【英语生活】葡萄酒与奶酪搭配有新意

Red wine and cheese is one of those couplings - like country and Western - that's so automatic that few people actually stop to consider if it actually makes sense. Why not, for example, country and Southern, since that's where so much of the music comes from anyway?

And why red wine with cheese when white wine is so much better with it? Although red wine does go well with certain hard cheeses (such as Parmigiano), I find that its tannins often get in the way. White wines work better because they're so much more versatile in style, texture and character. They can be soft and fruity, dry and minerally or sumptuously sweet. They can pair with goat cheese and blue cheese and stinky cheese, too.

But I'm convinced that most people drink red wine with cheese for one simple reason: At the end of the meal, it's what they have in their glass. The other night, I was at a friend's house for dinner and they pulled out some Camembert to polish off the rest of the wine. Though the cheese was lovely, it was pretty much squashed by the Zinfandel, whose assertive flavors and fairly high alcohol practically bullied the poor Camembert straight off the plate.

My solution is simple: I serve my cheese at the start of the meal, accompanied by a glass of white wine - Sauvignon Blanc, Grüner Veltliner or a Riesling. I know it's not chic nor particularly fashionable - it may even be a bit Midwestern, as one guest once said (without even knowing that's where I'm from). But it definitely works as a food and wine pairing. And I'm happy to say I've made a few converts. Like my friend Vonnie (Pennsylvania-born), who likes cheese first, as well - though she added she 'aspires' to having it after a meal. 'I know that it's chic,' she told me, 'but actually I'd rather have a brownie instead.'

我们搭配很多东西的时候是如此地理所当然，比如红葡萄酒配奶酪──就如乡村音乐和西部地区的关系──而实际上我们很少会停下来思考一下这些搭配是否合情合理。比如，为什么不把乡村音乐和南部地区联系在一起呢？那么多的乡村音乐产生于那个地区。

相关报导我的解决方案很简单：我在餐前就上奶酪，并让大家佐以白葡萄酒──长相思（Sauvignon Blanc），格鲁纳绿维特利纳（Grüner Veltliner）或雷司令（Riesling）都可以。我明白，这算不上是优雅也不是特别符合潮流的作派──它甚至可能有点中西部的老土，正如一位客人所说的那样（他甚至不知道我老家就在中西部）。但作为食品和葡萄酒的一种搭配方式，这样做绝对是可行的。而且很高兴我已改变了几个人的习惯。就像我的朋友Vonnie（她出生于宾夕法尼亚州），她也喜欢餐前吃奶酪──虽然她说她“渴望” 餐后吃。 “我知道餐后吃点奶酪被视为品味高雅，”她告诉我，“但其实我宁愿吃块布朗尼蛋糕。”