Wine and Cheese Pairing

 Wine and Cheese Pairing for Monthly Cycle 2

The first cheese is myzithra, an incredibly salty Greek cheese with funky notes. It is supposed to be good with light bodied white wine, rose wine, and bad with medium bodied red wines. 

The second cheese is Smoked Gouda, which is a creamy, fruity, umami cheese. It is supposed to be good with medium-bodied red wine, and okay with light bodied white wine and rose. 

The third cheese is a gruyere, which is creamy, nutty, and hard with funky notes. It is supposed to pair well with light bodied white wine and medium bodied red wine, and okay with rose. I think this cheese tasted the best with each wine. 

The first wine is a Pinot Grigio. It is sweet and low in acidity, with notes of honeysuckle and fruit. It should pair well with the gruyere and myzithra. 

The second wine is a Rose from California. It was dry, but sweet and very floral. It should pair well with myzithra. 

The third wine is a sweet red wine, with no distinctive variety. It tasted like a watery port, so medium bodied with berry notes, specifically cherry. It was smooth and sweet, but not dry, with some tannins. It is supposed to taste good with smoked gouda and gruyere. 

White and Gruyère: Both the wine and the cheese are very smooth. The fattiness of the Gruyère compliments the light acidity and sweetness of the wine. The wine mellows out the saltiness of the cheese. It is supposed to pair well, and it does pair well. 

White and myzithra: The wine mellows out the funky mold notes of the cheese. The saltiness also pairs well with the acidity of the wine, making it pleasantly salty-sweet.  It is supposed to pair well, and it pairs okay. 

White and Gouda: I didn’t think the smokiness worked well with the sweetness of the wine. Wine compliments the saltiness of the Gouda, but not the smokiness. The fattiness doesn’t work well here but probably just the smokiness. If it wasn’t smoky, it probably would taste good. It was supposed to pair okay, but not my favorite. 

Rose and Gruyère: The fattiness of the cheese compliments the floral. Dry compliments the fat, tastes smooth. Best combination so far. The cheese takes away dry flavor and leaves the sweet. Supposed to taste ok, tastes great. 

Rose and myzithra: The dryness of the wine intensified the salt and makes it taste like feet. Brings out the worst qualities of both, making it funky and salty, and overpowers floral. It is supposed to taste good, and certainly did not. 

Rose and Gouda: The dry of the wine complimented the fattiness of the cheese. However because of smoky flavor, it hid the flavor of the rose. Mostly smoky and dry notes, the worst of both, which left an unbalanced mess in my mouth. It was supposed to pair okay, did not pair well at all. 

Red and Gruyère: The dryness of the wine highlights funkiness of cheese. It is unpleasant, but the smoothness of cheese and wine compliment each other, making it okay. The red tannins makes the cheese taste weird. It is supposed to pair well, it pairs okay. 

Red and myzithra: This combination tastes like feet. The acidity and dryness of the red highlights the funkiness of the cheese. Saltiness is good with sweetness of wine, but that is the only good part. Also tastes like feet. It is supposed to pair bad, but it pairs okay. 

Red and Gouda: Terrible. Smokiness of cheese mixes terribly with the taste of the wine. Both wine and cheese are smooth, so that makes the pairing taste better. The dryness of the wine makes the smokiness sit in the throat, which is similar to vomit. It is supposed to taste good together, but is ultimately the worst pairing.