There’s a lot to love about low-intervention wines. Their freshness, texture, and occasional funk can make natty bottles especially food-friendly, often revealing new sides of familiar flavors. When the SAVEUR team traveled to Madison for the Wisconsin Art of Cheese Festival, I asked Square Wine Co. owner Andrea Hillsey to share her favorite pairings using her home state’s cheeses. From savory gouda to lush brie and a singular blue-veined cheddar, these combinations show how thoughtful wines and carefully crafted cheeses can bring out the best in one another.
Pét-Nat + Bloomy Triple Crème
NV La Staffa Mai Sentito! Pét-Nat, Marche, Italy + Schroeder Käse Triple Crème Brie, Rewey, Wisconsin
Hillsey gravitates toward bright, gently fizzy farmhouse bottles when pairing with Schroeder Käse’s silky, soft-ripened wheel. This pét-nat (or “pétillant naturel”) wine’s faint yeastiness echoes the triple crème’s mushroomy rind, while its mellow bubbles and acidity cut right through the richness, priming your palate for the next indulgent bite.
Old-School Red + Hard, Aged Cheese
2014 R. López de Heredia Viña Bosconia Reserva, Rioja, Spain + Roth Cheese Canela, Monroe, Wisconsin
“There are wines you’d never guess are natural,” Hillsey says of low-intervention, traditional producers like this one in north-central Spain. The aged Rioja’s earthiness and soft tannins bring out the umami depth of Roth Cheese’s Canela—Wisconsin’s cow’s milk riff on Spanish Manchego. The pairing is both harmonious and complex.
Chillable Red + Earthy Blue
2024 Licorne Méchante “Le Cri du Loup,” Mendocino, California + Roelli Cheese Haus Red Rock, Shullsburg, Wisconsin
Hillsey likes a juicy, easy-drinking red (or as the French say, “glou glou”) with this subtle Roelli Cheese Haus blue-laced cheddar. Carbonic maceration—a technique popularized in Beaujolais, where grapes are left to ferment inside their skins before being pressed—creates a wine with savory depth and low tannins, helping it stand up to the elegant Wisconsin original without overpowering it.
Classic Dry White + Alpine Styles
2021 Valentin Zusslin Les Chapelles Riesling, Alsace, France + Alpinage Cheese Classic Raclette, Oak Creek, Wisconsin + Uplands Cheese Pleasant Ridge Reserve, Dodgeville, Wisconsin
With firm, mountain-style cheeses, Hillsey suggests a dry, structured white with enough weight to match their savory depth. A mineral-driven Alsatian riesling—with clean acidity and citrus and stone fruit on the nose—is an exceptional match to Upland’s Pleasant Ridge Reserve’s caramel and hazelnut notes and Alpinage Cheese Classic Raclette’s buttery allium character.
Orange Wine + Nutty, Aged Gouda
2021 American Wine Project Antipodes Frontenac Gris, Fillmore County, Minnesota + Hill Valley Dairy Luna, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Natural skin-contact (aka amber) wines are among Hillsey’s most cheese-friendly picks, thanks to their delicate yet structured tannins. Erin Rasmussen’s Antipodes—made in Wisconsin using cold-hardy hybrid grapes—lends a distinctive grip and freshness that complement award-winning Hill Valley Dairy Luna’s nutty crunch, enhancing its roasted walnut notes and caramelized sweetness.
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