Pairings | Cointreau

The tricky task of pairing wine and citrus

This is the perfect time of year for buying oranges and lemons but what effect do they have on the recipes you’re making? Quite a marked one, if truth be told. Lemons in particular have a high level of acidity which will make any wine you drink with them taste sweeter. If that’s counterbalanced in the recipe by sugar as in a lemon tart or lemon meringue pie, for example, the result is a dish that’s really quite hard to match.

The best wine and liqueur pairings for trifle

The best wine and liqueur pairings for trifle

There’s no doubt about it, trifle is tricky when it comes to drink pairings. If it includes booze already do you serve more on the side? And what kind of booze should that be?

The Unknown Soldier

The Unknown Soldier

This theatrical after-dinner cocktail from Simon Hopkinson's latest book Simon Hopkinson Cooks strikes me as the perfect Bonfire Night cocktail once you've put the kids to bed - or indeed for any winter evening you want to show off.

Apple tart and orange wine

Apple tart and orange wine

Apple tart is a pretty forgiving kind of dessert but here's a brilliant new pairing I found at Casanis restaurant in Bath last week.

The Corpse Reviver

The Corpse Reviver

"What better drink to toast ghouls and witches (or to drown out all the Hallowe'en nonsense) than a Corpse Reviver No.2?" writes award-winning mixologist Jared Brown.

What to drink with cake

What to drink with cake

A recent email from a reader asked me to suggest a wine to go with “a triple coconut cake with a tangy pineapple icing served with fresh fruit salsa that has kiwi, strawberry, madarine oranges, blueberries and fresh pineapple in it”. Quite a challenge (I suggested demi-sec Champagne or a peach-flavoured liqueur topped up with fizz) but it got me thinking that there are many possible matches for cake beyond a cup of tea or coffee, particularly if you're serving it as a dessert.

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