C’mon Bar-brie, Let’s Go Party!

Three themes for your upcoming wine and cheese holiday gathering

By Mélodie Picard

Who loves partying with wine more than cheese? Oregon has some fabulous wines to showcase during holiday parties. Here are three fun hosting themes for an amazing wine and cheese holiday gathering:

Classic Quartet (Quatuor in French)

Bubbles, white, red and dessert wines. Pick one of each, then match the classic cheese pairing. Bubbles with triple crème; white with goat chèvre; red with cheddar; and dessert with blue.

Your favorite wines

Offer what you like and want to drink and have your guests explore that varietal in different ways through a platter cheese pairing. Let’s say you love bubbles so you get a classic Champagne, some pink Cava and serve a Kir Royale (sparkling and crème de cassis). Pair with a Crémeux de Bourgogne triple creme from neighboring Champagne, plus a fun, simple blue cheese, along with a funkier blue or truffle creamy one.

Potluck

Ask some of your guests to bring a wine and others to bring a cheese. Play the match game. Taste all the combinations and see which works well. Help your friends narrow down their choices by selecting a theme. Ideas can be from a specific country, cheese style, dish, fruit, film, etc. If you’re in the Rogue Valley, consider me your cheesematcher. I will match cheese with any party theme. It’s in the same spirit as a White Elephant gift exchange but much more exciting for your tastebuds.

As always, your best source for cheese is a trusty cheesemonger (like myself), at your local cheese shop or specialty cheese counter. If you live in the middle of nowhere, some creameries and cheese shops (roguecreamery.com and fromages.com) do ship cheese. Please support independent small businesses!