Good suggestion for cheese and cracker type for a wine tasting party?
I am having a wine tasting party at my house for my birthday. What are good suggestions of cheese types that I should definitely serve? Any cracker type suggestions, too? Thanks.
Tagged with: cheese types • cracker • type suggestions • wine tasting party
Filed under: All Things Wine
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Try to provide a good variety of cheeses – at least three;
one hard eg aged or smoked cheddar, aged Emmental, pecorino, good Parmesan
one soft, eg, brie or camembert, very young, fresh curd cheese, almost like thick cream
one strong, eg blue, washed rind (those really stinky, strong orange rind ones)
Also try to mix up your types of cheese, eg one cow’s milk, one sheep’s milk, one goat’s milk.
Offer a few diffferent cracker types - water crackers, oatmeal biscuits, toasted walnut bread, rye crackers like Ryvita, crusty bread.
Add a few dried and fresh fruits to the plate - sliced apple or pear, muscatels on the stem, dates, dried or fresh figs etc.
Ideally, try to purchase your cheese from a deli, and taste before you buy. If you are buying supermarket cheeses, buy them a week or two in advance and leave them wrapped in the fridge. Cheeses are often sold under-ripe and this will bring them to the point where their flavour is ideal. Otherwise buy ‘reduced’ cheeses that are nearing their use-by dates.
Ensure cheeses are always served at room temperature. Leave them out for at least 2 hours before serving.
Don’t just think that heavy red wine matches cheese, some of the best cheeses marry really well with light, slightly sweet white wines such as Riesling.
You will be the most popular host in town!
a block of colby cheese, with Ritz crackers…give me a break
Brie, goat cheese, fresh mozz
smoked salmon, tomatoes, basil, roasted peppers
water crackers, milton’s herb crackers, and butter crackers
Plain water crakers, to not overpower the cheese, and some yummy french cheese. Like brie. I don’t know… What do you like? that’s just my suggestion.
Brie cheese is great, good really with any type of crackers. It’s a lighter cheese and is spreadable.
It’s also great with strawberries, but that’s up to you.
i like sharp white cheddar on triscuits, although ritz/saltines will work nicely.
also:
-gouda
-brie
-bleu (weird on crackers i think)
this is very unorthodox but try serving halloumi cheese. it is a mediterranian goat cheese which, when fried (you can fry it), has a meaty texture. it is that type of cheese that is set on fire (opa!) at greek restaurants.
Try this site for combos that will work well with the wine you choose!
http://www.ilovecheese.com/wine_pairings.htm
Try a soft port wine spread or port wine cheese on a cornbread cracker. They are fantastic.
Keebler makes them (Keebler Harvest Bakery Crackers) & others have started to as well. They are perfect with any hard or soft cheese. This combo will go with the tasting theme without competing with the wines. Should pair nicely.
I love Bremner plain wafers. They really let the flavor of cheeses stand out while providing a crispy, mild counterpoint.
ex) http://www.foodlocker.com/brands-b-bremner-wafers-.html
I also recommend OTC Wine Crackers to clear the palette.
ex) http://www.samswine.com/wine-crackers-p-228080.html
These products are available at finer grocery stores, wine shops, BevMo, Cost Plus, etc.
As for cheeses, offer a range of hard, semi-soft & soft cheeses. Here are some ideas for wine & cheese pairings: http://www.gourmetsleuth.com/cpairing.htm
http://realcaliforniacheese.com/pdfs/guidetoreal/Section_6.pdf
http://www.napavalleyregister.com/articles/2006/08/26/news/other/iq_3570732.txt
No bland cheeses (such as mozzarella and cream cheese). Go for an aged Asiago, some smoked cheese and even blue cheese. crackers have been mentioned but I wanted to suggest that you also serve some fruit = pears and grapes go great with cheese. The wines will work well with the fruit & cheese combination….. and it’ll give your party a bit of a sophisticated edge.
As a rule of thumb, one drinks red wine with hard cheese, and white wine with soft cheeses. Thus, some of the classic pairings are:
Matured cheddar with Cabernet sauvignon
Brie with Champagne
Goat cheese with Sancerre
Provolone with Chardonnay
English Blue Stilton with Port
But having said that I still believe that there is no limit to the combinations as it is purely a personal decision.
Experiment - as that is the essence of tastings. enjoy.
As for crackers, water crackers are good since they are very neautral and won’t compete with the cheese or the wine. A good brand choice would be CARR’s .
The choice of cheeses is somewhat dependant on the wines you will be serving at your tasting. Some of my recent favorites are Reypenaer VSOP, a hard Dutch gourmet cheese aged two years, Shropshire Blue, a British orange and green cheese like that looks simply spectacular on your buffet, Cahills Porter an Irish cheese that looks like chunks of cheddar in chocolate frosting and tastes as good as it looks, and a fine French blue in Fourme d’Ambert. This group will complement almost any wine selection and I have listed my sources for all the cheeses below.