Food and wine
What wine with cheese board?
The reflex of reaching for red is a mistake. A white works better almost every time.
A selection of cheeses served before or instead of dessert: typically a goat's cheese, a hard mountain cheese, a soft one and a blue.
Why this pairing works
This is the most misunderstood pairing in French dining. The fat in cheese hardens the tannins in red: the two get in each other's way. A sharp white cuts through the fat and lets the cheese speak. Blue cheese is the exception: it wants sugar.
Look for on the list
Sancerre
32–60 €Sharp sauvignon: unbeatable with goat's cheese, and good with everything else.
Bourgogne blanc
30–58 €Chardonnay, round but clean, which holds up to comté and the hard mountain cheeses.
Sauternes
45–95 €For blue cheese only: sugar and salt answer each other, and it is spectacular.
What to avoid : Very tannic reds, which turn bitter. And the idea that one wine will suit five different cheeses.
The ranges are restaurant prices for a full bottle. By the glass, reckon on roughly a quarter. At a wine shop, divide by two or three.
What to say
« Qu'est-ce que vous conseillez avec le plateau de fromages ? »
pronounced : kess-kuh voo kon-say-YAY a-vek luh pla-TOH duh fro-MAJ
What do you suggest with the cheese board?
Yes, but on this list?
Knowing which style of wine you want still does not tell you which one to take from the thirty lines in front of you. Photograph the list: Cépage compares what is actually available, at your budget, and decides.
Scan a list