Wine tasting made simple but zestful at Cambridge class pairing cheeses with varied vintages

Few pairings are as iconic as wine and cheese. With such a wide variety to explore, I signed up for a class at Cambridgeshire Wine School to discover which combination spoke to me most.

Wine tasting options are limited in the Cambridge area of the U.K., but I found a course led by Mark Anstead, who owns the school less than an hour from RAF Lakenheath and RAF Mildenhall.

In the wake of the Great Recession, Anstead left journalism and eventually took a wine course in London. That led him to start the school in Cambridge around 2013.

The class I took is just one of the options in the school’s assortment. For those seeking some holiday specificity, there’s a class devoted to top wine-and-cheese pairings for Christmas. Another possible route involves selections of wines chosen by country.

Anstead’s basic class on wine and cheese is designed for beginners and intermediate tasters, which made it a good fit for me, as I’d engaged in only one previous wine tasting, during a tour in Italy.

I’ve never been much of a wine connoisseur. I often struggled to pick up on the various flavors, especially when it comes to bitterness or sweetness. I was hoping this class might help me — and to say that it did is an understatement.

The session was held in a quiet conference room tucked beside a sleek hotel lobby, just steps from the train station.

Each table seated four people, with six wine glasses per person. In front of the room, there was a screen and a chair where Anstead guided the session.

I was seated with a couple seasoned in wine tasting as well as a fellow novice who wanted to learn more. The class started with a short overview of wine history and addressed common misconceptions, such as price equals quality.

Anstead quizzed us along the way to gauge experience levels, which put me at ease because I quickly realized most people in the room were also beginners.

We sampled seven wines and cheeses, with a bit of background on each pairing. We were instructed to pour just enough wine to reach the widest point of the glass.

Anstead walked us through the tasting process: observe the wine’s depth and clarity by tilting the glass, swirl to release aromas, then note the scents before sipping. Some wines smelled nutty, while others were herbal or fruity, with aromas ranging from berries to tropical and stone fruits.

The first few wines I tried didn’t tickle my fancy. The Baron des Cours Medoc and Cuvee des Vignerons Beaujolais tasted bitter and flat to me.

The Westcombe cheese and creamy, mushroom-flavored Baron Bigod were also hard passes for me. Surprisingly, my fellow students loved them, which just proved how personal taste is.

Toward the end of the class, I struck gold. The Bodle chardonnay paired with Silver Fox smoked cheddar were rich, balanced and delicious. The smoked cheddar smelled of charred oakwood, and the wine had the aroma of fruit freshly picked from a tropical island.

Ditto for the Maragliano Moscato d’Asti, a sparkling wine from Italy’s Piedmont region and Wensleydale, a saltier, honey-smelling, buttermilk cheese that pairs well with sweeter wines and desserts. I found the combination decadent and exploding with flavor.

Both wines have since made their way into my regular rotation at home and at restaurants.

The class taught me to slow down and engage with wine, not just through taste but also through smell and reflection. I’ve always had a strong olfactory sense, which helped me identify certain notes, but hearing others describe their impressions filled in the blanks.

Wine tasting has a reputation for being stuffy, but this class was laid-back and interactive, with as much group discussion as instruction. Everyone said they felt welcome.

In addition to helping me understand what wines I like and how to pair them, it showed me that indulging in the fruit of the vine can be affordable. And acquiring that know-how turned out to be enjoyable, not to mention easier than I thought.

Cambridgeshire Wine School

Address: Courses are held at various locations in Cambridge.

Hours: Often on Thursdays at 7 p.m. Visit the school’s event page for specific information.

Cost: 50 pounds for a cheese and wine pairing course.

Information: Phone: 01223 655391, Online: www.localwineschool.com/cambridge