It's no secret to anyone...wine and cheese go hand in hand. Different cheese selections affect the palate influence for different wines. If your hosting a wine and cheese tasting party you will want to make sure and pair your cheese selections with the types of wines you will be featuring.

For example...a good blue cheese can make a younger and lower end Cabernet Savignon taste like a much higher quality wine. Have your guests take a sample of the wine first. Then introduce the blue cheese and have them taste the wine again. Their assessment of the wine after the blue cheese has coated their mouth will probably be much higher than their original assessment of the wine without the cheese.

Here's a short list of sample cheese and wine pairings:

Merlot-consider a brie, cheddar, gruyere, parmesan or gargonzola

Cabernet Sauvignon-consider camembert, roquefort (blue cheese), cheddar, colby, gouda or parmesan

Chenin Blanc-consider a camembert or goat cheese

Sauvignon Blanc-consider brie, feta, asiago, goat cheese, cheddar or parmesan

Pinot Noir-consider monterey jack, swiss, brie, gruyere or muenster

Pinot Grigio-consider cheddar, edam, goat cheese, gouda, mozarella and muenster

Riesling-consider blue cheese, gouda, edam, brie or monterey jack

Chardonnay-consider provolone, brie, gouda, gruyere, parmesan or camembert

Chianti-consider mozarella, parmesan, fontina or provolone

Beaujolais-consider goat cheese, brie or camembert

Zinfindel-consider gruyere, muenster, feta, blue cheese, asiago, or goat cheese