Cheese & Wine
Cheese and wine - a classic culinary delight! Contrary to popular belief, it is more often the white wines than the red wines that really complete the enjoyment. In any case, you are guaranteed to find numerous suitable companions to all cheese variations among the many excellent German wines.
Facts
-
20.68kg
is the per capita consumption of cheese in Germany
-
4
most popular varieties: Gouda, Emmental, Camembert and cream cheese
-
2%
market share accounted for by purely plant-based cheese
A few basic considerations should be made when choosing wine to accompany cheese: For example, cheese and wine from the same region often go well together due to the same climatic and geographical conditions. When it comes to the interplay of flavours, cheese and wine should be roughly equally strong or mild. The more mature the cheese is, the richer and fuller-flavoured the wine is recommended. Cheese with a delicate flavour, on the other hand, goes well with a
subtle, delicate wine.
Sour, salty or very flavourful cheeses require a sweet wine as a counterbalance, i.e. noble wines such as Trockenbeerenauslese or ice wines. Wines emphasising acidity, on the other hand, are well suited to creamy cheeses, while they often make firmer cheeses appear bitter. The harder the cheese, the more tannins the wine can tolerate.
Which wine goes best with which type of cheese?
Slightly spicy white wines with a subtle acidity, such as a semi-dry Riesling, harmonise well with mildly spicy soft cheese with white mould, such as Brie or Camembert. Red wines with less tannin, such as a Pinot Noir, Black Riesling or Trollinger, are also suitable, as is a Burgundy sparkling wine.
A Gewürztraminer is an ideal partner for a red mould wine. A fresh Pinot Gris or fruity to full-bodied red wines such as a Pinot Noir can also be served with it. The very spicy cheese can also be softened with sweeter bouquet wines such as a muscatel.
Blue mould cheese contains a strong acidity because fat is broken down into glycerine, among other things. As the sweetness cancels each other out in terms of flavour, a balance must be achieved between cheese and wine. The acidity-sweetness interplay of high-quality sweet to noble Rieslings such as Spätlesen, Auslesen or ice wines offers an interesting flavour experience.
A young, fruity, berry Pinot Noir pairs well with mild sliced cheeses such as young Gouda, Edam cheese or buttered cheese, as does a dry Silvaner with a delicate herbaceous flavour or a creamy Pinot Gris.
More crispy cheeses such as medium-aged Gouda, young mountain cheese, Appenzeller or Gruyère go very well with a fruity, dry red wine such as Trollinger, Merlot or Dornfelder. As a white wine, a fine tart Riesling or a traditional Gutedel (Chasselas) is recommended.
Dry but fruity white wines such as a very young Pinot Blanc or lighter red wines with a low alcohol content, such as a Trollinger, are suitable for a young, mild hard cheese, Allgäuer Emmentaler or Bergkäse. A full-bodied Pinot Gris or Chardonnay is ideal with a more mature hard cheese, which is stronger and spicier, or a strong, intense red wine.
Mild-flavoured goat and sheep cheeses are ideal with young, light white wines such as fruity Silvaner or Pinot Blanc, but a sparkling, fresh rosé can also be used here. Not too heavy noble wines also harmonise here.
Milk-accentuated fresh wines harmonise best with low-acid, fruit-accentuated white wines with a subtle residue, such as a sweet to sweet Müller-Thurgau or a light Silvaner.
Which wine goes well with tart, salty or very flavourful cheese?
Sweet wines, Trockenbeerenauslese or ice wines provide a nice counterbalance to strong and flavoursome cheeses.
Varietals
More recipe ideas
in a bacon coating Lamb
in a bacon coating
- 4 Stück Lammlachse à 150 g
- 4 Scheiben Bacon
- 0,1 Liter Wein
- 0,3 Liter Gemüsebrühe
- 1 kleine Schalotte
- 20 Gramm Butter
- 4 EL Olivenöl
- je 2 Zweige Thymian, Rosmarin, Salbei
- nach Geschmack Salz & Pfeffer
Season the lamb salmon with pepper and massage 2 tbsp of olive oil into the meat. Finely chop the thyme, rosemary and sage and season the meat in the herbs. Marinate in the fridge for a few hours.
<p
<p>Wrap the meat with the bacon slices and sear on all sides in the remaining olive oil. Continue to cook for approx. 4 minutes on each side over a low heat (the cooking time depends on the thickness of the lamb loin - it is best to do a pressure test). Then wrap in aluminium foil and leave to rest in the oven at 80 °C – so they remain juicy and slightly pink on the inside.
This goes well with Bärlauch risotto.
- Dornfelder (trocken)
with fresh chanterelles Autumn bruschetta
with fresh chanterelles
- 4 Ciabatta-Brötchen
- 200 Gramm kleine Pfifferlinge
- 4 EL kleingehackte Petersilie
- 4 Zehen Knoblauch
- 80 Gramm Pecorino (Hartkäse)
- 8 EL kaltgepresstes Olivenöl
- Eine Prise Salz & Pfeffer
Preheat the oven to 200 degrees.
Clean the chanterelles. Sauté the parsley in a pan with half of the oil, then add the mushrooms and cook over a low heat for approx. 5 minutes.
Slice the rolls and bake for approx. 5 minutes until crispy.
Chop the garlic into small pieces, spread on the warm bread rolls and drizzle with the other half of the oil. Coarsely grate the pecorino.
Stir the chanterelle and parsley mixture into the pecorino and spread over the halves of the rolls.
- Pinot Gris (trocken)
- Federweißer (brut nature)
with shrimps Pumpkin soup
with shrimps
- 1 kleiner Hokkaido-Kürbis
- 1 Zwiebel
- 5 cm Ingwer
- 2 EL Butter
- 750 ml Gemüsebrühe
- 300 ml Kokosmilch
- 12 mittelgroße Shrimps
- 2 EL Olivenöl
- Eine Prise Salz & Pfeffer
Peel and dice the pumpkin, onion and ginger and sauté in the butter.
Deglaze with the vegetable stock and sauté for about 15 to 20 minutes until soft.
Sauté the shrimps in a little olive oil and leave to cook over a low heat for a few minutes. Place on wooden skewers and keep warm in aluminium foil.
When the vegetables have been steamed until soft, blend finely with a hand blender. Stir in the coconut milk and season with salt and pepper to taste.
Serve the soup in large cups and garnish with the shrimp skewers.
Freshly baked white bread goes well with this.
- Muskateller (halbtrocken & feinherb)
- Federweißer (brut nature)
with honey and thyme Goat's cheese tower
with honey and thyme
- 1 großer Apfel
- 1 Rolle Ziegenkäse
- 4 Scheiben Bacon
- 4 TL Honig
- 1 TL Thymian
- 4 Blätter Eichblattsalat
- frische Zweige Thymian zum Garnieren
- nach Belieben Salz & Pfeffer
Preheat the grill to the highest setting.
Fry the bacon slices without fat in a non-stick frying pan until crispy and drain on a piece of kitchen paper. Leave the rendered fat in the pan.
Wash the apple, core it with a corer and then cut it into four, approx. 1 cm thick slices. Slowly fry the apple slices in the remaining bacon fat until just cooked, using the tip of a knife to check the doneness. Place the apple slices in a lightly greased baking dish, sprinkle with thyme and place a crispy fried bacon slice on top of each one.
Divide the goat's cheese into 4 thalers and place one thaler on each apple slice, sprinkle with thyme again and drizzle with 1 teaspoon of honey.
Bake under the grill until the cheese is lightly browned.
Serve the goat's cheese and apple tartlets on a lettuce leaf or, if you prefer, on a bed of lettuce (add a honey-flavoured dressing)
- Dornfelder (halbtrocken & feinherb)
