Wine & Cheese #1

 Wine & Cheese #1

My best friends and I went to Blacksburg Wine Lab to celebrate my new full-time job post grad! Since we'd be able to taste more wines and cheeses with more value, I decided to make this a wine and cheese tasting!

For my three wines, I chose the Captain's Chair Flight, which includes a 2020 Serra Oca Moscatel Graudo, 2020 Siduri Santa Barbara Pinot Noir, and a 2020 Mollydooker the Boxer Shiraz.

Moscatel Graudo Tasting Notes: This is a light white wine from Portugal, made from 100% Moscatel Graudo grapes. This wine was not my favorite, I found it to be too acidic and too musky for me. It had strong flavors, almost peachy with a hint of spice and grapefruit. I also could find hints of olive oil, weird! It is slightly sweet, but not too much at all. Served chilled, I thought of this as a good white wine for people that love oaky flavors.

Pinot Noir Tasting Notes: This wine is 100% Pinot Noir from California. Some major flavors that hit me all at once were blackberry, pine tree, and pomegranate. This wine was full bodied, and it had softer tannins and high acidity. This wine is definitely fruity, but still dry at the same time.

Shiraz Tasting Notes: This Australian wine made from 100% Shiraz grapes is vibrant and I tasted notes of oak. I found out it's actually barrel fermented in 100% American oak! This wine feels like a very balanced wine, which I really enjoyed. I didn't get a crazy tannin-y. acidic punch in the face; instead it was more of a smooth mouthfeel and I tasted vanilla, tart cherry, and plum as well as tobacco... or maybe licorice?

Time to pair these wines with some cheeses!

I did some research beforehand, so I decided to pair the Moscatel Graudo with some kind of goat cheese because it has a tangy and slightly tart flavor that can complement the sweetness of Moscatel Graúdo. I decided to go with the Vermont Honey Truffle goat cheese, and although it was a risk of being too sweet with the honey, it was actually a perfect pair! The cheese was tart and creamy and the truffle flavor was subtle, and the flavors of the Moscatel Graudo created a smooth and rich feeling in my mouth. I definitely enjoyed the wine a lot more while paired with the cheese!

I opted to pair the Pinot Noir with Widmer's 10 year cheddar. One of my favorite cheeses ever is a nice sharp cheddar, and this one did not disappoint. It was tangy, savory, and complemented the acid and tannins perfectly when paired with the pinot. Since the pinot wasn't too sweet, it didn't feel like the flavors were fighting each other, but rather they worked together in harmony.

I knew I wanted to taste the combo of a Shiraz wine with a strong blue cheese, so I chose the Valdeon Blue cheese for this pairing. The cheese is strong and earthy and soft, and the pungent flavors complement the fruitiness and jamminess of the Shiraz. The wine is full bodied enough to put up a fight against the blue cheese instead of being overwhelmed by it. This was probably my favorite pairing of the night!

Overall, these wine and cheese pairings were a definite success. I love how all of the flavors that I combined were so unique and tasty! I have a lot more confidence in my ability to pair wines and cheeses in the future. I will definitely be trying new pairings that are similar to these using my new knowledge because if there's anything I love, it's wine and cheese!