With multiple cheeses, are you truly savoring every flavor and aroma or just eating? Do all the cheeses even work with the wine? Rather than sample three or four cheeses with a single wine and have the myriad of flavors blend into a sea of obscurity, tasting one wine with one cheese lets you focus your senses — each taste reveals new layers of flavor previously hidden.

Last weekend, I had opened a 2008 Hall Cabernet to see if I wanted to put down a few bottles. After breathing for about six hours, the wine was ripe and opulent with copious dark fruit balanced with cedar and hints of licorice. To match, I brought out some Piave Vecchio that had been further “aging” in my refrigerator for some time.

Somewhat similar to Parmigiano-Reggiano, I enjoy Piave with a wide range of wines – from the medium bodied such as Valpolicella or Lambrusco to bigger Brunellos and Cabs. In this case, the tight, youthful flavors of the Hall cabernet were an intriguing contrast with the aged, refined nuances of the cheese; the hints of light tropical fruit in the Piave helped round out the intense dark fruit flavors and bouquet of the young wine; and the nutty flavors worked well with the very subtle oak.

Wanting something more playful, my wife opened a bottle Heart and Soul Moscato NV. It’s light, sweet, and fruity with a crisp finish. Fruity, sweet wines often pair well with ripe cheeses, so I pulled out some Taleggio. It’s melt-in-your-mouth soft, a little tangy and ripe, and yet still buttery and relatively mild. The moscato’s sweetness balanced the cheese’s ripeness; the wine’s fruit complemented the tangy fruity finish of the cheese and the crispness played against the rich, buttery texture.

Would three or four appropriate cheeses have been enjoyable with these wines? For sure, but I believe what is gained in depth more than makes up for what is missed in variety. The wonderful subtle combinations that only reveal themselves after repeated tasting without the distraction of competing flavors are worth seeking out.

Three Onion Pie

I love red wine with onions. It’s a classic combination that perhaps started with Coq au Vin (which legend has it dates back to Julius Caesar). Supposedly, the combination is good for your heart too. Bonus!

For this pie, yellow and red onions were sprinkled with EVOO and pecan smoked kosher salt. After roasting in the oven, they were gently tossed with a little Texas Olive Ranch mesquite smoked olive oil. The sourdough pie was topped lightly with dry whole milk mozzarella, the roasted onions, dry thyme, and fresh ground black pepper. After a 60 second bake at 900°F, thinly sliced green onions were added post-bake.

The pie balanced perfectly with the ’97 Eloge. Somewhere between a Tignanello and pizza and a St. Émilion and onion tart, the sweetness of the onions filled in perfectly where the wine’s fruit had diminished and the smoky richness of the caramelized onion and charred tips complemented perfectly the subtle oak. All the while, the now showcased darker, earthy flavors of the wine paired with the crust, cheese, and multi-layered savory onion flavors.