Much has been said about the perfect marriage between wine and cheese, but anyone who has gone to a hastily put together wine and cheese party surely has encountered some disastrous combinations. As it is with all generalities, the marriage between wine and cheese has its exceptions. For instance, try a big, bold Italian wine like Barbera with a triple-cream Brie cheese and you will see quite quickly why pairing wine with cheese takes a little thought. Since Barbera has acidity and Brie is fatty, the match should work as acids cut through fats. But a good Barbera also has intense fruit character. Brie is often so subtle that the forward wine obliterates the cheese's taste.
A sharp, salty Reggiano cheese works rather nicely with northern Italian red wines such as Barbera, Chianti or Dolcetto. The acid of the wines cuts through the cheese and at the same time the cheese's strength stands up to the boldness of the fruit.
One of the classic wine and cheese matches of all time is a fortified wine, Port, with Stilton. The relative sweetness and roundness of Port is a perfect foil for the sharp pungency of a good Stilton. Among the best pairings of this type are the Ports known as Late Bottle Vintage (LBV). LBV Ports from good producers are sweet enough and flavorful enough to make it almost impossible to stop eating Stilton until the bottle of Port is empty. On its own, however, Stilton's edginess is quite a lot for the palate to handle over a long period of time.
Another interesting cheese and wine combination is to pair a crisp white wine like Sauvignon Blanc with a creamy, fatty cheese like Camembert; here, acidity meets fat and the two begin to harmonize. At the risk of sounding Revolutionary, at is-wine we believe pairing crisp white wines with fatty cheeses is a step above the classic pairing of elegant red Bordeaux wines with such cheeses.
One thing to remember when pairing cheese with wine is that the bread or crackers you select should be neutral. Far too often a salty cracker or a molasses-sweet dark bread completely ruins the wine and cheese combination.
