National Wine and Cheese Day

Wine and cheese are ageless companions, like aspirin and aches, or June and the moon, or good people and noble ventures.

M.F.K. Fisher

There are some things in the world that were just meant to go together, like Chocolate and Peanut Butter, oil and vinegar, and of course wine and cheese! Since time out of mind wine and cheese have been paired together and served at all the most important of events among the highest class of people. Wine And Cheese Day celebrates this eternal bonding and the elegance it engenders.

Learn about National Wine and Cheese Day

National Wine and Cheese Day is a date that celebrates the ultimate pairing of cheese and wine. For a lot of people, there is nothing that goes together better than a great glass of wine and some premium quality cheese. A lot of wine-producing cultures pair regional wines with local cheeses, and so this is an art that is recognized in many parts around the world.

Not only does National Wine and Cheese Day give you the chance to celebrate this tradition, but it also gives you the opportunity to expand your knowledge in terms of pairing different types of wine and cheese. There are so many different types of wine and cheese – it would be impossible to name them all! This means that there is always something new to learn when it comes to the art of pairing these two treats together. And, of course, while there are some general guidelines to follow in terms of determining what sort of cheese is going to go well with the wine you’re serving, you can also learn a lot by simply trying out different combinations.

History of Wine And Cheese Day

There is an interesting element to all of the pairings mentioned in the introduction, with the possible exception of chocolate and peanut butter. Pairings of food almost universally involve pairing an astringent food, like wine, with a fatty food like cheese. The reason isn’t just incidental, but in fact is one of the secrets of culinary science that’s used in creating truly delectable meals.

Astringent foods have a tendency to bind with the elements in saliva that lubricate and cause them to clump and lose their ability to lubricate. This tends to leave us with a puckered mouth and nobody loves that! Even worse, the more you consume astringent foods the drier they make your mouth! While we all agree that wine and tea are both delicious, no one wants a puckered mouth!

This is where the cheese comes in with its fatty texture and often pungent flavors. Each bite tends to coat our mouths just a little more making it lubricated with fat, often to the point of being slimy! We love the flavors, but the constant build up of flavor can often be overwhelming, and that’s when wine comes to the rescue!

Wine And Cheese Day celebrates this pairing of foods and the ways they interact to make each one even more enjoyable!

How to celebrate Wine And Cheese Day

The best way to celebrate Wine And Cheese Day is by hosting a wine and cheese tasting of your very own! Get together with your friends and plan out the evening with every variety of cheese you can imagine. Bring your Port Wines and your blushes, your champagnes and your reds and whites, and for each of them bring a parade of cheeses to be sampled. We’re not talking simple Sharp Cheddar but exotics like blue cheese and Limburger, Gorgonzola and Mizithra, all the wondrous cheese of the world!

Here are some tips to help you pair wine and cheese together effectively:

• When in doubt, a firm and nutty cheese won’t let you down.
• Cheeses and wines that come from the same place pair well together. Remember what we said about the French brie earlier?
• Sparkling wines work beautifully with creamy, soft cheeses. This is because the wine has high carbonation and acidity, which acts as a palate-cleanser for the sticky and creamy cheeses, like Cremont, Camembert, Muenster, and Brie.
• Sweeter wines and funky cheeses go together perfectly. Sweeter wines like Late Harvest dessert wines and Moscato go well with the blue-veined cheeses. This is because the sweetness from the wine helps to balance out the ‘funk’ in the cheese.
• Aged cheeses and bold red wines go well together. Look for cheeses that have aged for at least a year when serving a bold red wine. This is because the cheese’s fat content will counteract the high-tannins in the wine. Cheeses you can serve include the likes of Provolone, Gouda, Manchego, and Cheddar.
• Pair cheeses and wines that equal intensity. If you were to opt for a Cabernet Sauvignon and Gruyère, for example, the cheese would be overwhelmed by the bold and big flavors of the wine.

With these tips, you should be able to come up with some great wine and cheese pairings that you and your loved ones can enjoy. You could even get everyone to contribute a wine and cheese pairing each, and then you could see who has been able to come up with the best match. After all, there is nothing like a bit of friendly competition, right?