Wine and Cheese Pairing

Over spring break my friends and I had a private wine and cheese pairing at Grinder’s Switch Winery in Nashville Tennessee! While there we tried 8 different wines paired with cheese, fruits, and chocolate.

Up first was a 2019 Tennessee ​​Chambourcin paired with pepper Romano cheese. This wine is a dry, smooth, and medium bodied red wine that had plum smells and a hint of vanilla. Upon tasting, the wine was tart and acidic with a plum taste and hints of vanilla. This complemented the salty pepper Romano cheese very nicely. The tartness of the wine balanced out the very salty cheese that was almost too salty to eat alone! Neither the saltiness of the cheese nor the tartness of the wine overpowered each other.  Overall I thought this pairing was great and enjoyed the wine alone. The mild sweetness and tannins make this red wine very enjoyed with or without cheese.

 

Next was a 2020 Vidal Blanc paired with Brie. This wine had a strong citrus aroma filled with grapefruit and tangerine smells. This was a very crisp wine with medium acids and refreshing, orange citrus flavors. This wine with a creamy and fatty Brie cheese made for a nice pairing. Since the wine was refreshing and had mild flavors it did not overpower the brie, and the brie did not overpower the wine. The crispness of the wine lessened some of the fatness of the cheese, and cut some of the creaminess of the brie. While some might not like this, I enjoyed how the wine made the cheese seem lighter and not as rich.

Last but not least was a 2021 Strawberry Rose blend of Chardonnay and concord paired with colby cheese. This had an extremely strong strawberry scent and tasted just like strawberry jelly. It was my least favorite of the wines we tried, since it was just too sweet to finish a glass. Thankfully the buttery colby cheese helped cut some of the sweetness of the wine. However any sweetness in the colby cheese was drowned out by the sweetness of the wine, not allowing us to fully taste all the flavors of the cheese.

Overall this has been one of my favorite experiences! The women who led the tour turned out to be really fun and enjoyed hearing about the class we were taking. She explained her inspirations behind each pairing and a little bit about the climate for grape growing in Nashville. One thing I found interesting was that Tennessee wines are similar to Portuguese wines since they have similar climates. This was a great way to talk about wine with experts and share my new knowledge with my friends!