What wine goes well with desserts?

Who could refuse a good dessert? It’s difficult to say no, particularly when it’s served with a glass of delicious Alsace wine. Indulgent desserts with fruit or chocolate, gâteaux, cakes or iced puddings: each delicacy can be paired with a type of wine. A match with Alsace wines is an unfailing success! Bestheim gives you some ideas for the best dessert and wine pairings.

WHAT WINE PAIRS WELL WITH GÂTEAUX, CAKES AND TRADITIONAL ALSACE BREDELE?

Fragrant, mouth-watering gâteaux, sponge cakes and biscuits are a popular treat for all ages. Often flavoured with vanilla, lemon or caramel, they are a natural match for a glass of our sparkling, fruity ICE Concept cuvée made from Muscat grapes.

If you’re thinking of serving traditional Alsatian kougelhopf or bredele, a regional wine is, of course, the best partner. Opt for an aromatic wine such as a Gewürztraminer, or else a more festive wine like a delicious Crémant d’Alsace.

WHAT WINE CAN YOU DRINK WITH A FRUIT DESSERT?

When you’re choosing the ideal wine for a fruit dessert, you should consider how the fruit itself is prepared. The food and wine pairing will be different according to whether the fruit is cooked or not.

With citrus and fruit salads, choose a luscious sweet white wine that nonetheless has a touch of acidity to bring a subtle balance between finesse and opulence. A delicate Alsace Riesling Vendanges Tardives (Late Harvest) would be a good choice.

When the fruit is cooked, for example in a tart or a clafoutis, make way for the delicate bubbles of a Crémant d’Alsace Brut, or a mellow Muscat or Gewurztraminer Vendanges Tardives (Late Harvest), which will enhance the dessert’s flavours!

If your dessert includes strawberries, raspberries or other soft fruit, bring out the colours with a Crémant d’Alsace Rosé.

WHAT CAN YOU SERVE WITH CHOCOLATE DESSERTS?

Just like wine, chocolate has an extremely wide range of aromas. When chocolate has a very high cocoa content, it contains tannins and will have a certain bitterness. The trick is to match the wine with the type of chocolate in the dessert.

Port wine is often chosen to accompany a mousse or other puddings made with dark chocolate, but they can also be paired with a glass of one of the sweeter red Alsace wines such as a Pinot Noir. With this grape variety (the only one authorised in Alsace for making red wines), you will get complementary flavours and a slightly sweet note that provides a successful counterpoint to the bitterness of the chocolate.

For milk chocolate desserts, we advise serving a dessert wine such as Gewürztraminer Sélection de Grains Nobles.

Lastly, you should look to fruity white wines like Muscat Classic to go with white chocolate.

WHAT WINE IS A GOOD MATCH FOR ICE CREAM AND ICE CREAM CAKES?

There is a wine for every flavour!

A fairly young, sweet white wine like a Vendange Tardive (Late Harvest) is an ideal choice to go with vanilla ice cream.

For chocolate ice cream, a glass of Gewürztraminer would be suitable, and Muscat with fruit ice cream or sorbet. A Crémant d’Alsace (preferably a demi-sec), with its fine bubbles, is a perfect partner for a meringue ice cream cake.

Enjoy our selection of wines!