Back with another cheese pairing!! I actually did this a few weeks ago, but am just getting around to writing about it now. My cheese board was far less beautiful and exciting as my first. This one was a lot less thought out than my first tasting. I sort of did this on purpose because I wanted to take note of the different tastes as I casually sip on and eat various wines and cheeses. The first wine and cheese pairing I did was very planned and I bought specific wines to pair with specific cheeses. This round I found a little bit of 2 kinds of leftover cheese in my fridge, so I only went out and bought 1. I went to Wal-Mart to get it instead of Sprout’s because I wanted to spend less. As for the three wines, I had glasses of different kinds my roommates had laying around the house that I had never tried before! I liked the spontaneousness of this wine and cheese pairing, it was sort of like a scavenger hunt to make a cheese board! This is what I ended up with:

I found some dried fruits, nuts and these little biscotti bread stick things that were really yummy! These were all components of my make-shift cheese platter. Thankfully my friend let me borrow her plate and dishes to make my platter look fancier. The three bottles of wine I ended up with were Freakshow Cabernet Sauvignon, Butter Chardonnay and Lockwood Malbec.

I decided to start with the Butter Chardonnay. This wine was very oaky and dry. I liked the taste a lot actually! It was slightly bitter, but also extremely creamy and smooth. I took a little bite of each cheese, then chased each bite with a sip of wine to taste them together. I first took a bite of the sharp cheddar because I knew it would be my favorite. It was tangy and delicious. It had a sort of gritty texture, which sounds gross, but it made the cheese really good. When I sipped the Chardonnay right after the cheese, it tasted AMAZING. The combination of the creamy oaky wine with the tangy cheese was weirdly awesome together. Then I tasted the Sartori cheese with the Chardonnay. This cheese was on the sweeter side, which I liked a lot. It was really smooth and tasted good on its own or with crackers. When I took a sip of the Chardonnay, the combination tasted amazing once again. I loved the way the sweetness of the cheese contrasted with the bitterness of the wine. I saved the blue cheese for last because it is my least favorite. The blue cheese tasted like all other blue cheese tastes to me….bad! Haha! It was verrry stinky and bitter. I thought it might taste better with some wine in my mouth, but I was wrong. It still tasted really bad. Overall, I liked this Chardonnay a lot.

Next, I had a glass of the Freakshow Cabernet Sauv. I was excited to try this wine because it has such a fun bottle and name! This wine was really deep, but also fruity at the same time. A description online said it has cherry notes, which I could definitely pick up on. I think this would be a really nice wine to have for dessert! I was very excited to taste the different kinds of cheeses with the wine. I went in the same order as last time. I started with the sharp cheddar! The combination of the cheddar with the Cabernet Sauvignon was absolutely delicious. I wasn’t surprised at all about how good these two tasted together. I really liked the fruity notes of this wine with the tangy cheddar cheese. Next, I took a bite of the Sartori. Like I mentioned before, this cheese is a little bit sweet, so it had an interesting taste combined with the wine. Something about the two didn’t taste as good as I wanted, but it was still enjoyable. I ended with the blue cheese and I still didn’t like the taste of it. Combined with the wine it wasn’t terrible, but I wouldn’t recommend it or eat it again. Overall, I enjoyed this glass and will be buying it again!

Finally, I tried the Lockwood Malbec. This wine was a little bit too mature for my taste buds. It was too tannic and acidic. I feel like it was really dry and it did not go down very easily. I was hopeful that it would be better with the cheeses! With the sharp cheddar, it tasted really good. The tanginess from the cheese mixed with the acidity of the wine was spot on. I loved the way they tasted together. With the Sartori, which is the cheese that has a touch of sweetness, the overly dry wine tasted delicious. It felt more balanced and it went down much easier. I actually highly enjoyed drinking this wine while I snacked on the Sartori. At this point in the cheese tasting, I was slightly drunk and very full, so it was hard to even get myself to try the blue cheese with this wine. I was expecting to not like it because I didn’t like it with either of the other wines and I don’t like blue cheese in general. I think the combination of the dry wine with the bitter, stinky cheese was one of the most disgusting things I have tried. I promise, I am NOT a picky eater and there aren’t many things I won’t eat. Let me tell you…..I will never eat this again. Especially with an extremely dry Malbec!

Overall, I had another really fun time with this wine and cheese pairing! It had some successes and some failures, but are you ever really failing when you have cheese and wine in front of you?

Until next wine time!