Personal Wine Dinner – Wine, Cheese, and Dessert

Over the weekend, my boyfriend (Travis) and I decided to have our own wine dinner, pairing wine with cheese and desserts. We asked Travis’ parents for advice on how to appropriately pair wines with different cheeses and desserts, because they have thrown these types of dinners several times. We had a ton of fun, and now that we are familiar with some wines that pair well with what cheese and desserts, we definitely want to host a wine dinner for more of our friends in the future.

First, we paired a 2007 Jackson-Triggs Vidal Icewine with St. Andre cheese. The bottle was $19.9, but since I had never had an icewine before, it was definitely worth it. The wine itself is considered a Canadian dessert wine and is made from grapes that are left to freeze on the vine long after harvest. The result of this process is delicious. The wine’s aroma was dominated mostly by tropical fruits, like mangos and apricot. Its taste had equally as bold fruit flavors, was very complex, and was well-balanced between acidity and sweetness. The crispness of the wine surrounded my palate and the finish was silky and smooth. The cheese has a soft, buttery texture, tangy edible rind, and tastes similar to Brie but with more intense flavors. The strong, cheesy flavors matched perfectly with the fruitiness of the wine. 

Next, we paired a Sandeman Madeira with chocolate cheddar cheese and blue cheese with crackers (because this wine is supposed to pair well with hard or veined cheese). The bottle was roughly $18.99, but again, experiencing this new type of wine made the purchase worthwhile. The Sandeman Madeira is made in the “traditional” manner on the Atlantic island of Madeira where the rich soil and volcanic subsoil give the wine a unique character. The wine is enhanced by the winemaking and ageing process in “estufas.” The wine description suggested that it would pair well with rich desserts, like chocolate, which is what led us to try it with chocolate cheddar cheese (with was tasty, but a little strange due to the combination). The wines aroma was dominated by nuts and cream, and it tasted medium rich with nutty and complex flavors that surrounded the palate. It was well-balanced between acidity and sweetness and had a good tannin structure and a clean finish.

Lastly, we paired Cooper Noche chocolate dessert wine with éclairs. This combination was brilliant. The Cooper Noche has received several awards, including “Best in Show” Town Point 2008, Gold VA Governors Cup 2009, Gold Medal Tasters Guild 2007, and a People’s Choice Award. The wine is described as “Virginia Norton infused with essence of chocolate” which results in a sweet, red wine with a chocolate aftertaste. Unlike some other dessert wines I have tried, this wine did not have a syrupy texture, which I was happy about, and tasted mostly of berries on the front and chocolate on the finish. The aromas were similar, reminding me of chocolate covered cherries. While this dessert wine would be a good match for following almost any meal, we paired it with éclairs, which was delicious.

Although my boyfriend and I splurged a little to experience this wine dinner pairing with cheese and a dessert, having a traditional “wine, cheese, and dessert” dinner was really satisfying, especially after learning about different flavors and pairings in class. Now that we are getting into wine even more than we were before, I have a feeling we might host several more of these types of meals in the future.