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Cheese and wine, Perfect partners
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This weeks feature
Few things go together better than French cheeses and wines. Here we recommend some special combinations.
French cheeses and wines are steeped in tradition, and there are many strict rules surrounding their manufacture and production. Oh, and they taste good together, too! We’ve gathered up a selection of French cheeses and suggested a wine to complement them. |
perfect combinations... |
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| Livarot
The name is from a small village in Basse, Normandy. A very strong tasting cheese with a spicy flavour, like hung meat, it is bound with rush or paper strips, has a heavy moist texture and the cheese dissolves in the mouth. It should be eaten very ripe. The sign it is over-mature is a smell of ammonia.
White choice: Alsace Gewurztraminer
Red choice: Fronsac |
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| Pie d’Angloys
From the Fromageries Paul Renard in Flongy-la-Chapelle comes this light, soft cheese. It is surface-ripened, meaning it ripens from the outside in. The result in this case is a supple, soft, light beige interior that is a perfect addition to a cheese plate, or that can be used in rich, cream sauces. Ideal to eat with a slightly sweet contrasting delicacy, like a ripe plum or sweet grapes.
White choice: Try any sweet wine, e.g. Sauternes or Montbazillac |
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| Pont l’Eveque
One of the oldest Norman cheeses still produced, it has lost none of its popularity since the 17th century, when cheese from the village of Pont l’Eveque was sent all over France. Three litres of milk is used to make a 500g cheese, so the texture is very fine and smooth. During the maturation process, which can take up to six weeks, the rind is washed and the cheese is turned daily. This increases the strength of the cheese. The rind reddens as it ripens and grows stickier. The cheese retains a sweetness in the taste.
White choice: Australian Semillon/Chardonnay |
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| Camembert
One of the world’s best-known cheeses, with a large production volume. Another Normandy cheese, it is creamy and yellow. The rind should be covered in a white mould and, as it ripens, will gain reddish stripes and patches. According to the French, the cheese is at its best when the centre is still hard and the outer part creamy. The flavour is quite salty.
Red choice: Cotes de Castillon |
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| Coulommiers
A small, quite deep Brie. It is easy to the stages of maturation when you cut it. Big producers use pasteurised milk, but farm-produced cheeses during the summer are unpasteurised. Ideally the cheese should be eaten with the heart white and quite hard, while the outside is soft and melting to the taste. Another cheese that has a sweetness rather than saltiness to the taste.
Red choice: Cairanne (Cotes du Rhone) or New Zealand Pinot Noir |
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