Wine and Cheese Paring 1

 Paring 1:  Avide Herea Frappato 2010 paired with Smoked Gouda

This wine was a bitter and a slightly acidic wine.  It is red wine from Italy. There were definite hints of cherry when smelling the wine.  The cheese had a very smokey flavor.  The cheese was delicious, not too strong in flavor, and I feel paired well with this light bodied wine. Since the wine was not too strong in taste and overpowering either, I feel it brought out the taste in Smoked Gouda.  I would recommend this pairing.

Paring 2: Paulo Laureno Classico 2013 paired with Asiago.

This wine is a Vinho Regional Alentejano red wine. It had definite blackberry and cherry smell to it.  Very smooth, light feeling when drinking.  The wine had a big aroma to it.  There was a soft tannin taste to it and its flavor lingered in your mouth for a while after drinking.  The cheese was a very dry, hard, peppery, and strong tasting cheese.  They did not pair as well as in the previous tasting as the cheese has a conflicting strong taste that did not compliment the wine.  Also since the cheese was a dry and hard texture it was different from any pairing I had previously experienced.  I would not recommend this pairing.

Paring 3: Charles LaFitte Rose Prestige Sparking Wine paired with New Zealander Cheese

This rose colored sparking wine had strong hints of fruits such as strawberries and cherries and even raspberries.  The wine was slightly carbonated with a light floral taste that had a lasting finish.  This wine probably pairs very well with dessert like items.  The cheese that we paired with it was very creamy and smooth.  I feel like the pairing in general was an okay pairing.  While the cheese was not super sweet like a dessert, the wine helped bring out some of the flavors in the cheese and the cheese helped cut some of the long after taste away when it was time to move on to a new wine.