Dessert wine is often thought to be a very sweet and rarely enjoyed wine. But, if you get the match right, a dessert wine can elevate and transform any dessert to the highest level of elegance. The taste sensation won’t be muted by the delicious taste of a sweet treat, but instead, create a balance of flavour and live on within your palette for the entire evening. If you’re new to dessert wine or have been wondering how to find that perfect pairing, then use these simple tips to find that sweet signature you’ve been missing.
Don’t Be Afraid To Be Bold
When it comes to pairing dessert wine with your food or choice don’t be afraid to be bold. Look for desserts full of flavour and then find the corresponding wine to go with them. If you’re having a fruity dessert then opt for a dessert wine that doesn’t have an overpowering sweetness to its flavour. Alternatively, if you are having a dense or rich dessert, now is the time to consider a sweeter dessert wine which will help to break through that strong richness. Breaking through the desert doesn’t mean overpowering the delicate flavours, it’s in fact quite the opposite, the wine will help you appreciate the balance between the two tastes even more.
If sweet wines aren’t your thing, then be a little bolder and look for those wines distilled with spirits instead. Dessert wine is most often fortified with strong liquors like brandy or port, adding complexity to the flavour. These kinds of stronger flavours are perfect for a dessert that is already sweet enough. They are also perfect for the colder months, bringing a little bit of warmth to the end of your meal thanks to those fortified spirits.
Focus on the wine
Dessert is great, no one is here to debate that fact. However, when it comes to pairing dessert wine, you should focus less on the food and more on the wine. Take your time to identify the balance in the wine and make sure it aligns with your palette and what you like. Dessert wines still have tannins, still offer acidity and will undoubtedly play a role in how you feel about your meal afterwards.
When enjoying dessert, your taste buds look for the sweetness because usually, that’s what dessert is, it’s sweet. If you bring a wine that is too dry, or high in tannins, it may create bitterness or bad taste that will be reflected on the food as well. Don’t ruin dessert by pairing it with the wrong wine, be sure to focus on the characteristics of the vino as much as you focus on the delights of the dessert.
Does the wine complement to visuals
The taste and combination of your dessert and dessert wine shouldn’t be the only determining factor behind a sweet signature. Take the time to examine the colour of your wine and make sure it’s going to compliment the flavours of your food. The last thing you want is a heavy contrast between your decadent chocolate dessert and the incredibly light dessert wine. A simple trick is to avoid any dessert wine that is too light or too dark. This way you can avoid any nasty contrasts that will almost certainly leave a lasting impression on your guests, and not a good one either. Colour and contrast pairing is an easy way to land somewhere in the right ballpark when it comes to matching dessert wines.
Flavour is key
A matching dessert wine can sometimes be a very simple process, especially if you can match your sweet treats flavour to that of the wine. If your dessert wine has hints of stone fruit, such as a peach and you happen to be serving peach pie, then it’s a no-brainer. These kinds of flavour matches are key to a successful pairing of desserts and dessert wine. Think through the classic flavour combinations to make it a little easier. Coffee and chocolate and apple and cinnamon are but a couple of the easier choices when it comes to great flavour combinations. Sometimes the simplest path also happens to be the most obvious one, so think carefully before picking up a bottle of dessert wine and check to see if your dessert has done the work for you. If you haven’t chosen the menu yet, even better, you can be deliberate in your choice based on the wines you have to select from.
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No matter what dessert you’re serving up, you can rest assured that there is the perfect dessert wine to pair it with. Dessert wines are a complex flavour experience, you need to be deliberate in your choice of wine, as well as your dessert. Look for natural flavour combinations, don’t create a stark contrast, examine the characteristics of the wine and be bold. These are a small handful of the tips you need to create the ideal sweet signature and pair your dessert wines perfectly.