Dear Wine Geometrists,
I got married last month (yaaay!), and had Russians and Americans for this celebration.
One of the main questions I got was: in a dinner, how should I start on the wines, and which wines to drink with which cheese ?
There's a saying in France that "blanc sur rouge, rien ne bouge, rouge sur blanc, tout fout le camp» which we could translate as "red after white, you're alright; white after red, you're dead". Which means you need to start with white wines before switching to reds, if you are to drink both during a dinner.
Whites are more for aperitif, first dish, and fish as well. Reds are more suitable for main dishes of meat and cheese. But I do need to add that sweet whites such as Jurancon, Sauternes, Montbazillac, or even a Loire Valley that I tried last week (Coteaux du Layon Villages), are fantastic with dessert!
Basically , the rule or thumb is to pair wines with food: tannic wines with salty food or stinky cheese, softer wines with creamy cheese or classic hard crust cheese like comte, and sweet wines with sweet food.
The wine needs to balance the food you are eating, so it needs to answer the levels of acidity, sweetness are saltiness the food is giving you. Since most cheeses have a medium to strong texture and structure, I would straightaway exclude drinking burgundy wines and Grenache wines with cheese.
Bordeaux wines are your best pick for cheese. The more Cabernet Sauvignon you have in the blend, the stronger cheese you can go for.
