What wine to pair with a custard tart

My assertion that custard tarts are the new cupcakes provoked such a heated exchange that I thought I’d stoke the fire by suggesting what you drink with ‘em.

By custard tarts of course I’m not referring to the traditional British version known up north as a ‘custard’ with which it would be wrong to drink anything but a strong cup of tea (with at least one sugar) but the much sexier Portuguese version now seen all over London and bakeries throughout the UK.

I reckon there are two ways to go depending on your mood and the time of day.

For a morning tart (there is something slightly risqué about that phrase) I reckon it should be coffee, preferably black

For an afternoon or evening tart, a small glass of strong, sweet wine. Port would be the obvious option, given the origins of the tart (tawny rather than ruby, I’d suggest) but other sweet wines such as oloroso or cream sherry, similar styles of montilla, malaga, madeira and orangey moscatels would be great too. (Whatever you have to hand - and if you don’t, you should. Sweet sherry is an incredible bargain.)

Posh creamy custard tarts of the kind admirably crafted by St John (and, happily nearer to home, Sam Leach of Birch in Bristol) could take a dessert wine such as a Sauternes or a lighter moscatel.

The best wine pairings with Roquefort cheese

Roquefort cheese is unusual in having such a frequently recommended wine match (Sauternes) that you may wonder if it’s worth drinking anything else but depending how you serve it there are a number of other options.

It’s actually used as often as part of a recipe as it is on its own, particularly in salads which may well mean you don’t want to start your meal with a sweet wine.

It’s also unusually salty which can have the effect of making red wines taste thin and mean.

On its own

Sauternes is king but you could also try similar sweet wines from Bordeaux or the surrounding regions such as Barsac, Saussignac, Loupiac or Monbazillac. Late harvest sauvignon blancs from elsewhere would also work. It’s also fantastic with peaty Islay whiskies like Lagavulin as you can see in this match of the week

As part of a cheeseboard

Here there are other cheeses to counterbalance its sharpness but I’d still go for something sweet rather than a dry red. A Banyuls*, Maury or Rivesaltes if you’re want to stick to French wine; an oloroso sherry or a late bottled vintage or vintage port if you want to stray further afield.

If you do want to drink red, Bordeaux is traditional though full-bodied reds from the Languedoc would be the local choice (Roquefort is made up in the plateau de Larzac). Blends of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot such as Meritage blends and mature Cabernet would also work.

In a salad

The most usual combination is with bitter leaves, pears and walnuts** and maybe a dressing made out of nut oil. I’d be inclined to keep your wine quite dry and even a touch oxidised if the dressing is nutty too: Savignin from the Jura would be great, or try an aged Muscadet or even a crisp fino sherry. If the dressing is lighter try an Alsace riesling.

With a steak or a burger

Cabernet is great with beef and blue cheese.

*I also discovered a Languedoc red called Palais Royal from Domaine de L’Arjolle which worked really well as you can see from this post

** You might also want to try this recipe for hot pears with Roquefort and Walnuts from TV chef Michel Roux Jr which he pairs with a Bonnezeaux, old oloroso sherry or a tawny port.

Photo by Polina Tankilevitch

What wine - and other drinks - to pair with cheesecake

The most useful clue to the kind of wine that works with cheesecake is to think of the toppings and flavourings that are used in cheesecake recipes rather than the base.

You also need to take into consideration what type of cheesecake you’re dealing with - a classic New York cheesecake or a light, ricotta-based one (I’ll leave savoury cheesecakes for the moment)

Beer and spirits or liqueurs may be as good as wine. Nigella for example has an apple cheesecake with butterscotch sauce in her book Feast that is made with apple schnapps and suggests drinking the same liqueur with it. Here are some other ideas:

Plain cheesecake

Sweet riesling or a late harvest sauvignon blanc are pretty reliable choices

Honey cheesecake

A great discovery last year at Honey & Co - a marvellous pairing of Canadian Vidal ice wine and honey and feta cheesecake I made my match of the week.

Lemon or orange cheesecake

Lemon is always a bit tricky because it tends to knock the lemony flavour out of any accompanying wine. If the lemon’s not too pronounced - say in an Italian-style ricotta cheesecake - try a moscato d’Asti or an 'extra dry' (ironically medium-sweet) prosecco. If it’s more powerful try an icewine again shot of well chilled limoncello. With orange-flavoured cheesecake an orange muscat like Andrew Quady's Essensia would be better.

Berry - and cherry - topped cheesecake

Again late harvest riesling will probably cope but to be honest I prefer Belgian-style raspberry or cherry beers. I suspect also that the Cabernet Franc ice wine I found such a good match a couple of years ago for a rhubarb cheesecake would work with a raspberry or strawberry-topped cheesecake too.

Toffee, caramel or maple-flavoured cheesecake

If you like this style of cheesecake you almost certainly have a sweet tooth so a Australian-style ‘sticky’ liqueur muscat would probably suit you down to the ground. A glass of tawny port would be a slightly drier option. For a pumpkin cheesecake I’d go for something a bit lighter - a muscat or moscatel like Torres’ Floralis Moscatel Oro, for example.

Chocolate cheesecake

Sweet red wines generally work with chocolate and cheesecake is no exception though you might be able to get away with a lush dry red as I did in this surprising match. I suspect one of the new wave of sweet reds like Apothik would work too. Having less of a sweet tooth I’d personally go for a madeira or an oloroso sherry - also a good match, I reckon, for a Nutella cheesecake.

Which foods pair best with tawny port?

We rarely think of tawny port as a flexible pairing for food. We serve it with stilton, obviously and with hard cheeses like cheddar, with nuts and dried fruits and over Christmas with fruit cake and mince pies but that’s usually as far as it goes.

True, its sweetness suggests desserts and cakes rather than savoury dishes but like other strong dessert wines it can do sterling service at the start of a meal, particularly if it’s - as is increasingly fashionable - lightly chilled. And even with sweet things you should ensure - as is the case with other dessert wines - that your dessert is not far sweeter than your port.

On the spot
A Portuguese favourite with tawny port are the rich eggy pastries that you find in the pastelerias (patisseries) and creamy desserts such as crème caramel. Figs and (elvas) plums are also considered good matches. (According to Christian Seely of Quinta do Noval tawny is superb with fig tart) My own star match, improbable as it might sound, is bread pudding, a brilliant combination I came across on a visit to Lisbon a few years ago.

Sheep's cheeses also work well especially what is by common consent one of Portugal’s finest, the rich creamy Queijo Serra - highly prized by cheese connoisseurs

Why not try:
10 year old tawnies with:

• sherry-style with salted roast almonds

• chicken or duck liver parfait or other meaty pâtés and terrines

• presunto (Portuguese air dried ham) or Spanish jamon iberico

• pecan, almond or walnut tart or cakes

• apple, pear or banana tatin

• a compote of dried fruits

• crème brûlée

• cheesecake (without red fruits)

• ginger-flavoured cakes and puddings

See also my post on caramel-flavoured desserts and tawny port

20 year old tawnies with:

• foie gras - a rich, nutty alternative to Sauternes, it will pick up on a sweet accompaniment such as balsamic vinegar or prunes

• roast lobster (according to Calem)

• feathered game such as pheasant and partridge

• hard sheep's milk cheeses such as Ossau Iraty and Manchego, mature Gouda, parmesan

• dark, bitter chocolate and chocolate truffles (Valrhona’s Caraibe and Choua are recommended by the Chocolate Society)

• biscotti

• panforte di Siena

• roasted chestnuts (a great suggestion from Jose Carneiro of Wiese & Krohn)

In the kitchen
Tawny port is a useful ingredient for any cook to have to hand, especially for deglazing pans. It works particularly well with chicken livers, lambs liver and kidneys and will also add richness to slow-braised meat sauces.You can also use it as a base for a sabayon or zabaglione

A version of this article was first published in Decanter magazine

Image ©anna_shepulova at Adobe Stock.