See Also: Appetizers
Pairing Wine and Cheese for Holidays
From Dorothy McNett's recipes at www.dorothymcnett.com
1. A triple creme Brie from France, or any other soft fresh cheese, pair with slices of good quality French or Italian style bread, a wedge of Spanish Manchego, clusters of seedless grapes, dried cranberries, pear slices, and San Benito County dried apricots. A fruity crisp Riesling, Chardonnay...even as a first course with champagne.
2. Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Take a small wheel of Brie, place it on a platter that can go into the oven, make a hole in the middle of the cheese about 1/2 inch in diameter and fill with white wine. Cover with parchment and heat about 10 minutes. Serve with sliced cold turkey or mortadella and bread slices or crackers. Pair this with a slightly sweet white wine such as Gewurtztraminer, Riesling, or even a dryer Chardonnay.
3.. Now we smell and taste Emmenthal or Raclette, fabulous old-world cheeses that come from Switzerland and are melted and served with cooked tiny potatoes, cornichons, caperberries, and slices of sturdy bread or crackers. Try a great Zinfandel with this one.
4. Basque cheese (Petit Basque) and smoky braided Scamoza are perfect with Calera Pinot Noir...along with some walnuts or hazelnuts.
5. We can't have a party without Stilton, apple slices, pear slices, dried fruit slices, pickled walnuts, and a fabulous big red such as Cabernet or Merlot. Can't get enough of this one, served with sliced baguettes.
6. Now that we are into big red wines, go for some dark chocolate for nibbling and conversing. IsaBella Zanger dark chocolates are great, as well as several others we have featured here today.
7. With strong coffee, we feature the fabulous Pandoro or Fruit Cake or Pfeffernusse cookies along with a variety of sweet dessert wines. The Blackberry wine can be poured over ice cream for a very unusual treat. Port and Sherry also good with some cakes and cookies.
Recipe created 2001-11-16.
