Pairing Blue Cheese with Red Wines

Video Transcript

"Hi, I'd like to talk to you a bit about pairing blue cheese and red wine. Now, this is a unique combination and you have to be a little bit careful. It's like a wrestling match, it could go bad or it could go very, very well. Here's what's going on. Blue cheese has a lot of flavor. It also has a lot of very, very rich texture and a little bit of salt. The flavors are sometimes called pungent or earthy and, even sometimes, bitter. That's a lot for a wine to hold up to. For the red wine match to work, we're going to have to try a red wine that's very fruity, maybe spicy, and a little bit moderate in the tannins. This will allow the earthy pungency of the blue cheese to match up and meet, kind of in midair, with the fruity spiciness of the red wine. The full-bodied texture of both the cheese and the wine should make a nice combination, but it can also get overwhelming. So make sure that you serve this in small amounts. The perfect fruity, spicy, low-tannin red wine to match up with blue cheese would be Malbec, maybe Merlot, Carmenere, Zinfandel or Shiraz. All of these red wines are known for being fruity and spicy and they can make a fabulous match with blue cheese. You can have it plain, just as a wine and cheese course or you can crumble the blue cheese over your steak for an added delight. So try blue cheese and red wine. Be careful, but have fun."