I heard someone once said, pairing wine and cheese is like yin and yang. You pair two contrasting flavors – strong and feisty wine with a mild and sweet cheese for example, to end up with a whole new world of flavors satisfying the palate.
Wine, when sipped on its own, has a calming bittersweet taste. Cheese, when nibbled alone, is savory. But I discovered when they are paired, it’s a different experience altogether. The blend, the balance, the completeness of tastes upon pairing wine and cheese is certainly an experience one should not pass during the Wine Festival this September in Sofitel Manila.
One of my favorite pairings would be the sharp and salty Fourme D’Ambert, a blue cheese, with the sweet French Monbazillac white dry wine. Like yin & yang, the saltiness of the cheese was balanced by the sweetness of the white wine. The stark contrast of tastes created a perfect balance in my mouth that I cannot fully describe in words. What I uttered upon tasting it was a simple, “wow.”
Another favorite pair for me would be the melted milk chocolate – rich, thick and creamy, with the Camembert cheese. Their equally creamy, silky textures effortlessly merged into a beautiful blend.
I also enjoyed the pure green apple juice with Comté cheese. The slightly sweet taste of the aged Comté toned down the sourness of the green apple. Ahhh…another amazing blend.
During the course of my buffet meal, Tanguy suggested which wine to pair with which food. He mentioned St Emilion, a red wine from Bordeux in France, would be good for the beef in my sukiyaki soup, while the Monbazillac white wine for the sushi and lobster.
Then, as we were punctuating our lovely lunch with some heavenly truffles and dark chocolate mousse for dessert, he suggested pairing them with the sparkling white wine.
Each wine bottle (Php 2000 to 4000) had been carefully selected based on global quality standards. And majority of the wines are available in all Sofitel hotels. The quality is quite a complex matter to discuss. Several factors affect the quality of a bottle of wine, these include: the place of origin, duration in the wooden barrel, richness of minerals in the earth, depth of roots of the trees, method of quading, etc. St Emilion for example is from Bordeux, a region in France that lies between the Mediterranean sea and the atlantic ocean — a perfect weather to produce good quality vines. The trees are never watered; they simply rely on natural rain for hydration. I guess all these factors made Saint Emilion bright and rounded.
Taste quality. Experience luxury. Need I say more? Celebrate the Wine Festival this whole month of September at Sofitel Manila! Let me share with you how. 🙂
