No matter what you are pairing your cheese with, remember there are no “rules” in pairing. Much depends on personal likes and dislikes. Don’t take pairing advice too seriously, trial and error (and a hint of creativity) is key!

Nonetheless we are giving you some standard tips to guide you along the way. Most of all enjoy and have fun!

Consider both the wine and the cheese’s texture and flavour profiles before making final selections.  Remember, the goal is to create harmony and balance between the wine and the cheese and not overpower one with the other.

• Keep pairings simple: pick one distinct wine and one distinct cheese that pair well. For example, full-flavored cheeses, such as creamy washed rind cheeses, require medium to full-bodied wines, such as Merlot, Zinfandel, or Syrahs.  Likewise, pair light cheeses with light wines, such as Rieslings, Pinot Gris, or Pinot Noirs.
• Try pairing your wine and cheese according to the area of origin or even on the local region. The characteristics imparted to a regions wine may be imparted to the cheeses through the vegetation on which the animals graze.
• Do not limit yourself only to red or white table wines, but expand and try sparkling wines, sweet wines, and fortified wines such as sherries and ports. In particular, blue cheeses pair extremely well with dessert wines, Muscat wines and port.  Also, creamy cheeses pair well with sparkling wines and Champagne, as the bubbles help to cleanse the palate and refresh it for another bite.
• Explore the varieties of cheeses based on their sources of milk. For example, fresh goat cheeses are mild, lemony, and somewhat acidic in their flavor profiles and creamy in texture.  They pair well with crisp white wines, such as a Sauvignon Blanc, Chenin Blanc, Pinot Gris, and especially Rieslings. Aged sheep’s milk cheeses pair well with Gewürztraminers and fruity Zinfandels.  Aged cow’s milk cheddars go well with sherries.

Remember that wines aren’t the only beverages that go well with cheese!  There is an ever-growing number of artisanal and craft beers, as well as craft ciders available that create interesting and fresh flavor combinations, which can also inspire you to experiment and broaden your culinary knowledge.

Beer and cheese are natural partners, sharing some similar flavors: nutty, tangy, floral, and earthy. They can both offer a sharp, dry texture or a smooth and creamy one. And where there is no complement there is delightful contrast; the sweetness of some beers is an ideal counter for cheese’s saltiness, and beer’s scrubbing bubbles work to whisk away the mouth-coating richness of cheese.

• Try a fruit ale or a hard cider to bring out the flavors of brie, asiago or gorgonzola.
• Or, choose a complex Ale to stand up to the strong flavor of an aged provolone or aged cheddar.
• Young, fresh cheeses like Amazing Acres chevre are great with light beers and wheat beers.
• Blue cheese pair well with stronger porters or stouts, but also with a strong flavoured IPA
• Soft, spreadable cheeses, such as Camembert  or  Brie , go well with lagers and pilsners
• How about Kriek Beer, a sweet, sparkling Belgian Lambic with intense notes of ripe cherries to go along with a bloomy rind Doe Run Dragonfly

Fresh fruits provide a sweet, refreshing complement to all types of cheese, especially younger, fresher cheeses and soft-ripened varieties. Dried fruits add rich, intense flavors and textures that marry beautifully with heartier, more aged cheese varieties.

Good fresh fruits to pair with your cheese include: berries, grapes, apples, pears, melons, cherries, peaches and figs.

Dried fruit options include: apricots, mangos, dates, figs, pineapple, and cherries.

Try some Chevre Cheese with Fresh Cherries:

• The sweetness of the cherries is a great match to the sharp tanginess of goat cheese:

Sharp Aged Cheddar Cheese and Apples:

• The sharp taste of an aged cheddar cheese alongside a sweet, tart, apple. Simply put a slice of sharp cheddar on top of a slice of crisp apples, and you’ll be in for a delicious treat.

Blue Cheese and Peaches:

• Blue cheese is sharp, salty and pungent, which makes it a great cheese to pair with sweet, juicy, and slightly tangy peaches.

Gouda Cheese and Pears:

• An aged Gouda with its semi hard texture, caramel sweetness and slight crunchiness, pairs great with the crisp, sweet and citrus flavor notes of d’Anjou pears.

Real aged balsamic comes from a similar aging process to wines, and pairs just as beautifully. The higher the quality, the thicker, sweeter and more palatable it will be. Drizzle over thin slices of cheese so as not to let either flavor become overpowering.

Our Balsamic Fig is one of our favorites with a wide array of cheeses from Blue Cheese to Goats Cheese to soft bloomy rind cheese such as Brie and Camembert. You really can’t go wrong with this – it works with almost any cheese plate.

Hard aged cheese works great with a traditional 25 star balsamic. Break up some nutty, salty chunks of Grana Padano in a bowl and drizzle balsamic over, similarly a Parmigiano Reggiano, or aged Gouda would work just as well.

Just as fresh fruits provide a sweet, refreshing complement to all types of cheese, a fruit balsamic lends some sweetness to a creamy Brie – try a triple cream Saint Angel with a drizzle of blueberry balsamic.

Cheese and chocolate each have similar characteristics – rich, sweet, creamy – that can combine for some surprisingly great taste sensations.

Chocolate has the ability to reflect its own regional and varietal characteristics just like the terroir of cheese and wine.

Whether you prefer soft or hard cheese, milk or dark chocolate, you’re certain to find a combination that suits your taste. Here are a few suggestions to get you started on your flavorful journey!

• For something simple that really shows off an unusual and delicious combination, try serving dark chocolate with a blue cheese such as Roquefort or Danablu. The salty cheese and smooth, rich chocolate make for a delicious combination.
• Saint Angel Brie is a smooth, buttery, triple-cream cheese that presents a perfect palette companion for a rich and creamy milk chocolate
• How about a Gruyere? Its saltiness works well with white or dark chocolate and chocolate mousses.
• Cocoa nib chocolate – nibs have the purest chocolate flavor, magnifying the natural harmony between chocolate and more pungent cheeses such as Morbier or Stinking Bishop.