Pairing wine and food always seems to center around matching wines with meat, pasta or vegetables. You can have a lot of fun pairing wine with candy, though. If you've never tried it, it's a taste treat you need to experience.
Chocolate is a natural for pairing with red wines. I find that dark chocolate works best, and reds with a soft mouthfeel go really well with it. Try to stay away from reds with a lot of oak, or too much tannin. Zinfandel, Syrah and Merlot are usually pretty good choices.
Chocolate candies with a creamy center of raspberry or cherry taste great this way, and the creamy center adds to the melt-in-your-mouth factor. Port wine is nearly always a good choice for pairing with chocolates.
White wines can even be matched successfully with candy. Try tasting a chocolate with a butter rum filling with a sip of Chardonnay, or a late-harvest Viognier. Spicy candies - with peppers or chiles introduced to the mix - match up spectacularly with with a dry Riesling.
I recently found that brittle made with New Mexico chiles and pumpkin seeds was a perfect fit with Roussanne. Throw a little goat cheese into the bite and you have a real delight. With this kind of match, you want to use a white wine with a good deal of acidity.
What's your favorite candy? Think about the flavors involved in it and pick a wine that suits those qualities.
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Chocolate is a natural for pairing with red wines. I find that dark chocolate works best, and reds with a soft mouthfeel go really well with it. Try to stay away from reds with a lot of oak, or too much tannin. Zinfandel, Syrah and Merlot are usually pretty good choices.
Chocolate candies with a creamy center of raspberry or cherry taste great this way, and the creamy center adds to the melt-in-your-mouth factor. Port wine is nearly always a good choice for pairing with chocolates.
White wines can even be matched successfully with candy. Try tasting a chocolate with a butter rum filling with a sip of Chardonnay, or a late-harvest Viognier. Spicy candies - with peppers or chiles introduced to the mix - match up spectacularly with with a dry Riesling.
I recently found that brittle made with New Mexico chiles and pumpkin seeds was a perfect fit with Roussanne. Throw a little goat cheese into the bite and you have a real delight. With this kind of match, you want to use a white wine with a good deal of acidity.
What's your favorite candy? Think about the flavors involved in it and pick a wine that suits those qualities.
Follow Randy Fuller on Twitter
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