Wine and Cheese Pairing - Palisades Restaurant

So I guess it's safe to say that after my first experience at The Palisades, I have a new favorite restaurant. When my boyfriend wanted to do a date night this Saturday (March 12), I knew right away where I wanted to go for dinner and I think, if it's even possible, this was even better than my first visit. 

Being a Saturday night, I had a feeling it would be pretty packed at The Palisades and I was right about that. When we arrived, I was shocked to see a parking attendant directing parking for the restaurant and inside, it was completely full. Despite being packed, we were seated within minutes by a friendly hostess and met our amazing waitress, Mandi Lamb. I explained that I was in the wine class and would probably need a little bit of help with pairing wines with my food and to say she was helpful would be an understatement - she was awesome.

Her first suggestion of the night was the cheese and wine plate, which was their take on a wine and cheese pairing. In this case, the cheeses were either soaked in wine or the wine was candied and put on top of the cheese, which was pretty unique (and delicious). First of all, the plate was gorgeous and came with a good amount of toasted baguette to pair with the wine and cheese. On the cheese plate there were four different cheeses with wines including:

1) Goat cheese soaked in Burgundy, garnished with toasted almonds

2) Parmesan Reggiano paired with Cabernet Sauvignon pickled cherries & hazelnuts

3) Aged cheddar with Chardonnay, apple chutney

4) Gruyere paired with Pinot Grigio jam & candied citrus 

The first thing that I tasted off the plate was goat cheese soaked in Burgundy. WOW - it was delicious, which is weird considering I hate Burgundy wine 99% of the time. Being paired with the goat cheese really took away form the tannins normally present in the Burgundy wine. Together, it made the wine very smooth and brought out the fruit flavors of blackberries and blueberries. It also brought out a sweetness in the pair that really helped to balance the tannins in the wine and the normal bitter/cheesy taste in goat cheese. Seriously, this was absolutely delicious together and it made me look at both Burgundy wine and goat cheese differently. 

The second pair that I tasted was the parmesan reggiano with Cabernet Sauvignon pickled cherries and hazelnuts. The first thing that stood out to me about this pairing was that the wine in it tasted a bit like balsamic vinegar. With Cabernet Sauvignons that I've had in the past I haven't gotten that kind of flavor at all, but thought that maybe the cheese brought out an extreme acidity in the wine. I noted that the pair had somewhat of a cranberry bitterness to it. I noticed that while I initially thought the pair was high in acid, after having a few more bites, I came to really like the two together. Additionally, the pair helped to remove all dryness that I've ever found in Cabernet Sauvignon and made it have a smooth feel to it. As someone who really dislikes high tannin levels in red wines, the increase in acidity helped to make the perfect balance of tannins for my preferences. 

The next combination that I had was the aged cheddar with Chardonnay and apple chutney. The first thing that stood out to me was that by pairing the two together, a lot of the acidity that I normally find in Chardonnay was taken away. The two together had a lemon citrus taste with a heavy presence of apple from the chutney. I really liked this combination although I think that I missed a bit of the acidity that I enjoy in Chardonnay. 

The last wine and cheese I paired together was the Gruyere paired with Pinot Grigio jam & candied citrus. I personally found that the combination of the two allowed the cheese to complement the heat of the wine and cool it down. There was a light citrus, possibly grapefruit, in the wine and it was really accentuated by the citrus peel in the cheese. Together, this was a very smooth taste that paired very well. 

I can't say I was shocked by any means at how great the wine and cheese plate was. Everything I have had at The Palisades thus far has been great and this was no exception. While I had never even considered trying this as an appetizer, I'm so glad that Mandi suggested it.