Did I get your attention?  Good.  Just trying to be deliberately provocative.   Maybe it was too many college parties with bulk red wine and bricks of generic cheddar that colored my early wine and cheese days, but I think white wines do so much better than reds with cheese.  Yeah, I’ve had Epoisses with Burgundy IN Burgundy, with atmosphere dripping and charm in abundance, and enjoyed it.  But even with the stinkiest, richest cheeses, I think a dry white, a sparkling wine, or a white with a touch of sweetness just works better with the cheese.  I won’t pick on Pinot Noir too much, but big reds with powerful tannins and heavy oak are just plain awkward with cheese.

I encourage you to pick up a variety of rich, creamy, and/or sharp cheeses that purportedly are good with reds and throw a few whites in the mix.  And don’t be afraid of a little sweetness, like the kind you find in wines like Vouvray or Riesling (which also have good balancing acidity); I feel that the acidity lasers through the richness and the sweetness tempers the strong, earthy flavors of highly aromatic cheeses.

Here’s a slam-dunk, white wine and cheese pairing to get you started, but don’t be afraid to experiment. Bring a white to your next wine and cheese party. Shock the world!

A trio of South American whites were fantastic with a fresh, young, soft goat cheese:

2008 Crios de Susana Balbo Torrontes (Argentina)
2008 Veramonte Sauvignon Blanc Reserva (Chile)
2007 Cono Sur Sauvignon Blanc Vision (Chile)

The Torrontes, a floral, aromatic white that reminds me of a lighter version of Viognier, was very good with the cheese but the Sauv Blancs were the star. The high acidity and subtle grassiness of the wines were a perfect compliment to the goat cheese. Stop buying the overly vegetal, stewed green bean-smelling Sauv Blanc from New Zealand; Chile is producing some delicious Sauv Blanc for around ten bucks.

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Oh, what to do with all that zucchini! It’s piled high in farmers markets, your neighbor’s trying to pawn some off on you, but you’ve got a glut in your own garden. You stuff them, bake them, grill them, add them to soups…the same old things you usually do with your over-abundance of this prolific grower.

Here’s a new twist – goat cheese stuffed grilled zucchini rolls, inspired by Ellie Krieger, healthy chef/dietitian on the Food Network. Goat cheese blended with fresh lemon juice and zest, wrapped with fresh basil leaves in a grilled zucchini bundle makes for the perfect appetizer or light meal.

Click below for the full recipe:

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You know those beautiful little artisan goat cheeses you see in fancy food stores? The ones that are about the size of a smashed golf ball and cost about $8? They’re so pretty with their dainty nasturtium flower on top, or the ones ever so lightly dusted “artisan-like” with peppercorns. Let me let you in on a little secret: it’s a racket those goat cheeses! Now, unless the cheese itself was milked from the teat of the artisan’s own goat (which some of them are, so don’t yell at me, but some of them are not), they take about two seconds to make. Well, maybe two minutes.

Don’t get me wrong, I truly appreciate the craft and the beauty of those little jewels, but who has $8 to spend these days on a tiny piece of cheese that wasn’t flown in from some moldy cave in France?

We had guests coming over to wish us a Happy New Year and I hadn’t yet been out to replenish “the larder.” Heck, it was noon and I still hadn’t even made it into the shower! Fortunately I had one of those long logs of goat cheese that I got at either Costco or Trader Joe’s during my holiday provisioning. Perfectly decent goat cheese for under $6. I cut the log into quarters and made half with some ground Turkish sweet chili peppers and the other with a blend of Italian herbs, red pepper flakes, and ground pepper. Beautiful and tasty.

Make your own blend of herbs that you already have in your spice cabinet (maybe some herbes de Provence and a little lavender or some smoked paprika), roll your petite cuts of goat cheese in it – and voilà – you’re a cheese artisan!

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