Whenever we have a dinner party at our house, the food takes center stage. My wife and I love to cook and creating a menu for a special evening with friends is one of our all time favorite things to do. At one of our recent parties our guests could not stop complimenting the food. We served bow tie pasta with a light cream sauce and a sauteed chicken with baby asparagus. We also served roasted red potatoes seasoned with rosemary on the side. The meal really had a nice flow to it and the guests were impressed.

One of the most important aspects of our dinner parties is the appetizers that we serve as guests arrive. We put as much into the planning of the appetizer as we do the dinner. For this particular dinner party we came up with a very creative platter filled with a variety of cheeses. We matched the cheeses with gourmet crackers that we felt would complement the cheese. The beautiful cheese platter was presented with a great bottle of Pinot Noir from our Avanti wine refrigerator.

There were a total of six different cheeses to choose from along with an olive spread that could really have gone with any of them. The crowd favorite seemed to be a dry Monterey Jack cheese that had a very smooth texture. It was really different from the typical soft Monterey Jack that is more popular. We paired this cheese with a cracked pepper water cracker which did not over power this mostly mild cheese. The next crowd favorite was an Irish sharp cheddar. This was a much stronger cheese that dazzled the taste buds. The cheddar was paired with a sort of bagel chip which had a hint of herb flavoring. The bagel chip was also sort of crunchy which also seemed to bring out some of the flavor of the cheddar. The third most popular cheese of the evening was an aged port wine cheese which was creamy and left a hint of port wine aftertaste. This cheese was spread onto a Ritz like cracker.

Several of the guests commented on how such a simple idea as wine and cheese could come together so well. I explained that it is critical to serve the wine at the optimal temperature. If you don’t have the space for a wine refrigerator you can always find a smaller 12 bottle wine cooler that will allow you to keep several of your favorites on hand. The cheese should always be purchased at a gourmet store, or at the gourmet section of some of the larger supermarkets. Avoid the mass produced cheeses found in the dairy case. They can never match the authenticity of the flavors of imported cheeses that are well worth the extra cost.

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