Pairing Evolve Cellars Wines with Cheese - Round Two

Evolve Cellars Pinot Gris 2018 and Shiraz 2016 with Cheddar, Brie and Gouda cheese pairings

Welcome to Round 2 of my Evolve Cellars and Cheese Pairing experience. In the first round I compared Evolve Cellars’ Viognier and Sauvignon Blanc 2018 paired with aged cheddar and brie cheese. You can see the results here.

This time I’m comparing Evolve Cellars Pinot Gris 2018 with Evolve Cellars Shiraz 2016. I’ve added a cheese to the comparison, so I now have Brie, aged Cheddar, and Gouda.

My Tasting Notes

Evolve Cellars Pinot Gris 2018 (BC $19.99) – a bright medium intensity lemon colour in the glass. It has a medium intensity nose with bright fresh stone fruit aromas mainly, with a lesser amount of citrus and a touch of honey later on. The aromas persist with decanting. It is off-dry, bigger and round with a viscous mouthfeel. Bright flavours; mainly peaches with some citrus. It provides a light acidic prickle on your tongue. Some pepperiness in the wine that builds to the finish. With decanting you get some minerality and an increase in the stone fruit and citrus flavours, and a decrease in the pepperiness. A medium plus length with pepperiness, peach, citrus and some pith.

Rating: Bright stone fruit aromas and flavours with lesser citrus components. Bigger, round mouth feel with a peppery finish.

Evolve Cellars Shiraz 2016 (BC $22.99) – this wine has a deep, almost opaque black garnet colour. Legs evident on the sides of the glass with swirling. This wine has intense aromas showing smokiness, raspberries, meatiness, sweet spices (clove and mace), red fruits, and black pepper. With decanting you can add floral and blackberry aromas. It is off dry, medium acidity, fine medium intensity tannins, but bigger body and flavour intensity. Semi-round mouthfeel. A mix of black fruits, tarriness, very ripe raspberries and black berries, black plums and some jamminess. It has prominent black pepperiness and is quite floral. A touch of oak. No major changes to the palate with decanting other than a decrease in the floral component. This wine has a medium plus length finishing with black plums, black pepper, mace spice and a touch of oak. The tannins are there on the finish but are not drying.

Rating: Intense aromas; smoky, raspberry, meaty, black berries and sweet spices. Fuller bodied, off dry with a smooth mouthfeel. Black fruits, ripe berries, black plums and more fruits.

Evolve Cellars Pinot Gris 2018 and Shiraz 2016 with wines in glasses

My Wine and Cheese Pairings

My notes about the Cheddar and Brie from my previous article to start.

Brie (top), Gouda (right), and Cheddar (bottom)

The first cheese I picked was the Balderson Old Cheddar. It is aged for 12 months. Their website notes this cheese has a slightly elevated salty taste and the beginning notes of sharpness, and has a firm texture. I concur that this cheese does have some sharpness to it, it is firm but still has creaminess, and it has some earthy flavour as well. I quite enjoyed nibbling on this cheese.

The second cheese is the Paysan Breton Le Brie. I picked this cheese as it is a soft cheese and should have a milder flavour. Paysan Breton Le Brie is produced in the Brittany region of France by a large cooperative using whole or semi-skimmed cow’s milk. It is described as having a bloomy rind and soft-ripened texture. It is indeed creamy with butter on the finish. It also has a nice mushroomy flavour which I think comes from the rind.

The Gouda I am using is from Bergeron, out of Quebec. Gouda originated in the Netherlands and is typically made from cow’s milk. It is a semi-hard cheese has a caramel-like flavour and a semi-firm creamy texture. You may get hints of nuts and may finish from smooth to sharp. My cheese was semi-firm, creamy with some nuttiness, especially on the finish.

Evolve Cellars Pinot Gris 2018

The Pinot Gris enhanced the creamy, mushroomy flavour of the brie. The peach flavour of the wine was complementary to the flavours in the cheese, and the acidity level of the wine matched the creaminess of the cheese. My recommended pairing.

The cheddar flavours and texture subdued the fruit flavours of the wine. No complementary support. Not a recommended pairing.

The gouda cheese allowed the peach flavour of this wine to come out, you still get some butteriness from the cheese, but you lose the nuttiness. My second recommended pairing.

Evolve Cellars Shiraz 2016

The Shiraz overpowered the brie, but I still was able to taste some of the mushroom flavour from this cheese. Not a recommended pairing.

From the cheddar I was able to just get the creaminess of the cheese, but lost the flavours and sharpness. An OK pairing.

The pepperiness and meatiness plus the raspberries/blackberry flavours paired very well with the creaminess and nuttiness of the gouda. My recommended pairing.

Overall the gouda did well for both the Pinot Gris and the Shiraz. The brie finally has a good pairing between both tastings.

Where Can I Buy These Wines?

You can purchase these wines through their Five Vines Cellars wines purchases web page. These wines may also be available at your local wine shop, but need to ask.