Wine and Cheese Pairing - Round 1

I decided to do my first wine and cheese pairing when one of my close friends and recent Virginia Tech alum came to visit me earlier in April.  Instead of going downtown like most people do when they come to town, she just wanted to have a quiet night in so we could catch up uninterrupted.  I decided this was the perfect opportunity to do my first cheese and wine pairing.  Funnily enough, my friend was a geography major when she attended Virginia Tech, so she has done this assignment before.

 The three cheese that I choose for the evening were all Sargento.  The varieties were: a creamy havarti (bottom left of the picture), a Wisconsin aged cheddar (the top left), and a Jack Bruschetta cheese (middle right of the picture).  The reason I choose these cheeses were because I had coupons and they were all on sale, so I paid $2 for each cheese which is perfect for the college student on a budget.

Before I began the tasting, I went ahead and cut 3 slices off of each block (one for each flavor of wine).  For extra measure to expand my palette, I also tasted each wine with a dark chocolate.  I included crackers and water to cleanse my palette after each tasting.

The first wine of the night was a Pinot Grigio.  By itself, it was a very bland wine that I would not recommend.  I'm not going to go into detail about how it tasted with all of the cheeses, because I felt that it did not go well with any of the cheeses.  I felt that the cheeses produced an awful aftertaste with this wine.  I also did not like it with the dark chocolate.  

This wine was given to me as a gift.  I was told that it would pair well with seafood, so I did save a little because I knew I was having tilapia for dinner the next day.  It paired better with the tilapia, however, I still found it to be a very weak wine.  

I purchase the Once Upon a Wine sparking wine at Vintage Cellar.  I was told it was a spectacular wine, and the manager said he planned to purchase a whole case for his wife.  I was impressed, so I decided to purchase it to see what all the fuss was about.  

The wine smelt like grape soda, which was a pleasant surprise.  The taste by itself was pretty basic.  I thought it was bubbly with a hint of apple.  It was a dry sparkling wine.  

I tasted no difference between the wine by itself and the wine paired with the creamy havarti cheese.  I did not like the wine with the cheddar cheese. It left the most unpleasant aftertaste in my mouth.  I also did not like the wine with the bruschetta jack cheese.  It also left a very disturbing lingering aftertaste in my mouth.  

As a bonus, I also paired it with dark chocolate.  I loved the combination.  The dark chocolate dave the dry wine a sweet finish.  So overall, I would recommend pairing this wine with desserts.  

The final wine of the night was Big House Bold Red.  I purchased this wine back home at Fresh Market.  I live in Greenville, North Carolina (home of the ECU Pirates), and they were sampling Big House brand wines that day.  After tasting all the wines I decided to purchase this one and another white wine.  I got to talking to the man who was giving out the samples and he teaches a wine course at ECU. I told him I was going to take Geography of wine at Virginia Tech, and he was excited for me to learn about different wines.  

This wine by itself was a pleasant surprise to me.  Most red blends I have tried usually seem watered down.  This wine was not.  It was a good blend of flavor.  There was a heat to the finish, which I attributed to the 13.5% alcohol volume of the wine.  

Overall, this wine paired well with all three cheeses.  The havarti cut down on the "heat" to make the wine a little more enjoyable.  This wine was also the only wine I liked with the bruschetta jack cheese, however, I still would not recommend the pairing.  The best pairing was the Wisconsin aged cheddar cheese.  The finish was amazing, and I would totally recommend the pairing to everyone.

Overall, this wine and cheese tasting was a great learning experience for me.  Next time, I will try to look up what wines go best with what cheeses so I can enjoy all the tastings.  I will also probably try to purchase better quality cheeses.  Still, the night was a success.