairing. I could have eaten a whole meal consisting of Monastrell and Fromager: the garlic, herbs, and smokiness of the cheese were front and center. The Manchego did not seem to bring anything special out of the wine. The cheese remained dull and the wine remained earthy. However, the flavors of both were complimentary.

Moving to the Rouge, I found the sweetness of the honey truffle was highly elevated by this astringent wine. My dry mouth was craving the creaminess of this goat cheese. I highly enjoyed this pairing. The herbiness of the Fromager was a bit too strong and annihilated any subtleties in the wine. However, the creaminess of the cheese with the wine had good mouth feel. Finally, the wine paired decently with the Manchego. It brought out a good saltiness from the cheese so it did not taste as dull. However, the pairing left my mouth drier than it would with the wine alone.