8 great wine and other matches for Stollen

Although stollen is a bit lighter than the classic British Christmas baking some of the pairings I suggested with mince pies (like sweet sherry and tawny port) will work too . . .

As you no doubt know it’s a delicious yeasted German fruit bread, lightly spiced, filled with marzipan and dredged with icing sugar.

It’s the kind of thing you’d most likely have mid-afternoon or as a mid-morning snack so the most likely accompaniment would be coffee or tea. That said if you’ve got some in the house and are disinclined to make a pud you could have it after dinner with a glass of sweet wines. 

Here are 8 ideas that appeal to me.

Coffee

So obvious, perhaps that it doesn’t need saying but the great German tradition of kaffee und kuchen points to coffee with stollen rather than tea. 

Schnapps

Of all the fruit-flavoured schnapps I’d favour an apple or pear-flavoured one or similar Alsace eau-de-vie, apples and pears and almonds being a well-tried and tested flavour combination 

Spätlese, auslese or beerenauslese riesling

Germans make some great sweet wines with lovely acidity that would be a real treat with this festive bake. The Wine Society suggests a vendange tardive gewurztraminer. 

Dark rum

I like this idea more than malt whisky. It should work beautifully given the vanilla and brown sugar notes in many rums

Pineau de Charentes

An interesting suggestion from contributor Lucy Bridgers - this blend of grape must and cognac is normally drunk as an aperitif but would work really well with stollen. As would . . .

Cognac and other oak-aged brandies such as armagnac or Spanish brandy

Stollen recipes like this one often have a touch of brandy though a large cognac might possibly not be appropriate at tea-time ;-)

Marsala dolce

Less common than sweet sherry or madeira but I think rather well suited to pairing with marzipan and dried fruits. As is malaga.

Amaretto

Possibly an overkill on the almond front but if you like the taste of marzipan you may enjoy this extra level in your drink. I’d serve it well chilled or on the rocks, though.

Champagne, prosecco or sekt

It’s often forgotten that champagne is sweetened with a sugar solution called a dosage so although it might strike you as dry there’s a residual sweetness that makes it compatible with cake. And stollen isn’t that sweet. Sekt would of course be the more authentic choice but it’s hard to find a good one in the UK. And prosecco works well with panettone so should with stollen too.

Photo © Olga Bombologna at shutterstock.com