Pairings

Summer still life
«Gastronom» №8(31) August 2004

A good dessert is, perhaps, a culmination of any good meal. And it will be even better is you choose a matching drink for it.

This time we will talk about fruit desserts — from usual fresh fruit to rich pies and cakes. In search for harmonious pairings, we will start with light dishes and work towards the heavier ones.

Fresh fruit are seldom too sweet and generally have a high level of acidity. Taking this fact into account, it is better to serve semisweet wines with fresh taste and good acidity. Expensive sweet wines like French Sauternes should better be kept for other desserts as their concentrated bouquet of honey and caramel will be too powerful for natural taste of fruit. The only exception is perhaps fruit salads soaked in dessert wines when the same wine is also served in a glass for the intensity of taste. An ideal companion for fresh summer fruit is semisweet sparkling wine, especially Italian Asti. Strawberries or raspberries in cream and French demi-sec Champagne is a true luxury.

Any fruit and fruit mousses will go well with French semi-sweet wines from Loire, German Rieslings spatlese and sweet ciders. The choice of red wines is limited but one can experiment with similar flavours. Thus, wines based on Merlot, Sangiovese or Barbera grapes have cherry tones so they can be served with ripe black cherries. Cabernet Sauvignon is known for its blackcurrant flavours — why not try it with the same berry? Chilled red Beaujolais can accompany red berries — strawberries, raspberries thanks to its own berry characteristics.

When fruit are subjected to cooking, they are usually turned into sweeter and more complex dishes. Refined fruit desserts can be enhanced with spices or sauces with wine, Cognac or Calvados. Finally, there is pastry — puff pastry, crumble, cheese and so on. In general, most of these desserts can be matched with the wines above — Loire Chenen Blanc, German Riesling, only sweeter, like Coteaux du Layon from Loire or Riesling auslese. Late harvest wines from Alsace or New World and richer Sauternes can be added to them.

Lemon tarts and pies ask for light and fresh accompaniment and will especially benefit from the presence of rare German eiswein — ice wine made from frozen grapes on the vine. Such wines with all their sweetness have amazing citrusy freshness and are ideal for lemon desserts. Fruit cheesecakes are also rather light, and they will go well with white wines made with very ripe, late harvested grapes, like vengandes tardives from Alsace or Chilean late harvest.

Fruit tarts and apple, pear, apricot or pear pies are on the heavier side and should be served with more concentrated wines — Vouvray from Loire, Sauternes from Bordeaux, German beerenauslese. They are all made from grapes affected with noble rot, resulting in wines with more concentration of fruit and honey. Such rich wines will do well with spicy fruit desserts, like with cinnamon. Another excellent choice is fruit liqueurs with similar flavours, that is for apple strudel you can serve apple brandy, blackcurrant pie can be served with cassis and so on.

Finally, pairing drinks with very sweet desserts based on jams, dried or caramelized fruit, can go in two directions. On the one hand, the best contract to a rich dessert is light, fresh Italian semisweet sparkling Moscato d’Asti. On the other hand, fortified sweet wines, such as Spanish Moscatel, French Muscat de Baummes de Venise and also original Italian wines from dried grapes — Vin Santo or Recioto della Valpolicella are excellent partners to rich fruit desserts. Oranges with caramel can be served with orange liqueurs Cointreau or Grand Marinier. For tart tatin, a famous French dessert from caramelized apples with Loire origin, there is nothing better than local dessert wine Quartz des Chaumes or unique Hungarian Tokai.