Wine & Cheese #2

The wine selection: Mallee Point, Anakena, La Cappuccina

For my second wine and cheese pairing, we tasted 3 wines and 3 cheeses. I had two bottles of wine that were given to me as a gift, so I teamed up with my friend Kevin to find a third bottle and some cheese that would go well with them. It was very helpful to find that there was a wine expert working at Kroger when we went in, and he was very helpful in suggesting wine and cheese pairings! He suggested that we try the Soave as our third wine, and we enjoyed it.





The wines we tried are listed below:

1. Mallee Point Cabernet Sauvignon:

This Australian red wine was very smooth. On the nose, strong aromas of blackberry were present, and the taste also had notes of berry flavors and subtle vanilla.

2. Anakena Chardonnay (2014):

This white wine from Chile had an aroma of apples and melons, with a similar taste of honeydew, apples, and butter.

3. La Cappuccina Soave (2015):

This Italian white wine had a citrusy, lemon smell.The taste contained notes of citrus, was slightly bitter in the aftertaste and not overly dry or sweet.

The cheese we tasted:

1. Babybell:

The cheese selection

My favorite pairing with the Babybell cheese was the Anakena. It also tasted very good with the soave, but the richness of the Cabernet Sauvignon seemed to overpower the mild flavor of the cheese. The babybell was the most versatile cheese, as it paired decently well with all of the wines.

2. Gouda:
My favorite pairing with the gouda was the Soave. The Anakena also tasted nice with the gouda, but similar to the Babybell, the Cabernet Sauvignon overpowered the flavors of this cheese. I did not prefer the pairing of gouda with the Mallee Point.

3. Extra Sharp White Cheddar:
This cheese paired very well with the Mallee Point Cabernet Sauvignon. The sharpness of the cheese complimented the smooth, rich berry flavor of the wine. In contrast, the white wines did not pair very well with this cheese as the sharpness came off a bit harsh in comparison.