Learn
Fresh, tangy, lemony cheese — and the most convincing example in wine of what grows together going together.
Sancerre. If you want one answer and no discussion, that is it — and the reason is more than tradition.
The village of Chavignol sits inside the Sancerre appellation in the Loire Valley, and it gives its name to Crottin de Chavignol, one of France's most famous goat cheeses. The cheese and the wine have been made within a few miles of each other for centuries. They taste like they belong together because, in every meaningful sense, they grew up together.
Fresh goat cheese is tangy, bright and faintly lemony — that lactic sharpness is its whole character. Put a soft, low-acid wine next to it and the wine collapses: it tastes flabby, dull and slightly sweet by comparison.
A high-acid white does the opposite. It meets the cheese at the same pitch, so neither one dominates, and the citrus and fresh-herb notes in the wine pick up the same notes in the cheese. This is a pairing built on similarity rather than contrast.
Goat cheese is not one thing. A young, soft, spreadable log is the classic Sancerre partner. As the same cheese ages it firms up, dries out and turns nuttier and much more pungent — at that point it can handle a richer white, or even a light red.
Warm goat cheese on toast, the salad staple, adds caramelisation and a little sweetness from the browning, which softens the tangy edge and widens your options considerably. And if the cheese has been rolled in ash, do not let it put you off: the ash is there to help ripening and is flavour-neutral.
FAQ
Sancerre — a crisp, high-acid Sauvignon Blanc from the Loire. The goat cheese Crottin de Chavignol is made in the same appellation, and the two have been paired locally for centuries.
Both are high in acidity and share citrus and fresh-herb notes, so they meet at the same intensity rather than one overpowering the other. A low-acid wine tastes flat and dull next to the cheese's lactic tang.
The browning adds caramelised sweetness that softens the tang, so you have more freedom than with the cold cheese. A crisp Loire white still works beautifully, and a dry rosé is an excellent alternative.
Scan any label to identify a wine, learn why it tastes the way it does, and build your palate. Free, with no in-app purchases.