Wine and Cheese Pairings for Summer

Summer is all about outdoor entertaining and sipping on your favorite wines. Start celebrating with these delicious wine and cheese pairings for summer.

If there was any time to dine al fresco, it would be in the summer months, wine in hand. If you’re an experienced wine drinker, you’ll know that no outdoor soirée is complete without the ultimate cheese board, perfectly paired with your wine.

But the world of wine is complex, as is the world of cheese. This means that the perfect pairing of these two delicacies takes some knowledge and a little forethought, especially if you plan on entertaining for wine and cheese lovers.

This guide on wine and cheese pairings should set you off on the right foot.

A Guide to the Best Wine and Cheese Pairings For Al Fresco Dining 

Long, sunny, summer days provide the ideal opportunity to invite your nearest and dearest over for a wine and cheese party. Ask each guest to bring a cheese of their choice, and you can provide the wine pairings accordingly.

Learn how to pair these two summer staples together:

1. Moscato d’Asti and Gorgonzola

Not everyone is a fan of oozy, funky gorgonzola cheese. But it’s always a good option to include on your cheese board for those with a more advanced cheese palate. Gorgonzola is a cheese that is best paired with a sweeter wine that can handle the heavy, pungent flavor. However, this type of cheese also pairs well with fresh, citrusy, acidic wines, such as the Moscato d’Asti.

This wine has a way of cleansing the palate after each mouthful of gorgonzola. Other beautiful wines that pair well include Prosecco, Asiago, Munster, and Gewürztraminer.

2. Sauvignon Blanc and Goat Cheese

What summer afternoon is complete without a crisp glass of Sauvignon Blanc? If you’re a light-white fan, then Sauvignon Blanc is your go-to summer drink, which pairs with most variations of goat cheese.
Goat cheese is a carrier of flavor — it works as a blank slate that picks of the mineral, citrus notes in Sauvignon Blanc wines. This pairing helps to bring out the herby, nutty flavor of the cheese, while the acidity of the wine cuts through any heaviness on the palate. Other great pairings include Chenin Blanc, Chèvre, Grüner Veltliner, and Florette.

3. Pinot Noir and Gruyere

Moving onto red wines, Pinot Noir is characterized by its heavier red berry fruit flavor. This makes it a wonderful match with nutty flavors, such as Gruyere cheese. Pinot Noir and Gruyere both carry a complex flavor profile. So the combination of the two helps to balance this out, without one overpowering the other.

Popular Pinot Noir pairings include Zweigelt and Emmental, Beaujolais with Jarlsberg, or Gamay Noir and Comté cheese.

4. Aged Port and Stilton

Stilton, just like gorgonzola is not to everyone’s taste — it’s a heavy, pungent cheese that packs a serious punch. This means that it needs a robust wine that can match its intensity. This is why an aged port is always a good pairing with Stilton cheese.

Port is known for its bold flavor, full-body, and a hint of sweetness. Keep this rule-of-thumb in mind when pairing smelly cheese with wine: the stinkier the cheese, the sweeter the wine should be. Great pairings include Sauternes and Roquefort, and Ice Wine and Beenleigh Blue.

5. Provence Rosé and Havarti

This is a far lighter pairing and is probably the ideal wine and cheese combination for those particularly hot and sticky summer days. Provence Rosé is well-known for its mellow, delicate flavor that can be refreshing in the heat.

This type of wine should be paired with a cheese that’s equally as mellow, so as to not overpower it. Havarti is a smooth, soft-textured cheese with a subtle flavor that cuts the mineral tones of the Provence Rosé.

Other great combinations include a Rosado and Ricotta, Sangiovese Rosé and Mozzarella, or a Pinot Noir Rosé with Fontina cheese.

6. Champagne and Brie

Brie is yet another soft cheese with a beautifully subtle flavor that tends to pair well with sharper, more acidic wines. Since brie is a rather fatty type of cheese, the high acid content of the wine or champagne helps to cut through this.

Champagne bubbles also combine well with the thick, creaminess of brie — this texture contrast is wonderfully satisfying in the mouth. Some traditional method sparkler variations also offer a hint of brioche flavor, which adds a hint of toasty, nuttiness to the entire flavor profile.

Some popular flavor combinations include Cava and Délice de Bourgogne, and Chardonnay and Camembert.

7. Cabernet Sauvignon and Aged Cheddar

For a truly classic flavor combination, nothing beats the pairing of a Cabernet Sauvignon and aged cheddar cheese. This type of cheese is typically big and bold in flavor, and also has a decent amount of fattiness that lingers on the palate.

This is why the tannins in a Cabernet Sauvignon work so well with this cheese. Aged cheddar and Cabernet Sauvignon are also equally bold in flavor, which means they balance each other out in the best way possible.

Brilliant combinations include Nero d’Avola and Asiago, Carménère and Smoked Gouda, and Montepulciano and Parmigiano-Reggiano.

8. Chianti Classico and Pecorino Toscano

For a taste of traditional Italian fare, this authentic wine and cheese pairing will transport you to the hills of Tuscany. The pairing is born from the Italian idea that ”what grows together, goes together”.
Pecorino is another hard cheese with sharp, bold flavor. The Chianti Classico offers a boom of tannic flavor that brings out the herbal, nutty notes of the cheese. Chianti is characterized by its bold black fruit, which holds its own against the strong Pecorino.

Pair Brunello di Montalcino with Grana Padano or Sangiovese with Parmigiano-Reggiano for a well-balanced taste sensation.

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We hope this guide on wine and cheese pairings has left you with a little more knowledge on how to host the ultimate summer soirée or simply create the perfect cheeseboard for you and a partner.