Wine and cheese pairings are always a popular Valentine’s Day gift. But putting together the proper combination on your own can be daunting, so it’s fortunate that there are many options available for gift sets that do the work of choosing the right wines and cheeses for you. There are also plenty of Valentine’s Day events centered around wine and cheese.
Wine and Cheese Boards
Wine and cheese boards are one of the simplest gift options, and they include not only wine and cheese but a variety of other foods as well. The Gourmet Wine & Cheese Board from FTD is a typical assortment, featuring a Kenwood Red Table wine accompanied by a creamy cheese spread, along with beef salami, toasted almonds, chocolate biscotti, sesame crackers, and Napa Valley mustard. It comes with a wood cheese board and a cheese spreader.
For the more frugal couple, there’s the wine and cheeseboard set from Overstock.com. It pairs a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon with pepper jack cheese. Water crackers and a bag of spicy cocktail almonds round out the set.
Wine and Cheese Gift Baskets
Gift baskets offer a similar assortment to the boards, but without the addition of the cutting board and knife. Wine.com offers a number of these baskets. The Fine Wine & Cheese Gift Basket includes a Raymond R. Collection Chardonnay paired with brie spread, along with crackers, almonds, and a French country olive mix.
The Valentine’s Day Perfect Pair set has two wines: a Veramonte Pinot Noir and a Vermonte Chardonnay. The cheese in this collection is a Merlot cheddar. It also includes beef sausage, crackers, Spanish Manzanilla olives, almonds, amaretto almond cookies, and Napa Valley mustard.
Finally, the Sonoma Wine Tower Wine Gift Basket features a Chardonnay and a Cabernet Sauvignon from DeLoach Heritage Reserve, along with Cabernet cheddar cheese. The wine and cheese are accompanied by beef sausage, chocolate truffle almonds, roasted almonds with sea salt, and crackers.
Wine and Cheese Events
Many Valentine’s Day events focus on wine and cheese. The Peconic Bay Winery in North Fork, New York offers a special free concert, Jazz on the Vine, featuring saxophonist and composer Sarah Manning, followed by a Valentine’s Day Wine & Cheese Pairing. The cheeses are supplied by the local Village Cheese Shop.
Hollywood Hills Vineyard in Woodinville, Washington has a similar event on Feb. 12, 2011 though without the jazz concert. The wine and cheese pairings at the tasting will be accompanied by local chocolates and pastries.
For a slightly different take on the wine and cheese event, there’s the Valentine’s Day Candlelight Ski at the Gunstock Mountain Resort in Gilford, New Hampshire on Feb. 12, 2011. The wine and cheese tasting is followed by candlelight skiing and showshoeing.
Paint: Lab, an art studio in Santa Monica, CA, offers a unique Valentine's Day event. The Champagne & Strawberries: Paint, Wine & Cheese event combines a wine and cheese tasting with a painting workshop at the studio.
As this brief sampling shows, there are plenty of ways to combine wine and cheese for a romantic Valentine’s Day. Whether it’s a gift or a special event, there’s something to appeal to all tastes.
Paul Brown - Paul Ferrell Brown graduated from the College of William and Mary in 1994 with a B.A. in English literature, and completed his M.A. in ...
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