White wines and cheeses

To pair cheese with white wine, start with the paste: its texture, richness, salt and length of aging tell you what the wine needs to bring, whether acidity, body or sugar.

What Each Cheese Style Asks of a White Wine

Fresh goat cheese has a fine, almost chalky texture and marked acidity. A crisp, unoaked dry white meets it on the same register; as the goat cheese dries and sharpens with age, a fuller white takes over.

Firm cooked cheeses such as Comté, aged for several months, develop hazelnut and butter notes, sometimes with small crystals. They welcome whites with body, aged in oak or already showing some maturity.

Bloomy-rind soft cheeses are creamy: the wine's acidity has to cut through that richness without overpowering their aromas. Washed-rind cheeses, more pungent, call for an aromatic white, dry or just off-dry.

Blue cheeses, salty and sharp, work by contrast: the sugar in a medium sweet white or a liquoreux balances their salt, and that sugar, more than acidity, makes the pairing.

White Wines and Cheese: The Perfect Pairing

While cheese is often paired with red wine, white wines actually offer much more subtle and harmonious pairings! Their freshness, acidity, and fruity or mineral aromas highlight the richness and diversity of cheeses.

Which white wines for which cheeses?

• Goat cheeses (Crottin de Chavignol, Valençay, Sainte-Maure-de-Touraine): a Sancerre or Pouilly-Fumé (Loire), made from Sauvignon Blanc, brings a nice liveliness and citrus notes.
• Pressed cheeses (Comté, Beaufort, Abondance): a Burgundy Chardonnay (Meursault, Saint-Véran, Chablis) enhances the fruity and aged aromas of the cheese.
• Blue cheeses (Roquefort, Bleu d'Auvergne, Fourme d'Ambert): a Jurançon sweet wine or a Gewurztraminer Vendanges Tardives balances the power of the cheese with its sweetness.
• Soft cheeses (Camembert, Brie, Munster): a Riesling from Alsace or a Chenin Blanc from the Loire (Vouvray, Montlouis) provides a nice acidity and a floral touch.

Discover our selection of exceptional white wines, chosen to enhance every bite of cheese. Awaken your taste buds with the perfect pairings!

Your Questions About White Wine on the Cheese Board

In what order should you serve cheese and white wine?

Serve cheese and white wine from lightest to strongest, saving blue cheese and the sweetest wine for last. Start with fresh goat cheese and a dry white, then move on to soft and pressed cheeses. A dry wine poured after a sweet one would taste thin and sharp.

What white wine goes with triple-cream cheese?

With a triple-cream cheese such as Brillat-Savarin, serve a very crisp dry white or a sparkling wine. Their acidity, plus the bubbles in the latter, lightens this very rich, creamy cheese, which round or oaky whites tend to weigh down.

What white wine goes with fresh cheese like fromage blanc?

With a fresh cheese such as fromage blanc or brousse, serve a light, dry, low-alcohol white wine that respects its milky sweetness. Served for dessert with honey or fruit, fresh cheese pairs better with a medium sweet white, whose sugar meets the sugar on the plate.

Where can you buy white wine for cheese direct from the winemaker?

You can buy white wine for cheese direct from the winemaker on Avenue des Vins. The wine comes to you directly from the producer who made it.

See also: Dry white wines - Sweet white wines - White wines and desserts