First up was Apothic Red with Boursin garlic and herbs cheese. I thought that these paired very well together. Each item had their own set of spices, so neither one overwhelmed the other. I think that the spices and berries with a hint of mocha in the Apothic Red made for an explosion of flavor when mixed with the garlic in the Boursin. The creaminess of the cheese also made for a very smooth finish on the wine. Overall, a great pairing!
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| Apothic Red Blend |
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| Cheddar Jack cheese |
I then tasted the Apothic Red with the Cheddar Jack. This pairing was extremely underwhelming. I think that the Apothic Red overpowered the Sargento Ultra Thin Cheddar-Jack cheese. The wine was full of different flavors and spices, while the cheese lacked on both of those. I think that a low-calorie cheese is not the best option because a lot of the flavors are lost.
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| Apothic Red Blend |
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| Yancy Fancy Buffalo Wing cheese |
The Apothic Red was then paired with Yancy Fancy Buffalo Wing cheese. This combination was great! The cheese had a very spicy finish to it, and the crunch peppers embedded in the cheese blended very nice with the Apothic Red's spices and smooth berry flavors. I would definitely recommend this pairing to any one of my friends. I don't even like red wine that much, but these two combined made for awesome bursts of flavors. I was surprised to find how well these two VERY bold flavors blended together.
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| Apothic White |
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| Boursin Garlic and Herbs cheese |
The next wine we paired was the Apothic White with Boursin garlic and herbs cheese. I thought that this wine was so tart that its' flavoring overpowered the taste of the cheese. I did not like this wine, so that might of had a lot to do with me not enjoying the pairing. I think that I was more focused on the bad taste in my mouth from the wine than I was with the cheese. This wine was very dry, so the creaminess of the cheese gave this wine a smoother finish to it. I don't think this wine did anything to enhance the flavor. I would say I preferred this cheese with the Apothic Red.
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| Apothic White |
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| Cheddar Jack cheese |
We then paired the Apothic White with the Cheddar Jack. As noted above, this wine was very tart and I was not a fan of this wine so I found it hard to focus on the cheese. I could barely taste this cheese, and I again think that the low-calorie option may not have been the best choice to pair with wines since some of the flavoring is taken away. This wine made the cheese taste very bland, however the cheese wasn't very strong in spice or flavor to begin with.
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| Apothic White |
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| Yancy Fancy Buffalo Wing cheese |
Next we paired the Apothic White with the Yancy Fancy Buffalo Wing cheese. I did not think that these two made for a good pairing. I think that the wine was a bit too tart to go with that bold of a flavor from the cheese. After paring this wine with all three of these cheeses, I think that it would go the best with an Italian dinner topped off by parmesan cheese. I think that cheese is bold enough, but still quiet enough to pair well with this wine.
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| Canyon Road Moscato |
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| Boursin Garlic and Herbs cheese |
After that, we paired the Canyon Road Moscato with the Boursin garlic and herbs cheese. I love love love this wine, and I think that it could pair well with anything because I like it THAT much. The Canyon Road Moscato is a very sweet and very fruity wine, and I thought it paired the best with this cheese. Both the wine and the cheese were very creamy and went down smooth. These paired well together because neither one of the spices overpowered the other. I could taste the flavors of both the wine and the cheese, and I thought they complimented each other very well.
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| Canyon Road Moscato |
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| Cheddar Jack cheese |
Next, the Canyon Road was paired with the Cheddar Jack. This was the only wine that I could taste the cheddar jack with. However, I do still think that this was not a very good pairing. This cheese had too little of flavoring to go well with any of the wines. They each seemed to overpower the flavors of the cheese, which was very upsetting.
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| Canyon Road Moscato |
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| Yancy Fancy Buffalo Wing cheese |
Lastly, we paired the Canyon Road Moscato with the Yancy Fancy Buffalo Wing cheese. I thought this combination was very yummy! I feel like the Canyon Road wine calmed the spices of the buffalo wing cheese because it had a certain amount of sweetness to it that the other wines did not have. It also had a tiny level of carbonation to it, which also helped to calm the spices. I think that this served as the perfect blend of sweet and spicy, and I couldn't ask for anything more!
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| Me tasting the Canyon Road Moscato |
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| Me tasting the Apothic Red with the Yancy Fancy Cheese |
As I mentioned in my posts time and time again, I think that the Cheddar Jack cheese served as a tasteless pairing because of the low-calorie aspect of the cheese. Low-calorie products tend to lack in flavor, so next time I will need to veer away from trying to be healthy while drinking my wines! It the future we would probably stay away from thinly sliced, low fat cheeses for wine and cheese pairings. Overall this was event was a success! I found out I love the spicy cheeses blended with the bold flavors from the Apothic Red wine. My favorite paring of the night was the Canyon Road with the Boursin garlic and herbs cheese. I will definitely enjoy these two together in the future! This was so much fun! Who wouldn't love a homework assignment that involved two of the best things in the world: wine and cheese?!
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| Katharine tasting the Apothic Red |
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| Allie and I enjoying the wine and cheese |
