Dessert wine, dessert wine, passito

It often happens to take care and passion in searching for the right pairings between the dishes on our menu and the wines, perhaps for a special lunch with friends or colleagues, and then one often forgets to consider the pairing with dessert, the final course. In reality, the dessert is a course that has the same value as all the others and deserves the same attention when choosing the wine (liquor, sweet, sparkling...) to pair with it.
 

Sparkling wine, dessert wine?

First of all, let’s bust the myth that desserts pair well with dry sparkling wines; there is nothing more wrong: the basic principle of pairing wines with desserts states that a sweet wine should always be paired with a dessert.
 
A food-wine pairing is certainly not easy to accomplish: it is a combination of technical knowledge (of the characteristics of the dishes and the properties of the wine but also of the classic pairing methods) and creativity. The operation does not simply aim to find a wine that "goes well" with the dish but to harmoniously fuse the two elements and create a new taste sensation.
 
Pairings occur by contrast or by analogy. The latter are easier to make, while contrast requires careful evaluation of both the food and the wine, as well as the effects that the components of the wine have when they encounter the food. The varieties of desserts and wines are infinite, and so are their pairings. Desserts differ by the type of dough used (leavened or unleavened), the type of cooking (baked, fried) or no cooking, and the fillings (creams, fresh or dried fruit, candied fruits, spices...).

Dessert wine: which one to choose

To choose the wine to accompany the dessert, one must always follow the principle of analogy. Here is a list of pairings that we propose:

- leavened desserts (panettone, pandoro, brioche, Savarin dough, Babà, sponge cake) or Christmas desserts with sweet, soft, fresh sparkling wines, low in alcohol and with an intense aroma;

- fried desserts with sweet white wine, very fragrant with a rich and soft flavor;

- dry desserts filled with dried or candied fruit to be paired with sweet, liquor wines or alcoholic passito wines that are very fragrant; dry desserts filled with jam or cream to be paired with medium soft and sweet wines; dry desserts filled with fresh fruit to be paired with sweet, warm white wines with an intense aroma; dry desserts filled with red fruits to be paired with sweet and very fragrant red wines; dry desserts filled with strawberries or white fruits to be paired with medium sparkling and fragrant sweet wines;

- the almond paste with very warm and structured passito wines;

- Bignè filled with chocolate to be paired with flavored and alcoholic red wines; Bignè filled with cream to be paired with very sweet, fragrant, and warm wines;

- the small pastries filled with fruit or cream to be paired with very sweet and fragrant wines;

- the Soufflés filled with lemon, chocolate, vanilla, candied fruit or liqueurs should be paired with a liquor wine;

- Crêpes with sweet wines that are not very fragrant and medium warm;

- spoon desserts (such as crème caramel, crème brûlée, crema catalana, Bavarians) should be paired with fresh, sapid white wines of good structure;

- ice creams cannot be paired with any wine.