Gran Selezione

Highest quality category in Chianti Classico. Wine must be made from estate grown grapes and aged at least 30 months before it is sold.

Blue cheese generally makes most red wines taste richer and livelier.

Answer: False.

While I love blue cheese, I usually don’t pair it with red wine. Extremely salty and pungent, blue cheese’s aggressive, palate-coating flavors strip the flavor of virtually all dry red wines, making them taste insipid and washed-out. Just about the only wine that has the intensity and body to counterbalance a blue cheese’s forceful character is a powerhouse like Port, because it is both sweet and fortified. The combination has been considered a European classic for centuries. (For more on pairing cheeses with wines, watch my video on wine and cheese parings here).

“I defy you to go down to San Francisco and find anyone today who wants to get hot and sticky picking grapes for $30 an hour.”

—Ren Harris
Owner of Paradigm winery in the Napa Valley, talking about California’s impending labor crisis as the shortage of grape pickers worsens

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