When the outside temperatures exceed 90 Fahrenheit and you’re feeling as limp as a plate of overcooked pasta, place a few cheeses on a board with some nuts, fresh fruits, olives, and herbs, and add some crusty bread, and call it a meal (for help creating a cheeseboard check out our cheeseboard tutorial).
While there are no hard rules for when you should enjoy a certain cheese, in the heat of summer we like cheeses that pair well with white and pink wines that are chilled to 45-55 degrees – cold enough to be refreshing. Here are a few of our favorite cheese and wine pairings to enjoy this summer.
Greek Feta & Rosé
Traditional Greek feta is a favorite summer cheese often found mixed into salads or crumbled on top of veggies or pizza. A brined sheep milk cheese (or a blend of sheep and goat milk), it has slightly salty and tangy notes that are perfect with the sweet and savory fruits of summer. Pair it with a Cotes du Rhone style rosé wine with flavors of fresh strawberries and watermelon. If you’d like to try something from the US, we recommend Samuel Robert’s Vintner Reserve Rosé of Pinot Noir from Willamette Valley, Oregon. This wine is a beautiful, deep salmon pink color, with a heavenly nose of roses and oranges and a long satisfying finish. Another option? Rodney Strong Vineyards Russian River Valley; Estate Rosé of Pinot Noir 2020, a Double Gold winner in the 2021 NY International Wine Competition.
File: Fleur Verte is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0
Tomme Fleur Verte & Gruner Veltliner
Goat milk cheeses come in many sizes, shapes, and flavors. It’s a naturally tart cheese that lends itself to many wonderful pairing options.
Rich Rogers, owner of Scardello Cheese in Dallas, Texas recommends goat cheese with a Gruner Veltliner in the summer. Rogers likes to pair a light acidic white wine with creamy and tangy goat cheese. He recommendsFranz Etz Gruner Veltliner––bright and fruity with a slight effervescence. Tomme Fleur Verte is a pillowy goat cheese from France that is covered in herbs, making it lemony as well as floral. The acidity in both is a mirrored pairing while the fruitiness of the wine dovetails with the herbal qualities of the cheese. Perfect for a hot summer day!
Mozzarella di Bufala with Sauvignon Blanc
Mozzarella is traditionally made from the milk of water buffalo. Today it is most often made with cow’s milk. Mozzarella di Bufala is a bit richer in flavor and tastes slightly grassy. Fresh cow’s milk mozzarella is a light delicate cheese, stretched and molded into balls of different sizes.
Mozzarella is packed in water, usually the same water it is made from. After the package is opened the cheese must be eaten within a day or two. It doesn’t ship well so most mozzarella is made locally. Mozzarella is usually paired with tomatoes and basil for a delightful Caprese salad. And, since mozzarella originated in Southern Italy we like to pair it with falanghina, a delightful white wine with notes of orange blossoms and tastes of peach and almond. Or, if you’re eating mozzarella di bufala, pair it with a sauvignon blanc like Frey Biodynamic Sauvignon Blanc a 2021 NY International Wine Competition Double Gold winner.
Chaource & Champagne
Gregory Cleverdon, a wine expert based in the UK, has spent many a harvest in the Champagne region. He recommends this creamy French cheese with––what else––Champagne. Chaource cheese originates from the village of Chaource in the Champagne-Ardenne region of France. It is a creamy, full-fat, semi-soft, mild cheese made from cow’s milk–– delicious! The perfect wine with this cheese is Champagne. The richness of yeasty brioche, peach & apricot aromas and flavors, and the acidity on the palate of the Louise Brison Millésime Brut Champagne, can easily handle creamy, full-fat Chaource cheese.
Parmigiano Reggiano & Lambrusco
Parmigiano Reggiano may be Italy’s most known cheese, but not the stuff in the green container. The real deal must be aged at least one year and made in a specific region under highly regulated conditions. Parmigiano Reggiano is an aged, raw cow’s milk cheese, that is slightly granular in texture with a nutty and salty flavor profile. While it goes well with many wines, we like to follow the adage that what grows together goes together. Therefore, we recommend Lambrusco such as Lini 910 Lambrusca Lambrusco or Lini 910 Lambrusca Lambrusco Rose– from Emilia Romagna. The wines are fruity with nice flavors of raspberry, blackberry, and citrus—juicy but not sweet. Fizzy wines like Lambrusco are particularly refreshing with salty cheeses.