Cheese Board Heroes:
Wine & Cheese Pairing Guide

When you have mates around for a BBQ: start with wine and cheese. When you’re hosting guests for dinner: end with wine and cheese. When you need a simple, crowd-pleasing food and drink option for the office Christmas party: make wine and cheese your star attraction. When you find yourself with a surprise drop-in visit from the in-laws... you guessed it, it’s time to bring out the wine and cheese.

This pairing is a classic with good reason. While it can be tempting to go for an easy-drinking red wine, we recommend giving Rosé a go. The fresh basil, tomato, and mozzarella of a margherita pizza can be overpowered by a fuller-bodied red, but a Rosé with balanced notes of fruit and savouriness like 6ft6’s offering makes for a complementary combination.

Brie is well complemented by Chardonnay. The soft texture of Brie is great when paired with white wines, especially a varietal with a hint of oak like Chardonnay. Try Kendall-Jackson Vintner’s Reserve Chardonnay with its fruit driven flavour, together with aromas of vanilla, honey and a hint of oak. We also enjoy complementing the flavours of brie with the crisp acidity of Cat Amongst The Pigeons Fat Cat Chardonnay and Punt Road Chardonnay.

Looking to give some red wine and cheese pairings a go? Red wines are great when paired with hard or firm cheeses. We enjoy a sharp cheddar paired with Cabernet Sauvignon such as Penfolds Koonunga Hill, or our cellar release St Hugo Cabernet Sauvignon 2012. A Sangiovese like the Chapel Hill McLaren Vale Sangiovese with its dark aromas and lingering savoury finish also provides a complementary partner for the flavours of cheddar cheese.

Now we’re getting into the interesting wine and cheese combinations. Try pairing blue cheese with Port. The rich flavour of Port will stand up to the pungent ripeness of a blue cheese. Matured for 7-9 years in seasoned oak casks, and with 94 points from the Dan Murphy’s Wine Panel, Graham’s ‘The Tawny’ Port is an excellent choice.

If it’s a vegan cheese board you’re preparing, be sure to pair your non-dairy cheeses with vegan wines such as those by 6ft6 who produce 100% vegan wine from the Moorabool Valley. 6ft6 have a number of red and white varietals on offer so you can follow the same sort of pairing advice we’ve given for dairy cheeses. Try 6ft6 Chardonnay with your vegan Camembert. Another pairing we’re into is a smoky vegan Gouda and the fresh and fruit-driven 6ft6 Pinot Noir with its subtle earthiness and quiet, smooth notes of dark chocolate.

If you’re bringing out the cheese board after dinner, another excellent cheese and wine pairing is a fortified. For something rather special, try pairing your next after dinner cheese board with Wynns Coonawarra Pedro Ximenez. This limited edition fortified is rated 98 points by the Dan Murphy’s Wine Panel who laud its ‘supreme finesse and class’ and describe its flavours of ‘rancio, nuts, caramel, dried fruit, toffee, fig, dried apricot’ - now doesn’t that sound like the precise flavour combination of a wine and cheese dream team? It does to us.