PAIRING DESSERTS AND WINE

CHEESECAKE, FRUIT PIES, AND BANANA SPLITS -- GOT WINE?

Pairing desserts and wine will make your evening a success. One of the long-standing rules is to pair sweets with sweet. As a rule of thumb, a wine should be sweeter than the dessert it accompanies. Sparkling wine OR liqueurs are also a good match with sweet desserts.

BALANCE IS KEY Acidity and Sugar levels must be balanced in both the food and wine. If not balanced, the very sweet dessert will make the wine seem more tannic, less sweet and more acidic. Work with both the aromas and flavors of the wine to get a great match for pairing desserts.

DESSERT PARTY

Dessert can be the favorite part of the meal, and the best part of the party. When you're dining at one of your favorite restaurants don't you look at the dessert menu before before ordering the main course? Oh, sure you do! That way you can order an entré that is lighter so you can enjoy that delicious dessert.

Or maybe you really just need an excuse to enjoy dessert. Do you feel guilty splurging on a piece of chocolate cheesecake? Invite your friends and family for a dessert and wine tasting at home. This is, by far, the best theme party, get together, or wine tasting you could ever imagine. And you won't feel guilty having one extra slice of cake.

If you want to surprise your guests with home-made goodies, here are some easy dessert recipes that you can prepare for your dessert and wine pairing party.

COMFORT FOOD

Pairing desserts and wine is what you want to do with some of your favorite comfort food desserts. What can be more comforting than chocolate, ice cream and cheesecake. Add an old fashioned fruit pie and you'll be set.

You can't get better than that, except for great wine. Here are some pairing suggestions for some of your favorite desserts.

FRUIT DESSERTS AND BANANA SPLITS

Gewürztraminer is a nice wine to pair with fruit desserts. It has a firm acidity to balance the sugars in the fruit of the desserts. Gewürztraminers are either sweet or dry, so you can really decide for yourself how sweet you would like your wine. It is a delicious varietal and with its aromas of mango, passion fruit, lychee nuts and nectarines it makes a great pairing with your desserts.

Ice Cream has too much fat and is cold which makes it hard to match. Do try a Pedro Ximinez Sherry. You can either sip it or pour it on top -- or both!

CHEESECAKE

Serve Champagne or a rich wine like a Sauternes from France or a Gewürztraminer or Riesling from Alsace to pair with the richness of cheesecake.

Moscato d'Asti is a light sparkling white wine that is considered a dessert wine. Its sweetness accentuates the flavor of a chocolate cheesecake with fruit accents such as raspberry, strawberry or blueberry.

Pair a dessert wine with a fruity sweetness to match the sweetness of the dessert, and with acidity to contrast and enhance the the flavors of the cheesecake. Or try a light floral red wine with flavors of strawberry or raspberry, or a rose.

CHOCOLATE

Dark and Bittersweet

There was a time when everyone's favorite, Chocolate, was considered not a wine friendly pairing. However, rich flavored dark chocolate with a high cacao content (more than 60%), which is now sold by many popular chocolate companies, are less sweet than traditional milk chocolates. The table below has a few tips to pair your wine with chocolate.

PAIRING WINES WITH CHOCOLATE Pair lighter chocolates with lighter wines. Darker chocolates with full-bodied wines. When tasting go from light (milk chocolate) to dark and serve with the corresponding wines.

The strong flavors of bittersweet and dark chocolates in this category can be paired with stronger red wines. While some of the wines may seem too tannic to pair with chocolate, the cocoa butter decreases the astringency and dryness of the tannins. The higher cacao content enables bittersweet chocolate to be a more friendly wine pairing. Try a Cabernet Sauvignon from the Rapel Valley in Chile and some Zinfandels.

Pairing Milk Chocolate and Wine

Milk chocolate has a higher percentage of sugar and smaller percentage of chocolate liquor. With that, and its milk content, it produces a milder and sweeter product. Some of the flavors in milk chocolate include brown sugar, vanilla, and honey along with the milk and cream flavors.

This style of sweeter chocolate needs sweeter wine, or the wine may taste tart. Though these two wines may be an exotic pairing it's worth trying Gewürztraminer with its slight sweetness and typical lychee fruit character, or a Riesling to pair with white chocolate’s typical dairy and caramel flavors.

Pairing desserts and wine is not always easy. Just follow some of the tips here and you will be on your way to a great dessert party. You can find more tips by following the links below.

Remember, it's really just "a matter of taste!"

Bridal Shower Wine Tasting

Wine Tasting Theme Party

How to Choose Wine

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