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No-Fuss Guide · At the table

Wine for cheese and charcuterie: when in doubt, white

For a board with several cheeses, white is the safest bet, says the researcher behind a 2016 French study with consumers. Red pairs too, yes: in the same study, cheese even improved the wines. The classics: Port or a sweet wine with blue cheese, sparkling with brie, Sauvignon Blanc with goat's cheese.

What science found

Researchers in Dijon, France, had 31 people taste four wines with four cheeses (the study came out in 2016, in the Journal of Food Science). Cheese improved all the wines, and the tannic red most of all: fat coats the mouth and calms astringency and acidity. For a board with lots of different cheeses, the researcher, already thinking about a follow-up study, recommends white: it's the lowest-risk choice. The myth isn't that red doesn't pair; it's that white goes wrong less often.

Cheese by cheese

From the guide by Gérard Basset, Master Sommelier and Master of Wine, in Decanter:

  • Blue (gorgonzola, roquefort, stilton): a sweet wine, “the classic marriage”: Sauternes or Pedro Ximénez Sherry, per Basset; and Port, which Fiona Beckett calls Stilton's classic match. Salt makes wine seem sweeter, the WSET explains. Fiona Beckett says Roquefort is so salty that it makes reds taste thin and harsh.
  • Bloomy rind (brie, camembert): a wine with good acidity to cut through the fat: sparkling, Chablis, Beaujolais.
  • Goat's cheese: Sauvignon Blanc and other fresh whites; the classic match is Sancerre with Crottin de Chavignol.
  • Hard and aged (parmesan, manchego, comté): a full-bodied dry white or a light to medium red, like Pinot Noir or Rioja. The Parmigiano Reggiano Consortium points to Lambrusco and Franciacorta sparkling: the young cheese, 12 to 18 months, with whites and semi-sparkling wines; the 48-month one with structured wines and meditation wines.
  • All-rounders for the whole board: Tawny Port, Madeira and Amontillado Sherry, also per Basset, who says they go well with every cheese.

And Brazilian cheeses? No serious source has tested minas, canastra or coalho yet. Going by the guide above, the house suggestion: fresh minas (minas frescal), soft and mild, goes well with white or sparkling; aged canastra can stand up to a red.

And charcuterie

Ham, salami and the rest are salty, fatty and spiced, and salt accentuates the alcohol in a powerful red, notes sommelier Joshua Wesson. He suggests rosé, sparkling, unoaked white or a light red, slightly chilled. The regional match in Emilia-Romagna is Lambrusco with Parma ham and Parmigiano. And in Spain, according to the Jerez regulatory council, Fino goes with jamón ibérico.

To start with: the house's wines by price range

The price range the house saw at big stores in Brazil, in the month shown. The price changes; the range tends to stay.

The ones the database marks for cheese

See all the cheese wines in the search →

For blue cheese and dessert: Port

See the Ports and dessert wines in the search →

Everything here is a suggestion, not a law: pairing is a suggestion. Liked it another way? Then you can, and it's great that you found out what you like.

Got blue cheese? The Port guide explains which one to get. And in the search, “wine for cheese”.

Spotted something wrong on this page?

Sources for this page

  • NPR (via HPPR), on Galmarini et al., Journal of Food Science (2016): on a mixed board, white is the safer choice — hppr.org
  • Decanter, Gérard Basset: the cheese and wine guide — decanterchina.com
  • Matching Food & Wine (Fiona Beckett): the wines for Roquefort — matchingfoodandwine.com
  • Matching Food & Wine (Fiona Beckett): Port and Stilton — matchingfoodandwine.com
  • WSET, Winter wine and food matching (2020): acid with acid, sweet with sweet, fat with acid — wsetglobal.com
  • Italpress, on the Consorzio Parmigiano Reggiano at Vinitaly 2022: Lambrusco and Franciacorta — italpress.com
  • The Splendid Table, Joshua Wesson: wine with charcuterie — splendidtable.org
  • Wine Folly: Lambrusco and Parma ham — winefolly.com
  • Consejo Regulador Jerez-Xérès-Sherry, Descubre maridajes: Fino with jamón; Cream with blue cheese — sherry.wine
  • Wines of Portugal (ViniPortugal), Gastronomy (food and wine) — winesofportugal.com

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