The All American Cheese and Wine Book

I have never been more proud than when this book won a James Beard award. Although a fun book to write, it was not easy. Pairing cheese and wine turned out to be a challenge as both cheese and wine are agricultural ingredients and as such, are essentially moving targets. That is, they change from batch to batch, year to year. Still, I wanted to capture the magic of American cheese and wines made in America, and so it went.

In this book, I feature my ten basic guidelines for pairing cheese and wine. I also include a two-page chart with cheeses and wines so that you can figure out what to buy next time you want to pair a cheese with a wine. For example, do you have a chardonnay you'd like to open? Simply find chardonnay on the chart and see which cheeses intersect with that wine. Want to match your cheddar with a wine? Look up cheddar and find the wines that go with it. It's pairing made easy.

I also include recipes for entertaining with cheese and wine. The 50 recipes include hors d'oeuvres, pizzas, picnic ideas, cheese plates, and dessert. Perhaps most fun was creating the how-to of giving a cheese and wine party. It's easy and fun.

Finally, yet perhaps most importantly, I profiled 25 new American cheesemakers from across the country and 25 winemakers, some from lesser-known wine-producing states such as Colorado, Texas, and Virginia. I figured if you were like me, you'd want to know the stories behind the great cheeses and wines we're lucky enough to enjoy.