Enjoying a piece of cheese with that glass of Sancerre could actually enhance its flavor. So says a French study, recently published in the Journal of Food Science, that’s found that wine actually tastes better when enjoyed with cheese.
Tasters reported that all the wines tasted better with cheese, gaining in fruitiness and flavor. What’s more, cheese even reduced the “duration of astringency,” the dry-mouth feeling from tannins in red wine.
France’s Center for Taste and Feeding Behavior in Dijon asked 31 cheese lovers to sample two white wines and two red wines of the Pacherenc, Sancerre, Burgundy, and Madiran varieties. In the first round of this comparative study, the “guinea pigs” were simply asked to sample each glass of wine and evaluate their levels of enjoyment with each sip.
In the next round, the wines were served with accompanying cheeses. Four types of cheese were used: Crottin de Chavignol (goat cheese); Roquefort (blue cheese); a pungent soft cheese called Epoisses; and Comté, a hard cheese. These four French varieties were specially selected to offer a cross-section of the country’s diverse range of cheeses, each set apart with a different level of strength and texture.
Besides adding credence to something wine-and-cheese lovers have known for centuries, the study should also settle some heady debates over whether reds or whites are the best match for their cheeseboard. —Relaxnews
Read the full study here. Get tips on wine pairings from esteemed chef Eric Ripert in the video below.
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