Not everything is cheese! ( a German proverb)

This article was orginally written in German. The translation may contain some odd yet charming turns of phrase.

“Write something about cheese and wine,” said the editors. “Tell me about God and the world,” I said. “Make it short but interesting,” they said. “Can I also write about culture?” I asked. "No," they replied.

Cheese and culture

Cheese is culture, and if you have to talk about culture, you should be happy that you get to talk about cheese , because cheese is probably the safest form of culture to talk about. But what is culture? Culture is what you do with nature of your own free will. Milk would go bad if you didn't persuade it to do something else. It would simply spoil and be wasted and that would of course be a shame. In this sense, cutting your hair is culture, a culture without which you wouldn't see where you are going. Hygiene is culture of the first order.

It follows that it is natural to drink milk from lactating animals, as this is the answer to man's natural hunger. Domesticating animals is culture and not letting their milk spoil is culture. There are as many people who can't stand cheese as there are people who love it. A cheese hater probably would have stopped reading this article at the first paragraph. A militant anti-cheese activist might read on just to get riled up and self-righteous. Some might get the impression that I'm trying to "wind them up" them, and some might be right. The fact is, when making cheese, the enzymes from the stomach of one animal are used to coagulate the milk of another animal. Inedible for some, irresistible for others.

Why wine and cheese?

Wine and cheese are both the result of microorganisms known to keep food from spoiling. Ah, you might be thinking, now he's finally getting to the point. Perhaps. Cultural considerations aside, cheese and wine have a very high place in the hierarchy of cuisine itself. How do you know which types of wine and cheese go well together? Experimentation!

Which wine goes well with cheese?

Red wine, white wine, sweet or with a fine acidity - which principles can you apply to combine a glass of wine with cheese? If you follow the motto strong to strong and mild to mild , you won't go wrong at first. Otherwise, a strong wine can overpower the flavors of mild cheese. In addition, the origin is also revealing: similar geographical and climatic origins affect the ability to combine cheese and wine. So if you want to be on the safe side, choose wine and cheese from the same region. But acidity and salt content also affect the choice of the right type of cheese for the wine. A salty cheese goes better with a fruity wine.

So what does that mean in practice? Camembert and other white mold cheeses combine wonderfully with red wine . A Bordeaux or Pinot Noir harmonizes perfectly with the spicy cheese aroma. But white wine is also a good choice with Brie. If you want to impress with a mix of acid and fruit , serve the cheese with a Grüner Veltliner.

On the other hand, a soft cheese with a washed rind requires a strong wine as an accompaniment. Red Burgundy wines are therefore ideal as a companion to strong cheeses such as Langres or Reblochon. But soft cheese can also be combined wonderfully with white wine. A strong Riesling or Vin Jaune if you can find it works wonderfully.

Gouda and Appenzeller are particularly popular as sliced ​​cheeses at wine tastings. A deep, complex and velvety red wine is a wonderful companion. But fruity white wines such as a Rivaner or semi-dry white wine are also suitable.

Which wine should you use for fondue?

Here are some suggestions for authentic, proper French and Swiss fondue . Fondue comtoise is prepared in equal parts from two types of Comté, fully and semi-ripe dry white wine, kirsch and garlic. Fondue des Mosses is prepared with Gruyère, Appenzeller and Bagnes, dry white wine, garlic and porcini mushrooms. If you want to be a real cheese nerd , you can make Brillat-Savarin's cheese fondue (the author and not the cheese named after him), which some will say is not a fondue at all, because it is prepared with beaten eggs, one per person. Weigh the total weight of the eggs, grate a third of that weight in Gruyère and half in butter and bring it to melting temperature. Garnish with plenty of freshly ground Belem pepper. Which wine should you use for fondue? Gutedel always works, and as an accompaniment, i.e. to drink with the fondue, try the delicious white Burgundy "Eintausender" from Jochen Dreissigacker or the impeccable Tourbillon de la Vie from Jean-Philippe Padié. An off-dry Riesling is never out of place. Riesling Kabinett semi-dry is what  winemakers drinks themselves.

Credit where credit is due: These recipes come from Androuet, Brillat-Savarin and Larousse Gastronomique. It is perhaps interesting that the Larousse Gastronomique quotes Androuet for the fondue Comtoise and the cheese "Brillat-Savarin" is available in the cheese shop ANDROUET in Paris.

What are some basic tips for pairing wine and cheese?

In France, the law dictates that the cheese is served before dessert and is accompanied with a dry red wine . In England, the sweet port wine is served with Stilton, a blue cheese inoculated with Penicillium roqueforti.  I advocate serving cheese with botrytized wines.

What is botrytized wine?

It is a noble sweet wine, wine that has not simply remained sweet or been made sweet, but wine that has been affected by the noble rot Botrytis cinerea late in the growing season. Yes, another fungus that makes our lives more beautiful. Botrytis occurs in vineyards under very specific combinations of natural conditions. The vineyard must be cool, damp and calm. Only then does the fungus appear and remove the water from the berries, which leads to a concentration of the must. At the same time, the botrytis leaves behind its unique funk. Then it has to be harvested very quickly and carefully, usually in successive selection rounds. The harvest yield is very low, the must is very sweet and its aroma is strongly influenced by the fungus. The fungus also leaves behind a substance that prevents the must from “fermenting through.” The result is a Trockenbeerenauslese, thick, acidic, intense, with a low alcohol content and high residual sweetness, yet stable and therefore storable. These properties allow for a very long development in the bottle. I tasted 60 year old TBA that was still fresh. In France, Sauternes wines are botrytized by definition. This also applies to the Sélection de Grains Nobles in Alsace, the Tokaji Aszú from Hungary and the Ruster Ausbruch, to name just a few. The wines of exception belong in the repertoire of every wine fanatic. Botrytized Sauvignon Blanc with salty blue cheese. It may not be subtle, but it is certainly sublime. (Note to self: We have to introduce Vin Jaune in 2022!)

Go ahead, prove to the world that you're a foodie and pay good money for a Trockenbeerenauslese and some Roquefort Papillon Noir. Or try Gewürztraminer. However, you may find that you are alone in your preferences, lonely with your sweet wines brimming with noble rot and in conversation with the goat on the wrapper of your Bleu de Chevre. So I would like to make a statement of inclusion and suggest that this holiday season we literally mix the cheese with the wine and bring everyone to the table with the delicious, sticky, chewy, hot and cheesy fondue. You'll see. It's contagious.