In a fruitful collaboration with Andrew at HisandHerwine.com, Social Vignerons is giving you examples of how the incredible variety of French cheese can marry and sublime some of the most popular regional French grape varieties and blends.
Also check our Italian Wine & Cheese Pairing Guide.
Obviously, wine and cheese matching is subjective and the possible combinations of flavors is infinite.
This infographic lists pairings that I like and arguably work well. And hopefully there is enough for you to experiment, and more importantly enjoy for a while !!
How many French Cheeses?
There are hundreds of different types of cheese in France, each region and sometimes village producing many different ones.
A French saying famously says there are as many types of cheese as there are days in a year: 365. The legend goes that General Charles de Gaulle who liberated and governed France after the Second World War once proclaimed “how can you govern a country in which there are 246 kinds of cheese?”.
In reality, there are many more different cheese than that. There is at least over 2000 cheese makers in the country and most make several different products. So here we go, quite a few thousands, thought nobody knows exactly how many there are.
The Variety of French wines:
As we all know, France is (alternatively with Italy) the biggest producer of wine in the world. There are at least over 2000 different appellations (AOPs=ex-AOCs, IGPS=ex-Vin de Pays, etc.). Obviously style also comes down to each producer.
So the possibilities are immense, for our delight. This infographic is a simple guide to a few tries. As you can see, it doesn’t include sweet wines that work very well too. Perhaps a future project!
My best advise:
Many of the cheeses listed above (and below) are available worldwide (like Brie. Camenbert, Roquefort). Others are indeed more local and harder to find (e.g. Chablis or Rigotte de Condrieu).
Buy a few of these, try for yourself and tell me what you think!
Today’s pairings are:
Bordeaux Cabernet Sauvignon – Merlot:
- Etorki or Ossau-Irati / Basque Country / Sheep
- Bethmale / Pyrénées / Cow
- Chabichou / Poitou / Goat
- Camembert / Normandy / Cow
- Crottin de Chavignol / Sancerre / Goat
- Brillat-savarin / Normandy / Cow
- Roquefort / Larzac / Sheep
- Brie de Meaux / Paris / Cow
Burgundy Chardonnay:
- Epoisse / Burgundy / Cow
- Délice de Bourgogne / Burgundy / Cow
- Beaufort / French Alps / Cow
- Bleu d’Aubergne / Central France / Cow
Champagne Chardonnay-Pinot Noir:
- Brie / France / Cow
- Cantal / Auvergne / Cow
- Emmental de Savoie / French Alps / Cow
- Chablis / Burgundy / Goat
- Mont d’Or / Franche-Comté / Cow
- Maconnais / Burgundy / Goat
- Rigotte de Condrieu / Rhone / Goat
- Morbier / Franche-Comté / Cow
See you all soon for more deliciousness…
You can also check our Italian Wine & Cheese Pairing Suggestions.
Thanks you again to His and Her Wine for superbly presenting these pairings. Aren’t these pictures of cheese lovely and appetizing? This new and dynamic website promises a lot of interesting wine fun to come, worth following on Twitter or Facebook.
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