Monday, February 13th

Wine and Cheese Pairing- Beringer White Zinfandel with Swiss Cheese

Name: Beringer
Variety: White Zinfandel
Region: Napa, California
Country: United States

Description of Wine of the Bottle: "Fresh red berry, citrus and melon flavors accented by subtle hints of some stone fruit and violets."

My Review of only the wine: I thought that this wine was very good and sweet!  The first thing I smelled was floral aromas as well as some sweet red berries.  I also really smelled honey in this wine, that was one of the most dominating smells and flavors that I got out of this wine.  The wine itself tasted like strawberries and honeydew melon as well as some rose. 

My Review of only the cheese: I thought that this cheese had an extremely strong musky smell and taste.  I was not a fan of this cheese at all and think that it actually smelled a little bit like manure. 

My Review of the wine and cheese pairing:  While I was a big fan of the wine by itself, I did not like the pairing of this wine with the Swiss cheese at all.  I thought that the Swiss cheese had a very overpowering taste and smell of musky, rotten milk.  The flavors definitely clashed because the wine flavor was very subtle while the cheese had a very strong smell.  I think that the main reason that I did not enjoy this pairing was because of my dislike for the cheese.  I would not recommend pairing this wine with this cheese.