The most important rule to remember when matching wine and desserts is that a sweeter wine is always better. Wine that doesn’t have ample sugar levels will invariably taste thin and tart.
Botrytis affected wines fit the bill nicely. Late harvest wines generally aren’t as sweet as their Botrytis cousins, but still offer excellent matching with lighter desserts.
Another wine you should consider is a Moscato. This fruity sweet semi-sparkling white wine is low in alcohol (around 5 per cent) and is heaven when drunk with fresh fruit and other light fruity desserts.
Ice cream is almost like chocolate in its difficulty to match wine with. If it’s merely an accompaniment to a slice of cake or pudding, it shouldn’t pose too much of a problem and you should continue with your normal wine matching. If however you’re sitting in front of the TV smashing a litre of ice cream, this is probably not the best wine partnering moment! The creaminess and the coating ability of the ice cream, along with the cold temperature are very difficult for any wine to deal with.
Chocolate is also hell to match a wine with – and that’s because it is super sweet and coats the palate. The only wine that can step up to the challenge is a rich Liqueur Muscat or Tokay.
Thanks to renowned Sydney restaurant, Yellow, which let Conrad and I take over their restaurant recently. Their desserts are heavenly. Read all about the winning wines of the recent International Sweet Wine Challenge here.
The Wine Wankers 
Reblogged this on The Militant Negro™.
LikeLike
thanks mate – much appreciated! Drew
LikeLike
Thank you Drew, happy stress free week ahead
LikeLike
Ever try Pedro Ximenez on vanilla ice cream? And for chocolate, try dark chocolate and Fonseca Bin 27 port.
LikeLike
yes i have – Neal swears by this!
LikeLike
I’ve really started to enjoy pudding wines lately – not really having tried them before. I’m looking forward to trying our some of your recommendations!
LikeLike
just dont try 15 in one sitting!!
LikeLike
I shall try not to!!!!!
LikeLike
I agree that sweeter is generally better, but for the best match in my opinion the wine should be a little bit sweeter than the dessert, but not far sweeter.
Hence fruit cocktail might be best with a late harvest Riesling (especially for the acidity) but something richer would be great with a 5 Putts Tokaji or an Alsace SGN Gewurz.
And totally agree with PX on ice cream!
LikeLike
point taken – should i revise the copy?
LikeLike
It depends how particular your average reader is…it’s a great intro as it stands 😊
LikeLike
God, that chocolate sphere sounds delicious. Like Lavinia Ross, Dark chocolate and a port is wonderful. Tobin James’ Liquid Love (late harvest Zin) goes perfectly with chocolate. Like a port, It is quite sweet on it’s own.
LikeLike
great combo suggestion!
LikeLike
Reblogged this on toptapas and commented:
Nice one – not always easy to match sweet wines, which we’re not short of here in Spain
LikeLike
thanks – much appreciated! Drew
LikeLike
There is a new restaurant here that only serves drinks (alcoholic) and pastries, I am serious, I am afraid to see the wine list!
LikeLike
sounds heaven – what’s the name and where?
LikeLike
Very good suggestions! I just want to chime on the subject of chocolate – there is a hope for the chocolate and wine 🙂 Milk chocolate works quite well with Champagne or many other sparkling wine. Dark chocolate, outside of been a perfect companion to Cabernet Sauvignon/Merlot or Australian Shiraz, will also work quite well with Port. Plus, sweet sparkling wines based on the red grapes, such as Brachetto d’Acqui, can also work quite well with the chocolate.
LikeLike
hmmmmm – i’ll have to give it ago.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I agree about pairing wine with a bowl of ice cream: impossible. Looks like you guys had a blast! Thank you as always for sharing!
LikeLike
ice cream should be eaten with…. a spoon!!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Very interesting article, and I think I often miss an opportunity to drink more wine because I usually switch over to serving coffee and/or tea for dessert after dinner…
LikeLike
im with you – rarely do i get to the stage of eating dessert!
LikeLiked by 1 person
The chocolate ball sounds amazing!!
LikeLike
heavenly!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Will try it out – be sure to check out my blog if you get the chance!!
LikeLike
Chocolate and ice cream are hell to match – Very well said. I much more prefer some nice alcool like an Armagnac (sweet alcohol), than a even wonderfull sweet wine – Sorry to tell this guys !
LikeLike
thanks for reading! i agree with you!
LikeLike
For me? There are simply things that need not be paired with wines but instead with a sweet liqueur. Ice Cream, that is one of them.
That Chocolate, heavenly.
LikeLike
Match chocolate with Brachetto d’Acqui DOCG. It is widely recognized as one of the few wines throughout the world which can be matched with dark chocolate.
LikeLike
I may not know much about wine, but I have desserts down pat. Finally I feel like I’m fitting in. 🙂
LikeLike
A good late harvest Botrytis is one of my very favourite things. There have even been occasions when I haven’t needed the dessert to go with it…!
LikeLike
I recently invited some folks over and I had tiramisu, my choice in wine was clearly not the best so we when with hot tea. I like your idea of Liqueur Muscat but don’t have access to it here, I may just get Malaga, is that alright replacement?
LikeLike
Reblogged this on Royal Graffiti.
LikeLike
Reblogged this on The Wine Wankers and commented:
Our post on how to match sweet wines with dessert
LikeLike
[…] Πηγή: How to match sweet wines with desserts – The Wine Wankers […]
LikeLike
Possibilities to choose within in matching wine and chocolate (even the dark one): PX, Banyuls, Aleatico dell’Elba, some Montefalco Sagrantino Passito, Moscato di Scanzo (if You are able to find it, production is tiny), Recioto della Valpolicella, maybe some Maury and Passito di Pantelleria (the sweetest). I would avoid the sparklers, because cocoa is bitter and tannic. Specific labels (not being part of any denomination): Ala Amarascato di Salaparuta from Sicily and Anghelu Ruju by Sella & Mosca from Sardinia. Regards. Riccardo Margheri
LikeLike