{"id":23874,"date":"2015-07-01T08:00:13","date_gmt":"2015-07-01T12:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nataliemaclean.com\/blog\/?p=23874"},"modified":"2017-02-17T08:13:55","modified_gmt":"2017-02-17T13:13:55","slug":"cheese-wine-matching-tips","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nataliemaclean.com\/blog\/cheese-wine-matching-tips\/","title":{"rendered":"Matching Cheese and Wine for Entertaining"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/e81AKnPRyr4?rel=0\" width=\"630\" height=\"354\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Sirius XM talk show hosts Christine, Kate and Sharon and I chat about <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nataliemaclean.com\/wine-cheese-pairing\/\"><strong>The Great Canadian Wine &amp; Cheese Match<\/strong><\/a> in the clip above (click on the arrow to listen)<\/p>\n<p>You can also watch clips from <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nataliemaclean.com\/blog\/canadian-wine-cheese-pairing-tasting-match\/\"><strong>CTV News<\/strong><\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nataliemaclean.com\/blog\/pairing-canadian-wine-cheese-best\/\"><strong>Global Television<\/strong><\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nataliemaclean.com\/blog\/wine-cheese-match-pairings\/\"><strong>CBC News<\/strong><\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nataliemaclean.com\/blog\/canadian-wine-cheese-pairings\/\"><strong>CTV Morning Live<\/strong><\/a> with more pairings, as well as a radio interview on <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nataliemaclean.com\/blog\/canadian-cheese-wine-pairings\/\"><strong>CJAD<\/strong><\/a>, Montreal&#8217;s most popular talk show.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nataliemaclean.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/canada-wine-flag-wood-620.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-23901\" src=\"http:\/\/www.nataliemaclean.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/canada-wine-flag-wood-620.jpg\" alt=\"bottle of wine with Canada flag in the background\" width=\"620\" height=\"413\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nataliemaclean.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/canada-wine-flag-wood-620.jpg 620w, https:\/\/www.nataliemaclean.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/canada-wine-flag-wood-620-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 620px) 100vw, 620px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Matching Cheese and Wine for Entertaining<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Christine:\u00a0<\/b>Hi there, I\u2019m Christine Bentley and I don\u2019t think Kate Millers going to let me say one word here because we are talking about wine with Natalie MacLean. Hi there Natalie!<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Natalie:\u00a0<\/b>Hi Christine and Kate!<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Christine:\u00a0<\/b>This maybe the last time you hear my voice because\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Kate:\u00a0<\/b>Well that\u2019s not true I just said you\u2019re into Prosecco.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Christine:\u00a0<\/b>Wine and cheese, well yes Prosecco.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Kate:\u00a0<\/b>You\u2019re into Prosecco and I\u2019m into cheese.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Christine:\u00a0<\/b>I\u2019m into cheese too and wine and this is a national competition, right?<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Natalie:\u00a0<\/b>It is and it\u2019s different from a lot of traditional wine competitions because it\u2019s happening online, it\u2019s involving social media and it\u2019s the People\u2019s Choice Awards for Canadian wines. This year we\u2019re pairing them with Canadian cheeses so it\u2019s a lot of fun.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Christine:\u00a0<\/b>So who is your typical competitor?<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Natalie:\u00a0<\/b>The way we organized it this year is we have six categories of Canadian cheeses, the most popular types, so you think mozzarella, cheddar, goat cheese, creamy cheese, blue cheese and so on. Within those six categories, you can nominate your favourite Canadian wine to go with that cheese. It&#8217;s wide open in terms of the wines you can nominate as long as they are made in Canada. We\u2019re getting wines from coast to coast and all sorts of styles from dry to Sparkling to sweet and of course reds and whites and everything in between.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Christine:\u00a0<\/b>So how do you judge it?<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Natalie:\u00a0<\/b>The first phase of this is you nominate a wine online and then you start voting for it and you get your friends to vote for it. So, it\u2019s People\u2019s Choice popularity. At the end, which is very soon May 31<\/span><span class=\"s2\"><sup>st \u2026<\/sup><\/span><span class=\"s1\">\u00a0we\u2019ll close off the voting and then a group of sommeliers, wine bloggers and I will taste the top six wines in each category blindly meaning we won\u2019t know the identity of the wine \u2026<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Christine:\u00a0<\/b>Sure, you had to make yourself a judge, right? I think you need another judge. Kate is happy to join you.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Natalie:\u00a0<\/b>The difference here is that you know the grassroots support and that the wines we will taste have been put forward by Canadians from coast to coast. It\u2019s really fun. It\u2019s not as serious or technical as a traditional competitions. We\u2019re going to sit there, we won\u2019t know which wine is which but we will be pairing them all with cheeses and coming up with their favourites that we think everyday wine drinkers from coast to coast would love.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Christine:\u00a0<\/b>So you take a bite of cheese and then a sip of wine.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Natalie:\u00a0<\/b>Yes, that\u2019s right.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Christine:\u00a0<\/b>And then another one and then another one\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Natalie:\u00a0<\/b>And repeat.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Christine:\u00a0<\/b>I have a great respect for that because I would forget, by the third pairing, what the first one tasted like. I think that takes quite an art?<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Natalie:\u00a0<\/b>It does, it\u2019s all about focus. We love what we do. When it comes to wine tasting, you\u2019re writing a few notes and you\u2019re spitting. You have to spit the wine or you\u2019ll be slaushed by the six wine so that\u2019s the difference between\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Christine:\u00a0<\/b>I thought that would be the point?<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Natalie:\u00a0<\/b>It is after the competition is over.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Christine:\u00a0<\/b>So Natalie as you are the expert, the author of books, publisher at the website of course and the only person to have won both the MFK Fisher Distinguished Writing Award from the James Beard Foundation and the Excellence in Culinary Writing from Les Dames d\u2019Escoffier International.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Natalie:\u00a0<\/b>Good job.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Christine:\u00a0<\/b>Thank you. You have some tips about how we pair Canadian wines with cheeses, so let\u2019s go through them for our listeners. You know wine and cheese parties, to me it seems so 70\u2019s but they\u2019re coming back.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Natalie:\u00a0<\/b>Absolutely.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Christine:\u00a0<\/b>So what\u2019s the easiest to pair?<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Natalie:\u00a0<\/b>If we start with semi fresh or mild flavour cheeses, think mozzarella or goat cheese, they\u2019re not strong or pungent in flavour. The lighter the flavour of the food, the easier they are and the more versatile they are with wine. You could choose a light wine to go with these light cheeses. I\u2019m talking about Riesling and Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Grigio, all wines we do really well in Canada. It doesn\u2019t mean that reds are out. You would choose a light red, maybe a Gamay. This is a Beaujolais style of wine that we do here in Canada.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Christine:\u00a0<\/b>So what about say something you\u2019re doing like a double and triple cream cheese? They\u2019re very rich.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Natalie:\u00a0<\/b>People love those.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Christine:\u00a0<\/b>Yes.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Natalie:\u00a0<\/b>So you talk about camembert style or brie style \u2026<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Christine:\u00a0<\/b>Brie yes.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Natalie:\u00a0<\/b>When<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>that cheese is just flowing like lava over your baguette\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Christine:\u00a0<\/b>Stop it. I\u2019m hungry now.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Natalie:\u00a0<\/b>I\u2019ve done my job then. I want to make you thirsty, too, by the end of this. So now we\u2019re talking about mouth coating texture of food.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Christine:\u00a0<\/b>Right.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Natalie:\u00a0<\/b>So you need to go with an equally rich, buttery wine like an oaked, aged Chardonnay or a Viognier which is very floral white.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>They work well with the creaminess of the cheese. That&#8217;s one strategy when it comes to matching food and wine. You can do contrast. You can do \u2018like with like\u2019<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>or like with the complete opposite. You could take a wine that has a lot of acidity. Acidity is not to be feared in wine. Salt is to food as acidity is to wine. It brings forward the flavour. It makes your mouth water. With a creamy brie or a camembert style cheese, you might choose a Riesling, although it might be a little too light or maybe something a bit stronger, with acidity. A Sauvignon Blanc would work and cut through that cheese like a knife.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Christine:\u00a0<\/b>These are mainly whites. Would you go to a hard cheese, like a cheddar, for a red?<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Natalie:\u00a0<\/b>I would. It&#8217;s not to say that you can\u2019t do red with the cheeses we just talked about but I do think whites work better. We do so many terrific cheddars in this country from coast to coast. I would do a Cabernet Sauvignon or Cabernet Franc. Think about the traditional pairing of a Bordeaux wine from France and a British cheddar. To take that original old world pairing and apply it here in Canada, I would take a Balderson cheddar and a Cabernet Franc or Cabernet Sauvignon from Featherstone Winery in Niagara. You will have a terrific match because the harder the cheese the longer it ages. The higher the concentration of butterfat, the stronger the flavours and the more the acidity and the salt comes forward. What you\u2019re looking for is equal weight and texture in your glass.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>You do want a muscular red for that.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Christine:\u00a0<\/b>Let\u2019s go to Christine\u2019s favourite, Sparkling wines. Doesn\u2019t bubbly wine help defuse salt?<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Natalie:\u00a0<\/b>It does because bubbly wine has natural acidity. You\u2019re looking at salt and acidity as being almost twins when it comes to the glass and the plate. With Sparkling wine, you really don\u2019t have to buy Champagne. There\u2019s nothing wrong with Champagne but it will cost two or three times more than a terrific Sparkling wine from Canada. A bubbly from Benjamin Bridge winery in Nova Scotia or a great Sparkling wine from Niagara or B.C would be terrific with just about any type of cheese because it\u2019s the most food friendly style of wine on the planet. Think back to our creamy cheeses, that swarm of bubbles and that crisp acidity. You have a bite of the cheese \u2026 it\u2019s layered, it coated your mouth and then in comes the bubbly to wash it all away so that your next bite of that creamy cheese is almost as good as the first one.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Christine:\u00a0<\/b>So what is the closest wine, that we make in Canada, to Prosecco?<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Natalie:\u00a0<\/b>It would be our Sparkling wines and we make them more in the style of Champagne.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Christine:\u00a0<\/b>Okay.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Natalie:\u00a0<\/b>We use the same grapes and we use the same method, the second fermentation happens in the bottle.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Christine:\u00a0<\/b>Okay.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Natalie:\u00a0<\/b>So Prosecco is usually a fairly dry\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Christine:\u00a0<\/b>Yes.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Natalie:\u00a0<\/b>&#8230; style of wine. It is budget-priced. So Prosecco usually comes in at maybe $15 or $20 in our liquor stores. Our Sparkling wines average between $25 and $35 while a non-vintage starter Champagne is going to clock in at $60 or $70 and go up from there to vintage dated. It\u2019s really still a bargain that we produce here. We have a cool climate which is what you need to produce terrific Sparkling wine.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Prosecco and all Italian Sparkling wines are produce in the North of the country where it\u2019s a cooler climate. You need that for good bubbly.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Christine:\u00a0<\/b>Now I love a blue cheese. I like strong blue cheese but I find I don\u2019t actually drink wine when I\u2019m having blue cheese because of conflict. Is there anything that goes with it?<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Natalie:\u00a0<\/b>Blue cheese is often at the end of the meal and that\u2019s where we bring out the dessert wine because \u2026 yes, there\u2019s a wine for that. There&#8217;s a wine for everything. If you are a determined hedonist, you will always find the wine. Blue cheeses is probably the strongest, most pungent tasting cheese. It has the most salt.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>It is the most concentrated cheese. When you get that intensity, it can make an ordinary dry table wine, like Cabernet Sauvignon, taste bitter or hot or really alcoholic. So what you need is the wine with a bit of sweetness because sweet is the foil to those salt and heat. It softens and tempers. It\u2019s also the reason why if you have a spicy Asian dish, a wine with a bit of sweetness in it is your match.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">So let\u2019s go back to the blue cheese. It has wonderful flavours but they are intense. Canada does make Port style wines.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Portugal has the trademark on Port so we don\u2019t call it Port but we do fortified Port style sweet wines. We also do Ice wines. They are low in alcohol but they have that sweetness. Depending on the type of blue cheese (blue cheeses range in flavours too).<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>I tried a beautiful one from Quebec \u2026 Elizabeth Blue. It was a creamy blue cheese. It isn\u2019t as harsh. I paired it with a lovely citrus and orange apricot, jammy Ice wine from Reif Winery in Niagara. It was just gorgeous or go for a Quebec hard cider. It\u2019s technically not a wine but we include them in this competition \u2026 wines and ciders. <span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Quebec make wonderful ciders so think apple pie and a swirl of blue cheese\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Christine:\u00a0<\/b>Just stop it. Stop it. Stop it, right now. Tell our listeners how they can enter the contest.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Natalie:\u00a0<\/b>Sure. Go to my website which is\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/nataliemaclean.com\/\"><span class=\"s3\">nataliemaclean.com<\/span><\/a>\u00a0so that is\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/n-a-t-a-l-i-e-m-a-c-l-e-a-n.com\/\"><span class=\"s3\">n-a-t-a-l-i-e-m-a-c-l-e-a-n.com<\/span><\/a>, you\u2019re going to see a little box for the Great Canadian Wine and Cheese Match there. Click on that. It\u2019s really easy to nominate a wine and you don\u2019t have to be a wine expert. That\u2019s not the point here. It\u2019s your favourite Canadian wine or you can just go and vote for the wines that are already nominated. You don\u2019t have to nominate one. What\u2019s really great is you can see the wines that people are suggesting for different types of cheeses. Get a shopping list of Canadian wines you want to try this summer maybe for Canada Day. Throughout the summer, there\u2019s no stove gets turned on with this kind of snack. Try the different combinations. That&#8217;s the fun of it and you\u2019ll see the rankings change hourly depending on who\u2019s voting. You can really make a difference. You will know which wines are winning by voting.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Christine:\u00a0<\/b>Natalie MacLean, thank you very much for talking to us.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Natalie:\u00a0<\/b>Well Cheers, Christine and Kate, I hope you\u2019re still hungry and thirsty.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Christine:\u00a0<\/b>I\u2019m starving. We\u2019re going to try to move the show. Unfortunately we have to be here till noon.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sirius XM talk show hosts Christine, Kate and Sharon and I chat about The Great Canadian Wine &amp; Cheese Match in the clip above (click on the arrow to listen) You can also watch clips from CTV News, Global Television, CBC News and CTV Morning Live with more pairings, as well as a radio interview on CJAD, Montreal&#8217;s most popular talk show. &nbsp; Matching Cheese and Wine for Entertaining Christine:\u00a0Hi there, I\u2019m Christine Bentley and I don\u2019t think Kate Millers going to let me say one word here because we are talking about wine with Natalie MacLean. Hi there Natalie! [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[109,113,1299,375,1301,777,462,214,1302,478,1298,1294,1201,946,77,193,1291,383,815,9,10,349,1229,298,474,1118,16,962,1131,770,333,207,211,849,1198,1246,146,159,151,137,141],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23874","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bc-wines","category-best-wines","category-blue-cheese","category-bordeaux-wine","category-brie-cheese","category-bubbly-wine-type","category-cabernet-franc","category-cabernet-sauvignon","category-camembert-cheese","category-canada-day","category-canadian-blue-cheese","category-canadian-cheddar","category-champagne-wine","category-chardonnay","category-wine-cheese-pairing","category-cheese-pairing","category-cheese-types","category-cost-wine","category-dessert-wine","category-food-entertaining","category-food-wine-pairing","category-france-wine","category-gamay-wine","category-italian-wine","category-niagara-wine","category-nova-scotian-wines","category-pairings","category-pinot-grigio","category-portugal-wines","category-prosecco","category-riesling","category-sauvignon-blanc","category-shiraz","category-sparkling-wine-wine-type","category-sweetness-wine","category-viognier","category-wine-blue-cheese","category-wine-brie","category-wine-camembert","category-wine-cheddar","category-wine-triple-creme-brie"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nataliemaclean.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23874","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nataliemaclean.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nataliemaclean.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nataliemaclean.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nataliemaclean.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23874"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.nataliemaclean.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23874\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32360,"href":"https:\/\/www.nataliemaclean.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23874\/revisions\/32360"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nataliemaclean.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23874"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nataliemaclean.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23874"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nataliemaclean.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23874"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}