What’s With That Cheese? Well, White Wine!

By and large, and despite common assumptions, white wines do a better job than red wines as regular partners for cheese.

More people worldwide drink dry or off-dry white wine with their cheese than red wine. We Americans think that red wine is the best partner to cheese because we are, in much of our eating habits, British, and the British were wont to sip their reds with their cheeses. That’s an accident of history too. Red wine was leftover at the end of a meal when the cheese course came along.

White wines pair better with most cheeses. The higher native acidity of white wines is a happier match for both the high salt and fat of most cheeses. By and large, red wines just don’t have a lot of acidity and that works against them when paired with cheese.

Also, red wines have so much more to “lose” than whites do when eaten with cheese. What we want in a red wine—the rich flavor, the tannic grip, and the length of a finish—are all lost or at least very much compromised or diminished in the presence of a fat-coating cheese. Simply put, most cheese blocks a red wine from being a red wine.

On the other hand, white wines don’t have as much to lose. Plus, with their higher levels of acidity, they’re much better cleaner-uppers than reds. 

Nonetheless, the best red wine and cheese pairings (apart from the easy pitch of sweet, fortified reds with blue cheese) are those that match a red with very full-flavored cheeses, especially the “stinkies,” washed-rind cheeses, and firm, aged cheeses.

But here are a bunch of suggested (especially European) wine and cheese pairings. You’ll notice many of them are “if they grow together, they go together” matches, showing that wines and cheeses from the same terroir marry well, as a matter of tradition.

▪ Comté (France) with white Côtes du Rhône
▪ Emmenthaler (Switzerland) with Dry Sauvignon Blanc (Sancerre or New Zealand)
▪ Fresh Goat with Dry Sauvignon Blanc (Sonoma, Loire, New Zealand)
▪ Gorgonzola (Italy) with Vin Santo or Bual Madeira
▪ Havarti (Denmark) with Medium-dry German Riesling
▪ Mahon (Spain) with Semi-Sweet or Dry Madeira
▪ Manchego (Spain) with Penedès Chardonnay or Almansa Tinto (La Mancha)
▪ Morbier (France) with White Jura or Mâcon Blanc or Burgundy Rouge
▪ Mozzarella di Bufala (Italy) with Greco di Tufo or Lacryma Christi Bianco
▪ Pont-l’Évêque (France) with Alsace Pinot Gris or Rhône Viognier
▪ Roquefort (France) with Sauternes or Barsac
▪ Gruyère or Beaufort (France) with Chablis or Dry Mâcon Blanc