Memorable matches that keep people coming back demand specificity — whether you’re a restaurateur building out your fine cheese selections or simply an at-home enthusiast. Here, our friends Laurent and Arnaud Saget weigh in on the best Loire wine and cheese pairings.
Do we really need another article on how to pair wine with cheese?
With 22 million results for “pairing wine and cheese” on Google, seems the topic’s been sufficiently covered. And yet, for all the volumes written, there remains a mystique around nailing that perfect combination of textures, acid, and flavors. It can be a (fun) challenge, even for a seasoned pro.
One irreproachable match-up is Sancerre with Crottin de Chavignol — a made-for-each-other duo from France’s Loire Valley that really does deliver on the hype, as anyone lucky enough to have tried them together will attest. But is that Sancerre’s only cheese soulmate?
Speaking in generalities only gets you so far in the real world of menu planning and purchasing demands. Sure. Acid-driven, mineral/grassy French sauvignon blanc works exceptionally well with tart and/or creamy cheeses. But memorable pairings that keep people coming back for more demand specificity — whether you’re a restaurateur building out your offering of fine cheeses or simply an at-home enthusiast.
We turned to brothers Laurent and Arnaud Saget of Saget La Perrière in Pouilly-sur-Loire — they did us the curd-esy of sharing some advice, built on their family’s nine generations of expertise in Loire Valley sauvignon blanc and, surely, cheese.
For their La Perrière Sancerre, the brothers suggest a sheep’s milk cheese.
“A house favorite is Ossau-Iraty,” says Laurent. “Our remarkably soft and well-balanced Sancerre offers up quite a lot of mineral and white-fruit notes. It will bring out the full power of Ossau-Iraty, which has a crumbly texture that melts in your mouth and a creamy palate of dried fruit and animal notes, while also preserving the freshness and fruit character of the wine.”
Ossau-Iraty is from the Pyrénées Atlantique region, situated deep in France’s southwest. Named for the Ossau Valley, this farmhouse ewe’s milk cheese was once a highly valuable currency for shepherds.
Or try: Aged Havarti. The Dutch cow’s milk cheese has a creamy, buttery texture, moderate acidity, and subtle hazelnut characters that will meld seamlessly with the freshness and white-fruited elegance of La Perrière Sancerre.
“The combination of this Pouilly-Fumé, with its saline notes, and some Curé Nantais cheese, with its terroir flavors, creates a delicious pairing on the palate,” says Arnaud. “The wine has a taut structure with lingering flavors of Conference pear and peach which are the perfect foil to the strong taste of the cheese. It also has a subtle spicy finish, which I love.”
Curé Nantais is a Loire specialty. Made with raw cow’s milk, it was first created by a priest who was fleeing the French Revolution, hiding out along the banks of the Loire River. Today, it’s made in three styles: the most common is square-shaped with a distinctive orange rind; the second type is round; and the third iteration is washed with Muscadet wine rather than brine.
Or try: Tomme Muscadet. Easier to find stateside, it’s a semi-hard cheese made from goat’s milk that hails from the Vendee département, south of the city of Nantes in the Loire. This chèvre is ripened with Muscadet wine for four months, imparting a pleasantly fruity note.
With its astonishing breadth, depth of fruit, and barely-there-hints of vanilla, the Saget family’s iconic “Mégalithe” Sancerre cuvée defies any notion that sauvignon blanc is strictly a young-drinking white. And it works wonderfully well with truffled goat’s cheese.
“Mégalithe’s complexity, which becomes even more refined with age, marries nicely with the fine texture and intense flavors of truffled chèvre,” explains Arnaud. “The sweetness and hazelnut notes of the cheese are elegant complements to the wine, creating an exceptional taste experience.”
Or try: Champignon mushroom Brie. Its luxurious, triple-cream texture and subtle but earthy flavors will play beautifully with Mégalithe’s rich palate.
“We think the mineral and melon-fruit notes in our La Petite Perrière Sauvignon Blanc mingle wonderfully with the nutty, citrus flavors of a young Comté cheese,” says Laurent. “The cheese’s citrus and sometimes nutty notes are perfect with the sauvignon blanc’s refreshing taste and notes of melon.
Or Try: Gruyère. Both Comté and Gruyère are crafted in the Alps along the border between France and Switzerland and share both a similar texture and nutty note.
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