Christmas parties need wine and cheese

By By Stan Torgerson / wine columnist
Dec. 17, 2003
If there is a Christmas cocktail party that does not feature the combination of wine and cheese, I've never been invited. The wine can be good, bad or indifferent. The cheese can be the same. Regardless of the level of excellence for either, the average holiday host believes if you just put wine and cheese on the same table you can't miss.
That, of course, is simply not the case. Bad or inferior wine is just that, and world class cheese cannot improve its performance. On the other hand, good wine cannot cover the flaws of poorly made, rubbery, lacking-in-flavor cheese. People know the difference.
The recently received Christmas catalog from Martin's Wine cellar in New Orleans contained a page on various cheeses and their history that you may find interesting during what is now party time. It will certainly enhance your knowledge, as it did mine. Let us begin.
Camembert: Camembert was invented by Marie Harel in 1791, although it was her daughter who presented the Camembert to Napoleon III. With the Imperial seal of approval, Camembert became famous. So why does Camembert cheese come packed in circular wooden boxes? Before the invention of the chip-wood box in the 1890s, Camembert wheels were wrapped in groups of six and rarely survived long distance. Today this popular cheese in individual wheels are packed in chip wood boxes for protection.
Brie: Another popular cheese at holiday time, Brie dates back to the 13th century. However in 1851, at the Congress of Vienna, French diplomat M. Talleyrand introduced Brie de Meaux at a European cheese competition and the Brie overwhelmingly won the title King of All Cheeses. It has been a world standard ever since.
Gorgonzola: According to legend, herdsmen during the Middle Ages stopped at Gorgonzola near Milan, Italy, paying innkeepers there with cheese, which was then stored in cool, damp cellars where natural mold developed. The result was Gorgonzola, a cheese which is still loved today.
Cheddar: The village of Cheddar, located at the foot of the Mendip Hills in Somerset, England, gave its name to cheddar cheese, whose origins can be traced to the 12th century. Today, cheddar is the most widespread cheese type in the world.
Roquefort: The use of the name Roquefort is legally protected in France. Only cheese that contains at least 52 percent of raw sheep's milk and is ripened in the caves around the area of Roquefort may bear this name. Laws to protect the name and quality of this cheese were enacted as long ago as 1411. That is why other blue veined cheeses are called Blu cheese even though they have a similar, if inferior, taste similar to Roquefort. It would be illegal to do otherwise and the French would take the producer to court and win.
Washed Rind Cheese: There are a wide variety of such cheeses including Muenster and others. The birth of washed-rind cheese was around the year 1000 when the monastic world flourished and both royalty and peasants would find refuge in the monasteries. At first, monks began making cheese to feed their lodgers. Over the next three centuries, Benedictine and Cistercian monks were the principal producers of this type cheese.
When washed-rind cheeses are "rubbed" salt water brine is not necessarily the only liquid used. Depending on the cheese, it may have been washed with wine, beer, brandy or cider during the final weeks of maturation. Cheese with waxey exteriors or cloth fabric wrappings are not washed rind.
Content: Calcium is the main mineral in cheese. On average, hard cheese has a higher calcium, content than soft cheese. A 100-gram wedge of Parmesan has 1290 milligrams of calcium compared to the same size wedge of cheddar with a calcium content of 820 milligrams and Brie at 185 milligrams.
Rule of thumb: My personal standard is white wine with white cheese and red wines with the cheddars and other orange colored or strong flavored cheese. But the other night we served a white cheese flavored with pepper and chives and either red or white would have gone with it nicely.
On the other hand, the French Onion soup that started their meal was topped with French bread and Swiss cheese so we paired it with a Chateaneuf du Pape from France and the two married beautifully. White wine would have been too light.
Just remember, nothing replaces quality. Your Christmas party will be even more memorable for your guests if you invest only a few dollars more in better wine, better cheese and, therefore, in their pleasure.