9 different varieties of cheese (and their wines) for a real aperitif table

Because we’ve already eaten too many miserable cheese platters, the ones with lots of butter, lots of edam, just a small piece of blue cheese and the rest pure stuffed with nuts, crackers and a few raisins. Let’s stop with this scourge and set up in our house – always as far as we can, it’s clear – a tasting of cheeses as God wanted it. That is, with cheese, wine and a piece of bread. Nothing more, but nothing less. If you’re interested in continuing with the idea, come read on.

A cheese of French origin and which in this country is made with raw cow’s milk. It is soft and pasty, pale yellow in color and very smooth on the palate. It has a white rind, produced by the fungus Penicillium candidum, but which is also edible.

As the cheese matures, it becomes less soft and a bit more intense, especially in its aromas. In any case, it is a soft cheese, which for the same reason goes very well with light wines such as Pinot Noir or Syrah.

In this case, the recommendation goes with a first and last name because I am referring to the Boladero brand sheep’s cheese, produced in Coyhaique, but – fortunately – very easy to find in the shops of Santiago and in some supermarket chains in across the country.

It is a cheese made exclusively with sheep’s milk, so it has a distinctive taste and aroma: soft but at the same time penetrating, with rather citrus aromatic notes and a light but pleasant acidity on the palate. Precisely, so as not to hide these delicate characteristics that it has, it should be drunk with a creamy wine, which can be perfectly white and, why not, an exquisite Sémillon.

Originating in Greece (but currently produced all over the world, including Chile), it is another cheese made from sheep’s milk, and its particularity is that it is ripened immersed in brine. For this reason, it has a very soft texture and quite a salty taste. It works very well tossed into salads made with tomatoes and cucumbers, although it also pairs wonderfully with roasted beets.

And of course, to lower its salt level, it is strongly recommended to accompany it with a creamy and practically astringent wine. For example, a País Viejo from the Bouchon vineyard.

Yet another sheep’s cheese, although in this case it corresponds to a Spanish Denomination of Origin, specifically from the La Mancha region.

This is a type of cheese with a hard rind and a firm paste, although slightly floury and with a rich and very light acidity. Given its complexity, it is good to eat it with a simple and fresh wine, like a mixture of Carignan and Pays.

Until fifteen or twenty years ago, those of us who weren’t from the Coquimbo area could only get goat cheese on Route 5 North, near Ovalle, all with very informal means and even with health risks.

Fortunately, the current supply of this type of cheese is more than abundant. There is goat cheese for all tastes and all budgets. However, the riper ones tend to offer a more acidic and complex range of flavors and aromas, very pleasant to complement —for example— with a glass of Riesling.

It is one of the most famous cheeses in the world and for some time it has been available in Chile in its original version (and not only in its many bad imitations).

Originally from the Aveyron region, it is produced from curdled sheep’s milk and has had a designation of origin since 1925. It is a soft blue cheese, but with a pronounced aroma and taste. , with very intense mineral and spicy notes. That said, it’s worth pairing with a complex wine that can handle all that power. For example, a good Syrah.

Not yet well known in Chile, fortunately it is becoming easier and easier to start trading. This alpine cheese has a French designation of origin, and can only bear its name those produced in this region and with raw milk from only two types of cows.

It is characterized by its slightly floral aroma and a penetrating but sweet taste, also of flowers and with some nuts. It goes very well with a sweet white wine, such as Pinot Gris.

A “gift” of French cheese. With a hard shell (which cannot be eaten) but with a soft, almost creamy interior and a strong aroma of mushrooms and earth. Its flavor, also intense, encompasses identical notes, but also contains citrus fruits, which creates a truly exquisite combination.

It is made in France, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, with raw cow’s milk, and goes very well with any good Sauvignon Blanc.

It is a sheep’s cheese, one could say modern, since it has been made for twenty years in the French Pyrenees, although with a lighter style than other cheeses produced with this same type of milk.

In fact, it’s still made with pasteurized milk (which isn’t so common in European countries), it’s matured for just over two months, and it’s packaged in such a way that it doesn’t generate mold in the air. ‘outside. The result is a rather firm sheep’s cheese, with a slightly strong aroma, but with an extremely mild aftertaste, quite sweet for a sheep’s cheese. It goes very well with fortified wine.

*Prices for products in this item are updated as of April 26, 2022. Values ​​and availability may change.