{"id":4222,"date":"2025-01-30T03:01:59","date_gmt":"2025-01-30T03:01:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/what-dont-you-drink-with-aged-cheddar\/"},"modified":"2025-01-30T03:01:59","modified_gmt":"2025-01-30T03:01:59","slug":"what-dont-you-drink-with-aged-cheddar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/what-dont-you-drink-with-aged-cheddar\/","title":{"rendered":"What Don\u2019t You Drink with Aged Cheddar?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Zinfandel and aged cheddar<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Pairing wine with cheese, as I have come to learn, means many different things to different people. What exactly defines a perfect pairing? Ask twenty people, you will most likely get twenty different answers. While I wouldn’t consider myself expert, I did gain quite a bit of experience during my tenure as a winery chef and cheesemonger in California wine country.\u00a0 For me, a perfect match is when one complements the other without dominating it, creating almost a third taste sensation, which is the harmony between the two.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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A 25-year Aged Cheddar<\/h2>\n
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Old Quebec Reserve Cheddar 7 year<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Needless to say, I was very excited and intrigued by the thought of pairing the\u00a0 Old Quebec Vintage Cheddar<\/a> 25 Year Cheddar with a suitable wine. While the company produces a line of Cheddars that are widely available in a range of 3-10 years of age, this seasoned beauty was very much a limited edition; so much so that it was not offered for sale, but rather doled out in tasting portions on a first come first serve basis at a fundraising event held at the company\u2019s Lancaster PA aging and distribution facility.<\/p>\n

As for exactly how and why they aged this cheese for twenty-five years, Sales Director Aaron Deppen explains, \u201cSome people might think that we just take a cheese and stick it in a corner to see what happens in fifteen years, but nothing could be farther from the truth. We have a very exacting process that begins after two years of aging. Only those cheeses that are showing the ability for improvement by further aging are selected to move on. So the 2 becomes the 3, the best of the 3 year cheeses eventually become the 5, the 5 the 7, the 7 the 10, and so on.\u201d\u00a0 There\u2019s nothing wrong with Cheddars with less age. In fact, the Old Quebec Reserve 7 year Cheddar that won a gold medal in the World Cheese Awards in 2024.<\/p>\n

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What Does 25 Year Aged Cheese Taste Like?<\/h2>\n
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Cheddar and wine<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As for the \u201cwhy\u201d? Well, for starters the cheese is truly magnificent; unlike anything I’ve ever had before. The first thing that stands out is how remarkably creamy it is for its age. Crumbly but still quite moist, any firmness comes in the form of larger than usual calcium and tyrosine crystals. The taste is a combination of aged Parmigiano, aged gouda, and even a hint of a blue cheese sharpness, all wrapped up in classic aged Cheddar. Very complex with a very long finish, it gets your attention immediately. Absolutely memorable. Not your everyday aged Cheddar by any means.<\/p>\n

And so with those flavor and textural notes in mind, I assembled a quartet of wines with various attributes to see what would form the best partner to this glorious wedge. Here are the results for each beverage.<\/p>\n

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Wine Pairings<\/h2>\n