Cheese makes fine wine and cheap plonk will taste the same

Thu, 19 Jan 2006
 
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Scientists from the University of California Davis have shocked the wine loving community by claiming that cheese served with wine made all wine taste the same.

Their claim was that to serve cheese with vintage wine at cheese and wine parties was pointless as guests would not be able to taste the difference between a £4.99 or £1,000 bottle.

The American scientists behind the research, Dr Berenice Madrigal-Galan and her colleague Dr Hildergarde Heymann found that cheese with its strong taste masked the subtle flavours in a good quality wine, especially in red wine.

The reason given is that cheese can hide stronger flavours caused by tannins. Tannins are groups of chemicals found in all wines but more so in red wines.

However British experts were critical of the American scientist’s claims. According the British experts a good cheese must be accompanied by a good wine.

Asked what he thought of the findings, top chef Anthony Worrall Thompson said they were ‘nonsense.’

He said, "A good red wine goes very well with cheese. It’s true that certain types of shellfish can change the taste of wine, but I’ve never heard of the same for cheese."

Juliet Harbutt, chairperson of the British Cheese Awards, said there is a large variety of cheese that complement wine and not make it taste all the same. She said, "How could they say anything so stupid."

The experiment by the American scientist’s consisted of giving expert wine tasters four varieties of wine covering a range of cheap and expensive wines.

The expert tasters found that by eating cheese with the wine, the cheese suppressed every flavour including berry and oak, sourness and astringency.

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