Can any wine stand up to Stinking Bishop?

We Brits don’t have a long tradition of washed-rind cheeses but we have a true champion in the aptly named Stinking Bishop, which shot to worldwide fame when it was featured in the Wallace & Gromit film. But can any wine (or other drink) stand up to it?

Stinking Bishop is made by Charles Martell in Dymock in Gloucestershire and is so named because its rind is washed with perry made from Stinking Bishop pears. That makes perry (cider made from perry pears) the obvious match but, depending on how far gone and stinky the cheese is, it may not be powerful enough to stand up to it.

A better bet would be a pear-flavoured liqueur. Martell makes his own which is called Owler or you could try a Poire William from France.

So far as wines are concerned your best best would be a fragrant Gewürztraminer which should be able to handle the strong flavour of the cheese. In Alsace, where the majority come from, it’s regularly paired with Munster, a similar style of washed-rind cheese.

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