Wine and Cheese

Cheese is often thought to be a good match with wine and here in Hong Kong, the assumption is that the wine in question is red. Indeed when I was in England, there were a number of wine and cheese parties both when I was a student and whilst a junior doctor. Are either or both of the assumptions correct? Clearly it is not exceptionally difficult if one tries to seek a specific cheese which will clash with a wine or two, but some cheese, especially the pungent ones, will obviously murder light or delicate wines. In this vein(pun intended), blue cheeses are notoriously difficult to match with many red wines.  Apart from the famous matches with sweet or fortified wines, most blue cheeses are probably best enjoyed by afficionados on their own. Converting a skeptic to its merits via wine matching is another matter, but that is another tidbit altogether.

The two cheeses on the shelves of a Neal's Yard branch in London are quite pungent but they make fairly good matches for a fair number of red wines. The wheels of Parmiggiano-Reggiano (or Parmesan) are supposed to be good with Amarone (as well as balsamic vinegar) but apart from being grated over pasta, I have found it to be versatile in matching a number of medium to full bodied red wines. With lesser Parmesans, the range of red wines is wider.

The ones on the bottom are actually cloth-bound wheels of artisanal farmhouse cheddar - these are from the Montgomery dairy, one of the best (and most expensive) Cheddars in the world. Clarets seem to get along happily with Montgomery cheddar; as for other wines, full bodied ones will be a better match. Lesser Cheddars are again more accommodating and tend to match a large number of red and white wines. What about white wines and cheeses? We'll leave that to another tidbit.