How to match cheese and wine?

Both cheese and wine, with their centuries-old traditions, are natural products that are frequently consumed together. As a rule, the whiter and fresher the cheese the crisper and fruitier the wine should be. The great advantage of this union is that cheese and wine are both foods that can be enjoyed in their "raw" state, with little or no preparation, making them an ideal choice for quick snacks.

There are no hard and strict rules about which wine should be selected to accompany a particular cheese as the best selections are almost always based on individual tastes. However, we can offer you following principles:

• A smooth, fatty cheese may go very well with a similarly smooth, slightly oily wine.
• Sweet wine contrasts very well with a cheese with high acidity.
• White wines go better with many cheeses than reds.
• Not all red wines match with cheese. The most recommended are the fruity, light red wines.
• Dry, fresh red wines are ideally suited to soft cheeses, especially goat ones.
• A wine with good acidity may be complemented by very salted cheeses.
• Dry champagnes are brilliant combination with bloomy white rinds.
• The cheeses can be matched with beer or cider.
• Try regional combination, the cheese and wine from the same region.