dessert wine?

Champagne goes well with anything.

Champagne comes dry (brut) and semi-dry (sec or demi-sec) and if you try to use brut Champagne with most desserts it will taste harsh and sour. The sweeter Champagnes can work but there are much better and cheaper wines to start with.

For anything chocolate try some sort of Port, there are many around for $10-15. It is sort of a try a few and see what happens, no hard and fast rules. But a Port marked Ruby is pretty sweet and less interesting than one marked Tawny, which has really nice citrus tones to it. Try a Tawny Port with, again, almost any chocolate dessert. Or with cheese, if you like it. Tawny Port is great with almost all cheeses.

For brighter flavored desserts, cookies, orange or strawberry or vanilla flavors, you might try a sweet Sherry, and fortunately Gallo makes a surprisingly good one called Sheffield Cream Sherry (Cream always denotes a sweet sherry.) If you can find Madeira, which is pretty much available also, get a sweet one also. These wines should be well chilled. And you can serve them with ice cream, pies or cakes. Both the Sheffield Sherry and a decent Madeira can be had for less than $10.

You have to experiment, though. You might get a bottle (or a half bottle) of a couple of these wines and raid your local cookie counter; get a variety of types and flavors of cookies and see which goes with what. It's all a matter of tasting and noting what you like. Nothing is wrong but the above is a good way to get a running start on a very complex series of food/ wine interactions. Good luck.

pavane

First, it isn't the case that any sweet wine goes with any sweet dessert. Myself, I usually don't bother with chocolate cake - I'd rather have coffee or tea. (Some people drink port with chocolate cake. I'd rather have it with meat. I find something like a malbec - not sweet - to be a better with chocolate.)

Second, if the wine is _just_ sweet, and not anything else, then it is unlikely to be a good match for anything. In fact generally one wants enough acidity in the wine to complement the sweetness, and perhaps even more if you are really going to drink it with dessert.

Third, lots of people prefer sweet wines with cheese as a dessert course rather than sweet wines with sweets.

Here are a few things I like:

Tart Tatin (or even apple pie) or some other caramelized dessert with Sauternes.

Biscotti with Vin Santo.

Chocolate mousse or cake with orange muscat. (I know I just contradicated myself.)

Tiramisu or something similar with regular muscat.

Pineapple or other ripe fruit with Beerenauslese.

There are wines sweet enough to be dessert....like ice wine. Late harvest wines are very sweet, not quite as cloying as ice wine.

and then there is Ice Cider! Probably ideal with Tarte Tatin.

It may be important to consider that the so called "dessert wines" were not being pared with dessert but rather were the "Dessert" hence the designation of Dessert.

The other point is after the dinner in the formal societies the men would retire to brandy and cigars while the women would retire to their dessert wines with a little fruit and some cheeses.

Nonetheless fruit and cheese platters offer a brilliant contrast to the sweetened ports, sherries, and other dessert wines.

Dimitri

Yes, I love a sauterne with blue cheese. No need for the double dose of sweetness.

And sweet wines are indeed just fine by themselves - I agree with that completely.

-S-

Most dessert wines go very well with cheeses and fruit.

gloria p

I hate to correct someone's spelling, but since sauterne and sauternes are two very different things...

The French wine is spelled "sauternes," with an "s" at the end. And it is sweet.

A wine called "sauterne" (without the "s" at the end) is one from California, normally a cheap, poor quality wine, and the name means nothing. The name is used in California for a wide variety of different poor quality wines.

Thank you - I'm always happy to learn something. Please correct my spelling in the future, too.

-S-

Um, Ken did not correct your spelling... his spelling reference was pure facetiousness... he simply indicated your wine ignorance.

You're welcome. Glad to help.

Not unless it's this kind of error.

I have posted some such suggestions over the years, but I have never been really enthusiastic about them. Puddings and sweet wines are better served separately. That said, some sparklers, such as Moscato d'Asti or a good Asti Spumante, do match many puddings well. Otherwise, consider beer. Yes, beer. An Imperial stout (especially with chocolate- or coffee-based cakes or desserts) or a fruit-based beer, such as a Belgian framboise or kriek are definitely to be considered. In both cases, wine and beer, it is not just their particular flavours that make them work - it is also their palate-cleansing carbonation.

Victor

Imperial stout is totally obvious and I wish I had thought of it. Very good suggestion.

pavane