A wine and cheese tasting sheet
A wine and cheese evening is a tasting where the food is half the point, so the sheet should say what is on the plate. Type your wines once, add what each is served with, and every sheet that needs it carries both: the tasting sheet, the tasting list for the table, and the results.
The tasting sheet is Notes only: a column per wine, headed by its number, its name and price, and the cheese it comes with. Under each is a tall box with faint lines for notes, and a star at the foot for the favourite. There is no score, because the evening is about matching, not judging, and the table listens better when nobody is counting.
Plan four to six pairs and go from light to strong: a fresh goat's cheese with a crisp white, a soft washed rind with a light red, a hard aged cheese with something fuller, and a blue with a sweet wine at the end. Put out about 30 g of each cheese a person, bread or crackers, water, and a spittoon. Pour 4 to 6 cl of each wine, and taste the wine alone first, then with the cheese, then the wine again.
The tasting list gives you the line-up in glass order with room for what you want to say about each pair. The glass mats keep every glass on its number, and the results sheet counts the favourites at the end so you can name the pair of the evening.
Everything is free and prints in black and white on A4, Letter or A3. If you would rather print it blank and write the cheeses in by hand, the blank sheets are below.
Notes only is chosen for this evening; you can swap it on the next screen.
Questions
How many cheeses and wines?
Four to six pairs is plenty: one cheese for each wine, from fresh and mild to hard and blue. About 30 g of each cheese per person and a tasting pour of 4 to 6 cl of each wine.
Which wine goes with which cheese?
Start with the classics: goat's cheese with a crisp white, a hard aged cheese with a red, a blue with a sweet wine. Then add one pair you are not sure about; it is often the one people talk about.
Can guests score the pairs?
The sheet has room to write and a favourite to mark rather than points, so the table talks about the food and the wine. If you want numbers, swap the sheet for 20 Points when your sheets are ready.