Wine and Cheese

An Italian proverb says: “la bocca non è sazia se non sa di vacca”, the mouth is not tired if doesn’t taste as cow, meaning “a meal must always end with cheese”.
In my country cheese is on everybody’s tables. We are the third European nation for cheese production with 1.3 million tons, only behind Germany and France, with 487 varieties of cheese including fresh, spreadable and aged. But what do cheeses have in common with wines? A lot. From climatic influences to production area, from the transformation process (alcoholic and curdling) to aging. If the marriage between wine and cheese may seem easy, in practice there are several rules depending on the main characteristics of the cheeses as acidity, fatness, seasoning, sweetness, the bitter tendency, the intensity and the persistence. It’s a good idea to combine each cheese with a wine that enhances its flavor. For example, a structured wine, possibly aged, must be combined with a mature cheese. Soft and fresh stretched curd cheeses are fatty cheeses, like Burrata, Fiordilatte and Mozzarella di Bufala. The wines to be paired must be light and not very full-bodied, to counteract fatness. Cheeses with a flowery rind are those which are inoculated with special molds, like Brie and Camembert. These are products that have a pleasant creaminess. In this case we recommend a wine with a good structure and medium evolution wine but with a good acidity. Hard or semi-hard cheeses as Caciocavallo, Emmental, Fontina, sweet Provolone are more mature cheeses and characterized by a growing flavor. A good combination will be with an aromatic wine. Aged cheeses are cheeses with a long maturation that gives to the cheese greater intensity, flavor and persistence such as to require a well structured wine, like Pecorino, Parmigiano Reggiano, Grana Padano. Finally blue cheeses, one of the best choices to end a meal, as Gorgonzola, Roquefort, Stilton are aromatic, savory cheeses with a very long persistence. They go well with structured and complex wines able to counteract the bitter tendency. A good advice is not to serve the cheese cold but let it rest for about half an hour out of the fridge.
Below the recommended pairing:

Soft and fresh stretched curd cheeses like Burrata Luisa
Nethun I.G.T. Lazio bianco Muscari Tomajoli

Cheeses with a flowery rind like Fiocco della Tuscia Chiodetti
Greco I.G.P. Lazio Aleano Salenero

Semi-hard like Provolone Valpadana D.O.P. dolce  Ca’ De’ Stefani
Arvange Spumante Metodo Classico Pas Dosé Cantina Valtidone

Aged cheeses like Parmigiano Reggiano Malandrone 1477
Lambrusco I.G.T. Emilia Grasparossa Frizzante Rosso Secco Libeccio 225 Podere Cipolla

Blue cheeses like Gorgonzola D.O.P. dolce La Casera
Orvieto Classico Superiore D.O.C. Ca’ Viti Cantine Neri

For any further information contact me on

stefaniamontalbano@carlozucchetti.it