Wine Pairing Guide
Contributed by Bryan Vu – Pairing wine with dessert isn’t always easy, and often the task can seem daunting. However Shari’s Berries has put together a handy little guide to make pairing desserts with wines a little bit easier. The task of choosing a matching wine for dessert can be daunting for a person if they don’t really know where to start. The chart helps to demystify the process: http://www.berries.com/blog/dessert-alcohol-pairing-guide
3 Important Fact When Pairing Dessert and Wine
How did these pairings come about? The key to a great pairing is not necessarily how similar the two flavors are, but how well they play together. There are 3 important factors into consideration:
1) Sweetness, 2) acidity, and 3) flavor.
For example, while a sweet red with hints of berries might taste great with a milk chocolate dessert, a better match for a dry red would be with the more bitter dark chocolate, so the berry and chocolate flavors are allowed to mingle without the overpowering sweetness of milk chocolate. Or try a crisp, acidic white with some oak to pair with a cream based treat to let the vanilla and oak flavors come together, while the crispness of the wine cleanses the palette for your next bite.
Of course, many of these pairings can be swapped, as long you keep the 3 factors in mind. If you happen to have a Pinot Noir with a bit of oak, it might also work wonderfully with peaches and cream. Or perhaps a fruitier Chardonnay with Raspberry Tart. Every set of taste buds is different, and this guide is by no means set in stone, but we hope it will help you find better pairings and have great tasting meals!