Cheese Pairing 3 - Chenin Blanc, Sherry, Port

 

Left to right: Me, Bob

My roommate Bob is also taking this class, so we did this together.

Cheese Assortment: Point Reyes Original Blue, Gorgonzola Dolce, Stilton

Barton & Guestier Vouvray Chenin Blanc

My review alone:

This wine has strong, sweet aromas of pear with a hint of apple. It has smooth, creamy flavors of honey, and is sweet throughout. There is almost no acidity or bitterness to speak of. It is medium-bodied, with a slightly viscous mouthfeel. It has a strange aftertaste, some kind of semi-sweet fruit that I cannot identify.

My review with Stilton cheese:

This pairing made me nostalgic. The cheese had an odd mustiness to it, with flavors of old wood and nuts. When combined with the sweetness of the wine, it took my mind to a salty seaside scene of the preserved smells of staying on a WWII battleship in Charleston, SC with my old Boy Scout troop. The intense flavor of the cheese brought out a bit more acidity and bitterness in the wine. An excellent pairing.

Morentia Cream Sherry

My review alone:

This wine both looks and smells like whiskey, and therefore, football season. I think I smelled some cinnamon in there underneath all that alcohol. However, almost none of this alcohol was present in the taste. It tasted like I was drinking cinnamon-y syrup, and its body was trending that way too. I think I also detected some black cherry notes in there too.

My review with Gorgonzola Dolce cheese:

The gorgonzola really muted this wine, which is to say it brought it from an 11 to a 10 on the intensity scale. Still syrupy, but a bit less so, with even less alcohol taste. It also produced a raisin aftertaste. A pretty good pairing.

Borges Porto Tawny Port

My review alone:

Once again, more alcohol smell. Not as intense as the Sherry, however. Not much more on the smell front. This wine had a very nice, prominent raisin flavor, with hints of raspberry. As a big fan of raisins, I quite liked this. It had a rich, woody characteristic, owing to its "Tawny" name. It also masked its intense alcohol quite nicely.

My review with blue cheese:

The blue cheese really canceled out the alcohol and the rich, woody flavors, leaving only sweetness. I even think it reverted the raisin flavor into standard grape flavor, still with a bit of raspberry. A good pairing.