Pairings | Desserts & cakes

Wine (and other) pairings for peaches and nectarines

Posted by Fiona Beckett on August 2 2020 at 06:17

Being surrounded by peaches and nectarines at the moment has reminded me what a brilliant match they are for a glass of dessert wine. And, surprisingly, even for a red!

Peaches in red wine is a popular Italian dessert that’s easy to replicate with any light fruity red as I pointed out in this match of the week.

With other peach or nectarine puddings your wine choice depends on how sweet your dessert is, whether it’s served hot or cold and what it’s served with (a good dollop of cream always helps). A warm peach pie or a peach cobbler, for instance, needs a sweeter wine than a classic French peach or nectarine tart served at room temperature. But in truth with peaches and nectarines you can’t go far wrong.

Fresh or simply poached peaches or nectarines

Great with a light Moscato d’Asti or a still muscat like a Muscat de Frontignan. Other off-dry sparkling wines such as demi-sec champagne work well too, especially with white peaches

Peach sabayon

Can be served warm or cold and may include some kind of booze which could provide a steer (or do away with the need for an accompanying wine altogether) but Sauternes or other late harvest Sauvignon Blanc is a reasonably safe bet

French style peach or nectarine tart

Frankly any light dessert wine you enjoy - Sauternes, other late harvest sauvignons and semillons, Coteaux du Layon and other Loire dessert wines, late harvest Chenin, South African straw wine, late harvest riesling . . .

Grilled peaches or nectarines

As in this recipe with Greek yoghurt and honey. I’d go for Moscato or muscat again. Possibly even a rosé one.

Peach melba

The raspberry sauce muddles the situation here. You want a sweet wine with a high level of acidity like a late harvest riesling

Peach sorbet

Super-cold, near-frozen peach liqueurs, if anything

Hot peach or nectarine desserts like peach pie, peach cobbler, upside-down cakes or crumbles

Intense late harvest sauvignons like those from New Zealand ought to cope as should a late harvest chardonnay but I’d also consider a chilled peach-flavoured liqueur like Archers or Southern Comfort which tend to handle warm and hot desserts better than wine.

Peaches and nectarines can, of course also be used in savoury dishes, particularly salads, with rich cheeses such as burrata and with ham, pork and duck. With salads I’d be inclined to go for a lush white with some tropical fruit flavours - a Viognier or a Colombard, maybe. With ham and peaches I’d probably drink a rich beer like a saison and with duck and peaches an off-dry pinot gris.

The best wine and liqueur pairings for a chocolate yule log

Posted by Fiona Beckett on December 24 2019 at 07:27

A chocolate yule log or ‘buche de Noël has become an increasingly popular dessert at Christmas but what kind of wine should you pair with it?

As usual with chocolate it depends how intense the flavour is and what the log is filled with.

A simple shop-bought log filled with whipped cream or a light buttercream doesn’t need as powerful a wine as a rich home-made one with, say, a chestnut filling.

You may of course feel that a sweet wine is over the top with something that’s already incredibly sweet and that you’d rather have a cup of black coffee or tea with it. But it is Christmas and I suspect most of you probably won’t!

Here’s what I’d suggest:

* For a shop-bought log I’d go for a Brachetto d’Acqui - a sweet, gently fizzy Italian red wine that isn’t too high in alcohol. If you’re serving it with fresh berries you could even serve a sparkling rosé or rosé champagne

* With a slightly richer homemade log with a chocolate cream filling you could try a stronger sweet red wine such as a recioto della Valpolicella, Maury or a black muscat like Elysium. If it’s flled with boozy cherries try a vintage character or late bottled vintage port.

* With a log with orange in the sponge or filling like this chocolate and clementine log try an orange muscat, Passito di Pantelleria, a lovely marmaladey dessert wine from an island off the coast of Sicily or a South African straw wine. Or you could serve an iced shot of Cointreau

* With a rich chocolate and chestnut yule log like this rather delicious-sounding version from Felicity Cloake I’d go for a dark cream sherry or sweet oloroso sherry, sweet madeira or Australian liqueur muscat

* If there are nuts or Nutella on or in your log as in this recipe try a tawny port or, if it includes almonds, a glass of amaretto.

What I personally wouldn’t go for:

Sauternes or similarly citrussy dessert wines - simply because I’d rather have orange flavours than lemony ones with chocolate. Ordinary non-vintage champagne because it’s too dry (though a demi-sec champagne would be fine with lighter recipes) and Asti because it’s a bit too light. But if you disagree go for it!

What other drinks have you enjoyed with a Yule log?

You may also find these other suggestions for what to drink with Christmas desserts useful:

Wine matches for Christmas pudding

Wine matches for mince pies

Wine matches for trifle

Photo © noirchocolate - Fotolia.com

8 great food pairings for stout and porter

Posted by Fiona Beckett on March 15 2019 at 06:42

Although there are obviously differences between the two types of beer, dark stouts and porters tend to pair with similar types of food. Here are my top matches ...

Oysters and Guinness is one of the beer world’s classic pairings only bettered in my experience by an oyster rarebit. A creamy chowder with oysters and scallops is also great with a lighter stout

Dark beefy or venison stews like my recipe for braised beef with port and porter. Ox cheeks, ox tail all love stouts and porters

Steak pies such as this steak and stilton pie I enjoyed with a London porter or a hot game pie

Boiled bacon and cabbage - a classic St Patrick’s Day pairing with a smooth dark creamy Irish stout. Mmmm.

American-style barbecue especially BBQd ribs or smoked brisket - one for an American-style porter - even a smoked one if you want to layer on some extra smokey flavour.

Stilton and similar mellow blue cheeses - porter works in the same way as port: a strong dark contrast. Brilliant.

Dark chocolate cakes and desserts - If you don’t have a very sweet tooth and enjoy black coffee with your chocolate you’ll enjoy a porter too. A stronger, sweeter imperial stout is arguably better still. Especially with brownies.

Vanilla ice cream - Imperial stout and ice cream makes a great float. Here’s Garrett Oliver’s Imperial Stout Float from the Brooklyn Brewery

If you found this post useful you may also enjoy:

Food pairings for witbiers

Food pairings for hefeweizen and other German-style wheat beers

5 great matches for IPA

Image © bbourdages - Fotolia.com

Best pairings with sticky toffee pudding

Posted by Fiona Beckett on January 13 2019 at 08:58

One of the all-time favourite British desserts sticky toffee pudding is super-sweet so will overwhelm most wines you might think of pairing with it so what should you choose?

Your best bet is a sweet fortified wine like tawny port, sherry or Madeira, a beer (believe it or not!) or a whisky liqueur.

* An Australian liqueur muscat has similar toffeed flavours but you might find it just a bit too much of a good thing.

* The same goes for a sweet oloroso or cream sherry. Yummy though. One producer, Barbadillo, even produced a Sticky Pudding Wine.

* You could try a 10 year old tawny port which will be slightly nuttier. Some are sweeter than others.

* I have had (well-chilled) Canadian ice wine with STP. Amazing.

* And great suggestion from The Lemon Tree in Bishop's Stortford: Vin Santo. Haven't tried it but am sure it would work.

* For those who don’t have such a sweet tooth a ginger flavoured beer like Blandford’s Ginger Fly can be a delicious match.

* Or try a ginger wine or liqueur - either on its own or served as a Whisky Mac

* Or, if you fancy something a bit stronger, a nip of Drambuie or other whisky liqueur, a cognac or an armagnac.

Image copyright: HLphoto - Fotolia.com

Tags: ginger liqueur tawny port ginger wine ginger-flavoured beer ice-wine oloroso sherry cream sherry oloroso liqueur Muscat Australian liqueur Muscat drink:sweet & fortified wine pudding sticky toffee pudding food:desserts & cakes whisky liqueur Madeira Vin Santo
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What wine to pair with a custard tart

Posted by Fiona Beckett on May 12 2018 at 09:25

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.