Enjoy this special Ontario Wine and Cheese pairing list curated by Maître Fromager Afrim Pristine in collaboration with Savour Ontario and Terroir Symposium. These pairtings celebrate sustainability and taste of place with wines selected from Ontario’s certified sustainable wineries and are memorably paired with some of the finest artisan and farmstead cheeses in the province.
The flavours of raspberry, beetroot, smoked meat and spice in Flat Rock Cellars' Pinot Noir are beautifully returned by Mountainoak's full-flavoured, award-winning farmstead Gouda with hints of butterscotch and caramel. Mountainoak Cheese strives to stay true to their roots making high-quality products using only the best ingredients and our own whole milk. They plant their own seed, and care for and harvest their own crops, treating their animals with respect and personal care. Each cheese is handled with care daily and aged naturally, bringing out the best characteristics of our milk and the work that has gone into each step.
This expressive, aromatic and juicy Riesling with citrus aromas of grapefruit, zesty lemon and mango and flavours of peach and lime blossom is matched with the nutty, earthy overtones and mellow, buttery flavours of this stunningly unique flagship cheese made with Guernsey milk. Niagara Gold is a washed rind, semi-firm cheese fashioned after recipes developed by the Trappist Monks of the Loire Valley. This is a cheese with nutty, earthy overtones and mellow, buttery flavours. This luscious cheese is delicately mild and sweet when young, gaining pungency and piquant qualities with age.
The tremendous tension and vibrancy in this dry and medium bodied wine with a bright yellow plum fruit and crisp acidity up front, a rich yet stony middle and a long, intense finish of grapefruit essence and spice are memorably teased out by the creamy, rich flavours and sweeter overtones of this magnificent, award-winning firm artisan cheese made with milk from the family dairy farm. Gunn’s Hill Artisan Cheese is nestled within the rolling hills of Gunn’s Hill Road in Oxford County, Ontario. While the cheeses they produce are truly unique, you can taste the Swiss influence from techniques and recipes their celebrated cheesemaker Shep Ysselstein learned while making cheese in the town of Handeck, in the Swiss Alps.
Fleshy tones of ripe peach and citrus make this a dynamic, elegant, medium-bodied Chardonnay with a nod to its single-vineyard terroir. Pair with Big Brother, a robust washed rind, semi-hard cheese with lots of character, a rich buttery colour, smooth texture and a wonderful fruity flavour that lingers in your mouth.
Empire’s perfectly hand-crafted, naturally aged 3-Year Cheddar is the ideal mate to tease out the bright and juicy apple, peach, and pineapple with gentle smoke and background oak spice in Southbrook’s certified organic Chardonnay.
Opening with a bright and crunchy texture that gives way to flavours of tart cherry, raspberry, cranberry, savoury herbs and lingering white pepper, this wine is elevated by the uniqueness of The Lankaaster. This hard, buttery made-in-Ontario cheese with a lightly open texture won Global Supreme Champion at the Global Cheese Awards in Somerset, England in 2013, making it literally the best cheese in the world.
Fresh and lively with a delicate application of oak to add richness and texture, this wine is smooth, vibrant, and a perfect companion for Oaxaca, a new Latin-style cheese similar to a mozzarella and crafted in Toronto.
This organic rosé offers welcoming aromatics of grapefruit, red berries and vibrant florality and the palate carries through with abundant fruit and a creamy texture from the barrel fermentation and aging with a long, savoury finish. Pair this delicate, dry wine with Comfort Cream, a delicate, artisanal camembert-style cheese with a silky, creamy, golden interior offering rich flavours of fresh truffles and an intense, buttery palate and a long, tangy finish.
The palate of this deep ruby wine is bold yet luscious with flavours of ripe raspberries and plums, coupled with black pepper spiciness and slight vanilla character from aging in French oak barrels for 19 months. Perfect with the mysterious Devil’s Rock, a fine blue cheese encased in black wax from Ontario’s north.
The grape varietals in this luminous pink wine benefit from the warm lake breeze of the Pelee Island coast, where they absorb a fragrance of wildflowers and wild strawberries that is perfectly paired with Bel Haven, an artisanal brie-style cheese with aromas of butter, mushroom and hazelnut with a subtle tang. This classic, soft-ripened cheese has a flavour as lush as its appearance with undertones of butter, mushroom and hazelnut and a subtle tang.
This medium-bodied, easy-drinking red has a purplish red colour and greets you with cherry and berry fruit on the nose, though the flavours are strictly the grape. Enjoy with Wildwood, an artisanal, Appenzeller-style cheese with an impressive, zesty flavour and rustic and appealing appearance. The aromatic rind gives the cheese a contrasting texture to the interior and is rich and creamy on the palate with a nice balance of salt.