The Best Wellington Cheese Platters

Welly is a city that prides itself on its culinary skills, so it should come as no surprise that Wellington cheese platters are top notch.

Fact – cold weather calls for red wine and cheese platters.

This is undeniable, irrefutable and overwhelmingly incontrovertible. The key to surviving when the mercury dips over winter is to consume loads of fermented grape juice and elaborate cheese boards like a pre-hibernation bear with expensive taste. And we reiterate – the Wellington cheese and wine scene is pumping.

We look at four of the finest Wellington’s cheese platters.

The Library

Does the name stem from the fact that The Library has a reading room full of books? Because it does have another collection of sorts. An important and very thorough collection of wine, cheese and cocktails.

Guests create their own platter from a cheese-you-own-adventure list that includes standouts like the beautifully buttery Lindis Pass Brie, subtly sweet Rotterdam Gouda and the creamy Buche de Chevre.

Matterhorn

If you’ve dreamt of climbing a mountain of yellow meat, this is for you. “Mature cheeses with accessories” is Matterhornish for runny bries, aged gouda, chevre, muscatels, quince paste, candied walnuts, and rye walnut bread. And they stock wines that would put the Dornish to shame.

Noble Rot Wine Bar

This Lonsdale Road haunt is inspired by the Michael Broadbent quote, “drinking good wine with good food in good company is one of life’s most civilized pleasures”.

Noble Rot’s wine and cheese selection is superb. Top it off with some thinly sliced charcuterie, sour dough and red grapes, and you’ve made it to the Broadbent pinnacle of life’s most civilized pleasures.

Hippopotamus

The L’assiette De Fromages sounds fancy and French because it is fancy and French. There ain’t no tricks here. Just a fine selection of French cheeses served with the types condiments you’d expect from a elegant platter, as well as homemade bread. Dig in.

There you have a simple guide to some of the best Wellington cheese platters available. There are more out there, many more, but we can’t list all of them. Hunt them. Eat them. And return your findings… we’ll be all ears.

words by niall roeder