One of my loyal Fromagical readers asked me the other day about a few cheeses to pair with champagne for an aperitif. So I thought, wow this is a subject I haven't really gone into deepth on champagne and cheese pairings and I guarantee that this will be the first of many. Champagne and other bubbles are great for a celebration, for a holiday, for an aperitif, or even just to "dress up" a simple night with your significant other or with a group of girlfriends. It is hard to go wrong, whether it's Champagne, Prosecco, Moscato D'Asti, Cava, Blanc de Blancs, you name it, it will put a smile on one's face!! This specific post will focus on three distinct pairing ideas for Champagne, stay tuned for separate posts on other bubbly beverages and cheese.
Brut Champagne tends to work really well with triple creams such as Brilliat Savarin, Mt. Tam, Nettle Meadow's Kunik or even something as local as Nancy's Camembert. The creaminess of the cheese will be offset in a delicate manner with the light, airy, freshness of the champagne. Decadence plus decadence here certainly equals a moment of bliss. The reason I think that is such a successful pairing is due to the fact that each the cheese and the beverage are "special treats," in a way, so bringing them together creates an aha moment.
On the other side of the spectrum, Brut Champagnes work very nicely with certain hard cheeses. I'd suggest Beaufort, Uplands Pleasant Ridge Reserve, even a nice aged Gruyere or Comte would also work. The crunchy, buttery, caramelly, nuttyness of the aged cheeses will be a very nice counterpart to the yeasty complexity of the Brut Champagne. This is a moment of opposites attracting and balancing each other out nicely!
On a final note, I also think that a semi-soft Goat's cheese such as Garrotxa would go excellently with Brut Champagne. Semi-soft, milky, delicate, this a cheese that will complement the champagne's complexity not by being its opposite but by mirroring it, a cheese counterpart to the champagne!
Enjoy these ideas! Dress up a casual night in with a bottle of bubbly! You won't go wrong!!
No comments:
Post a Comment