Wine and Cheese Pairing: What to Pour With Each Cheese

The secret to wine and cheese pairing is matching intensity: delicate, fresh cheeses with light, crisp wines, and strong, aged cheeses with bolder wines. Beyond that, a few classic pairs do most of the work: crisp Sauvignon Blanc with goat cheese, sparkling wine with Brie, a firm red with aged Cheddar, and Port with blue cheese. This guide goes through each cheese family, then shows you how to build a board.

The rules in one minute

• Match intensity. Wine Folly’s first tip is to pair wines and cheeses of similar strength. Its example: the delicate flavor of Gruyère goes better with Pinot Noir than with a big Cabernet Sauvignon. As a rough guide, it suggests wines over 14.5% alcohol for intensely flavored cheeses and wines under 12% for delicate ones.
• Fat softens tannin. Aged cheeses have enough fat to offset the tannin (the drying grip) in bold red wines.
• Sweet wine for strong cheese. Sweetness balances the salt and pungency of blue and washed-rind cheeses.
• Bubbles for creamy cheese. The acidity and carbonation of sparkling wine refresh the palate after rich, soft cheese.
• Same region, same table. Wines and cheeses from the same place often fit each other.

Cheese family	Examples	Wine styles to try
Fresh	Fresh goat cheese, chèvre, young Crottin	Sauvignon Blanc, Sancerre
Soft-ripened	Brie, Camembert, Délice de Bourgogne	Sparkling wine, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir
Washed rind	Époisses, Taleggio, Munster	Chardonnay, Gewürztraminer, Pinot Noir
Semi-hard	Gruyère, Comté, young Manchego	Pinot Noir, Beaujolais, Garnacha
Hard aged	Aged Cheddar, Parmigiano-Reggiano, aged Gouda	Cabernet Sauvignon, Sangiovese, Port
Blue	Stilton, Roquefort	Port, Sauternes

Sources for this table: Wine Folly’s cheese pairing tips and ideas, and Wine Spectator.

Fresh cheese

Fresh cheeses are young, soft, tangy and mild. The textbook match is fresh goat cheese with a crisp Sauvignon Blanc, which Wine Spectator’s Dr. Vinny lists among the classic pairings. The wine’s high acidity matches the cheese’s tang and cuts through its creaminess.

The most famous version comes from the Loire Valley. Wine Folly describes Sancerre wine as the Loire’s best-known appellation for Sauvignon Blanc, and notes that Chavignol, a village inside the appellation, is world-famous for its small buttons of goat cheese, Crottin de Chavignol. Wine Folly calls goat cheese “an awesome regional food pairing for Sancerre.” It also notes that as goat cheeses age, they develop a spiciness that suits Sauvignon Blanc or unoaked Chardonnay.

For mild fresh cheeses such as mozzarella, burrata or ricotta, we’d keep it light: a crisp Italian white or a dry rosé, low in alcohol, so the wine doesn’t drown a delicate cheese.

Soft-ripened cheese (Brie and Camembert)

These cheeses have a soft rind and a rich, creamy interior. Wine Folly recommends sparkling wine with them, because its acidity and bubbles cleanse the palate after rich, soft cheeses such as Brie and Camembert. Dry Champagne, cava or Prosecco all fit. Our best prosecco under $20 list has research-based picks.

Wine Spectator suggests rich white wines with soft-textured cheeses such as Brie, and Wine Folly lists Chardonnay with milder triple-cream cheeses, and Pinot Noir or Beaujolais with Brie or Camembert for red wine drinkers. Its regional example from Burgundy is Délice de Bourgogne, a triple cream, with Pouilly-Fuissé (Chardonnay), whose high acidity cuts through the buttery texture.

Our pick: a dry sparkling wine. It’s the most forgiving match for a creamy cheese, and it works as an aperitif too.

Washed-rind cheese

Washed-rind cheeses, such as Époisses, Taleggio and Munster, are the famously smelly ones, and they need a wine with character.

Wine Folly suggests Chardonnay with washed-rind cow’s milk cheeses such as Époisses de Bourgogne, a pairing from the same region, and says Chardonnay tames the stinkiness. Its Alsace pairing is Munster with Gewürztraminer, whose lychee and rose flavors and subtle spice balance the cheese. For a semi-soft washed rind that isn’t too intense, such as Taleggio, it suggests Pinot Noir or Beaujolais. Sweeter wines such as late-harvest whites also work with pungent cheeses.

Note: Not everyone agrees on these. Wine Folly’s charcuterie board guide suggests leaving washed-rind cheeses off a mixed board, because they can be hard on wine. If you’re serving several wines, a firm, nutty cheese is the safer choice.

Semi-hard cheese

This is the most wine-friendly family. Wine Folly’s advice when you’re not sure is to pick a firm, nutty cheese such as Gruyère, Comté, Emmental, Gouda or Swiss. It says these have enough fat to handle a red wine’s tannin and enough delicacy for white wine.

For specific matches, Wine Folly suggests Pinot Noir or Beaujolais with Gruyère or Comté, and Garnacha with Manchego, a Spanish regional pair in which the wine’s fruity character complements the sheep’s milk cheese. For melted cheese, such as a fondue, it suggests an off-dry Mosel Riesling, whose sweetness and acidity complement the nutty, robust flavors.

Hard, aged cheese

Cheeses aged a year or more, such as aged Cheddar, Parmigiano-Reggiano, Grana Padano, aged Gouda and aged Manchego, are firmer, saltier and more intense. This is where bold red wines shine. Wine Folly explains that these cheeses have enough fat to offset the tannins in bold reds, and names Sangiovese, Chianti and Montepulciano as examples. It also pairs aged Cheddar with Cabernet Sauvignon, since both are intense.

Salt helps too. Wine Spectator’s editors note that lightly salty foods such as Parmigiano-Reggiano smooth out a robust red. Wine Spectator also lists Cheddar with Port among its classic pairings.

Our pick: an aged Cheddar or Manchego with a Cabernet Sauvignon or Chianti. It’s the most reliable way to serve cheese to someone who only drinks red.

Blue cheese

Blue cheeses are salty, creamy and pungent, and they overpower most dry wines. Wine Folly notes that blue cheese generally overwhelms most white wines.

The classic answer is a sweet wine. Port with Stilton and Sauternes with Roquefort are the two textbook pairings, listed by both Wine Folly and Wine Spectator. Sweetness contrasts with the salt, and the wine’s richness stands up to the cheese. Wine Folly adds a detail on Port: as a vintage Port ages, its tannin softens and it tastes sweeter, so the older the Port, the stronger the blue cheese it can handle.

Classic regional pairs

“What grows together goes together” is an old pairing saying, and Wine Folly lists same-region pairings as one of its core cheese tips. These are the regional pairs our sources describe:

Region	Cheese	Wine
Loire Valley, France	Crottin de Chavignol (goat)	Sancerre (Sauvignon Blanc)
Loire Valley, France	Sainte-Maure de Touraine (goat)	Savennières (Chenin Blanc)
Burgundy, France	Époisses de Bourgogne	Chardonnay
Burgundy, France	Délice de Bourgogne	Pouilly-Fuissé (Chardonnay)
Alsace, France	Munster	Gewürztraminer
Spain	Manchego	Garnacha
Basque Country, Spain	Idiazábal (smoked sheep’s milk)	Getariako Txakolina rosé

Source for this table: Wine Folly’s local pairings, cheese tips and Sancerre guide.

Two other classics don’t come from the same region but are just as well known: Port with Stilton, and Sauternes with Roquefort. Both are covered under blue cheese above.

How to build a wine and cheese board

Wine Folly’s board guide recommends at least three cheeses, chosen to contrast in texture, saltiness, fat and acidity rather than three of a kind. In our view, a simple, balanced board is one fresh or soft cheese, one semi-hard and one aged or blue.

• Wines: Wine Folly suggests two or three wines, matched to the boldness of the food, with higher acidity than the food. Sparkling wines, light-bodied whites and fruity light reds are the most versatile.
• Extras: dried or fresh fruit, nuts, olives, bread or crackers, and honey, jam or mustard. Wine Folly suggests fruit that echoes the wine’s aromas, and skipping fresh citrus and sharp pickles such as dill pickles, which fight with wine.
• Quantities: for meat on the board, Wine Folly plans about 2 ounces per person as an appetizer, and double that if the board is the meal.

A wide, flat cheese board with knives makes serving easier, with a separate knife for each cheese so strong flavors don’t spread.

Tip: We’d take the cheese out of the fridge about an hour before guests arrive, so it isn’t fridge-cold when you serve it.

Finding a good bottle

Every style above is available at everyday prices. Our best wine under $20 list compares published critic scores with current US prices. For the principles behind all of these matches, see our wine and food pairing guide.

Wine is for adults of legal drinking age (21 in the US). Please drink responsibly.