Cheese Dinner and Wine Pairing

On Friday, I had a wine and cheese dinner to myself.  My boyfriend was out of town, so perfect opportunity for some peace and quiet.  I chose 3 wines - a Sauvignon Blanc, Zinfindel, and a Cherry wine.

 

Specifically, I chose the Open Kimono Sauvignon Blanc (above, left) 2014 vintage.  It was on sale for $10 at Kroger (down from the usual $20!).  I honestly chose this one because of the label.  It's really pretty and my favorite colors, but I was also seriously looking for a white wine.  The Zinfindel is the Pinetti 2014 vintage - $7 at Kroger.  Lastly, the Chauteau Morissette cherry wine was on sale for $10.  I chose a sweet dessert wine "just for kicks" because I don't usually like sweet wines, but it was also inspired by my recent visit to the Chateau Morrissette winery a few weeks ago.  

I'm still only a college kid, but I do have a few wine glasses and tried to choose appropriate ones for the different wines - a large glass with a narrow mouth for the white wine, a wide globe for the red wine, and a small, tight glass for the cherry wine.

When I bought the wine I also made my cheese selections at Kroger.  I chose a goat brie, a blue cheese, and instead of a third cheese, I bought a hard sausage.  I also picked up a pear, apple, a small loaf of bread, and some dark chocolate (they were on sale and everyone needs a treat once in a while).  

  

I opened the cheeses up and let them warm up to room temperature for 45 min - 1 hour.  I also opened the Zinfindel and made sure the white wine and cherry wine were appropriately chilled.  Then I poured myself a glass of each.

The Sauvignon Blanc was very fruity, and tasted of ocean water almost.  It had a light acidic bite.

The Zinfindel was very earthy and tannic.  I felt like it should have been aerated for the best taste, as it still felt young.  

The cherry wine was sweet, and smelled of grapes, but tasted like cherry juice.  It was surprisingly good.

Then I tasted the wines with the cheeses and sausage.  The Sauvignon Blanc went best with the blue cheese, it complimented the sharp taste but also mellowed it out, whereas the Zinfindel went best with the sausage.  It brought out a moldy aged taste in the cured meat.  NONE of the wines went well with the goat brie cheese - I knew goat was a very strong flavor, but both the white wine and the red clashed horribly.  I had to eat several bites of bread and fruit to clear the flavor out of my mouth.

Plating arrangement - I felt so classy!

The cherry wine, however, went really well with the dark chocolate.  A friend had recommended I try the combination - it was delicious!