Food and Wine and Things

THE DESSERT EDITION. Because dessert is awesome and so is wine.

But pairing wine with dessert can be significantly less awesome. If you’re afraid of sweet wine you really should just get over it. Or just drink coffee with dessert; whichever is more appealing (sweet wine should always be more appealing). I struggle approximately the same amount with those who claim that red wine is just soooo much better than white, as I do with those who claim that any wine or wine product that contains residual sugar is cheap plonk. Many of the most amazing wines out there are sweet. But I’ll get more into that in a later post.

Acidic fruit based desserts 

Desserts like pear tarts and apple crisps combine plenty of sugar with moderate to high acidity and the wine you choose should do the same. Something like a trockenbeerenauslese (troh-ken-buh-air-en-ows-lay-zuh, or TBA if you’re feeling lazy) will work great, although be prepared to do some searching and serious spending. For the less adventurous and less spendy types, late harvest rieslings and good quality icewines/eisweins will also do the trick.

Berry based desserts

Sparkling (Spumante) Brachetto d’Acqui really shines with berry based desserts. Anything from jelly filled donuts to berry tart tartins will work well with this unusual red, sparkling wine from Italy. An off-dry Lambrusco is another, likely easier to find, option. Both are heavy in berry flavors and their effervescence keeps it all from being cloying.

Chocolate

The classic pairing for chocolate has been and likely always will be Port. But which style of Port to choose? It really depends on the dessert. If you’re chowing down on a dark chocolate cake with ganache or berry sauce, you’ll likely have good luck with Late-bottled Vintage Ports which tend to be fruitier. Ruby Ports are also a good, generally less expensive option.

If you’re chocolate dessert contains nuts a Tawny Port is probably what you want to go with. Tawny Ports are spicier and nuttier than the other varieties which will mirror the flavors in the dessert.

Creams, custards, puddings

High acid dessert wines pair beautifully with most custard based desserts. The acid is needed to cut through the fat and you can match fruit flavors in the wine to any fruit that may be present in the dessert. Think Canadian icewines or cool climate, botrytis affected dessert wines. If you aren’t familiar with botrytis (or noble rot) check it out here. If the dessert is sweeter (like a bread pudding), higher alcohol can help keep things from getting too sweet. Drier, fortified wines usually work well.