Wine and Cheese #1

This past weekend (Feb 10), I went home because I won't be seeing my parents again for a while, and sometimes I just miss having a quiet place to sleep at night. I told them about this class, and my dad said and I quote, "Well, the wine and cheese pairing should be easy. We're a bunch of whiners and I make cheesy jokes." That one made me laugh. My mom suggested we go somewhere to do the wine and cheese pairing, but when we looked at restaurants, they were all beyond far away, beyond, expensive and incredibly beyond fancy for both my and my parents' liking. We ended up choosing to do the wine and cheese pairing at home, which both saved some bucks (poor college kid, yikes) and made it more fun.

The wines my mom and I chose varied. Because I'm half Chilean from my mom's side, I chose a 2016 Root: 1 Cabernet Sauvignon from Maipo Valley, Chile. Next, my mom and I picked a 2015 Lunar Harvest Merlot from Columbia Valley, mostly because we liked the different phases of the moon on the bottle. Last, we chose a 2016 Pinot Noir crafted by the Casella Family (aka, Yellow Tail).

For the cheeses, we hit up our local Walmart and picked a soft-ripened brie from the brand President, as well as a smoked gouda from the brand American farmhouse, and an artigiano cheese crafted in Wisconsin that was soaked in red wine. I LOVE brie, so of course, I bought the brie no questions asked. The red wine cheese sounded interesting, so we had to have it. As for the gouda, I've never had it, but I am a fan of pretty much all cheese, so I was expecting big things.

My parents and I don't get out much, so we made this a whole event at the Legg household. My mom works in the bakery at Walmart, so she helped me pick out the freshest sourdough bread they had, and I bought some red pepper jelly and a balsamic sweet onion jam to pair with the bread, cheese, and wine. Just by themselves with the bread, they're both incredible and I would highly recommend them.






By themselves, the Pinot Noir tasted like cherries and smelled like cherries, but in a good way. The Cabernet Sauvignon smelled like cherries, but darker and richer smelling, it tasted heavily like mocha and very tannic, it made me crave water. The Merlot description said silky tannins, but let me tell you, the tannins were the exact opposite of silky in my opinion. This Merlot was hard to even taste test because it was so heavy on my tongue, but the oak aftertaste was nice.


As for the pairings, the first cheese we tried was the brie. By itself the brie was creamy and nutty, but not overpowering. The first wine we had with it was the pinot noir. The pinot noir made the brie taste more pungent. The brie brought out the cherry in the pinot noir and the spices. The brie brought out the mocha in the cabernet sauvignon but the cabernet sauvignon made the cheese taste like it had just spoiled. The brie made the merlot taste VERY tannic. The merlot overpowered the brie, but from what I could taste, it was more acidic tasting. The merlot with the brie made me very thirsty

The second cheese was gouda. The pinot noir overpowered the smoked gouda after drinking then tasting, but the smoked gouda when tasting after the pinot noir tasted SUPER smoky and a lot like a balogna you would get at a butcher's job. With the cabernet sauvignon, the gouda tasted a lot creamier and not as smoky. The gouda also made the cabernet sauvignon less tannic and easier to drink. It brought out the mocha flavors, which was wild with the smokiness of the gouda. The merlot made the gouda even smokier and richer tasting. The gouda also made the merlot taste a bit smokier, probably due to the oak aftertaste of the merlot, but it went down smoother.

The third cheese was the artiginio cheese. By itself, I hated this cheese. With the wine, I hated this cheese. Overall, I hated this cheese. The cheese COMPLETELY overpowered the wine and the pinot noir tasted like water because of it. The cheese tasted like how I imagine a sweaty locker room would taste. It was awful. The cabernet sauvignon made the cheese taste saltier, but less like a sweaty locker room. It tasted more like a parmagano reganno cheese. The merlot actually made this cheese taste kind of spicy, which was odd and I wasn't expecting it. The cheese also made the merlot seem heavier than it was and more tannic.

The bread with the jellies was a nice change from the cheese and wine, and the bread itself was a good palate cleanser. Overall, my mom said she would not do this with me again because she is not a fan of red wines and I chose only red wines. Maybe next time I'll do white wines with different cheeses.

My mom and the assortment of food and wine