This Valentine’s Day, Treat Your Sweetheart to a Sweet Wine
By Andy Hale, CSW
I know, I know, you’re probably saying “Yuck! I don’t drink sweet wines” right now.
I feel like sweet wines are the pariah of the fine wine world right now. Probably the biggest criteria my customers request in my wine shop is something “on the dry side.” They will tell me, “I can’t stand ANY sugar in my wine,” while they are walking around the shop drinking a soda.
Why do we crave sugar in most aspects of our culinary life, but abhor the idea of sugar in our wine? Why do we feel like uncultured rubes at the thought of drinking an off dry wine? Do we need a snobby wine expert to say that it is ok to drink an off-dry wine? Let’s see if this helps.
“It is ok to enjoy drinking sweet wines.”
-Andy Hale
There, now you can blame me. Do we feel any better?
My first real wine experience was when I was 19 years old and studying abroad in Germany. I went over to learn the language, but I mostly learned to drink there since I was of-age in Europe. We were mostly stationed in the Mosel Valley, probably the most famous area for Riesling in the world. I was lucky enough to be able to attend several wine festivals while I was there and I fell in love with gorgeous, high-acid and lightly sweet Riesling.
I still have a love for Riesling, and a relatively large part of my small wine cellar is devoted to Rieslings and dessert wines. A lot of people seem surprised that I enjoy them though, like as an expert in wine I should only drink dry wines.
Now I’m not suggesting that I drink off-dry wines nightly. I mostly drink wine with my meals and I’m a compulsive food and wine pair-er. What I’m eating GREATLY affects what wine I open with my meal, and off-dry wines don’t work with all foods, but there is definitely a time and place for them on the dinner table.
Hot and Spicy
A syrupy sweet Riesling might not be an ideal pairing for your chicken dinner or steak night, but how about the next time you have spicy Thai? Spicy foods, especially Southeast Asian cuisine is an excellent time to break open a bottle of sweeter wine, especially with zippy acidity. The little bit of residual sugar contrasts the spice in the food, and creates a lovely sweet and spicy combination like hot and sweet mustard. Pair an off-dry Gewurztraminer with spicy curry dishes and Rieslings with spicy stir-fry’s. Believe me, this pairing works better than you might expect!
Desserts
I know that I’ve mentioned this before, but have you ever had Champagne and wedding cake together and enjoyed the combination? The sweetness in the icing contrasts the acidity in the Champagne and makes the cake taste too sweet and the drink tastes like battery acid!
When you are pairing with desserts, the rule is to match or exceed the sweetness in the dessert with your wine. The sugar in the wine balances the sugar in the dessert and they both seem milder together. With the Champagne example, try substituting a slightly sweet Champagne instead for a much more harmonious experience. Pair sweeter wines with sweeter desserts and less sweet wines with less sweet desserts. But don’t go too dry or your wine will taste bitter by comparison.
Chocolate
Ok I know a lot of you will disagree with me on this, but I don’t think that dry red wine and chocolate are a great pairing. Unless the red has so much jammy fruit that it almost tastes like a dessert itself, or the chocolate is one of those bars that have such a high percentage of cocoa that they taste like bitter coffee, the sugar in the chocolate will just make the wine taste awful by comparison. Again, match or exceed the level of sugar in the chocolate.
Make friends with Banyuls, the little known dessert wine from the South of France, and maybe the most perfect pairing with most chocolates. Banyuls is made from red grapes, slightly sweet and at around 16% alcohol, it’s quite a bit less boozy than Port, which generally is around 20%. That being said, Ports are fantastic with chocolate as well, just make sure you are someplace safe or prepare to call an Uber!
Really Sweet Desserts
If you are going for those delicious chocolate bonbons that are stuffed with caramel and other wonderful sweet things, you have to really step up the sugar in your wine to pair with those. Try one of my favorite dessert wines, named Pedro Ximenez. Pedro sometimes goes by his initials, PX, but you should be able to find him in the Sherry aisle. Pedro Ximenez is the name of the grape, they are dried in the sun like raisins, which concentrates the sugars and caramelizes them, and the resulting juice is then aged oxidatively. The wine itself looks like motor oil, but tastes like coffee, prunes, spice, and molasses. It is absolutely delicious with your seriously sweet desserts like bonbons, but also bread puddings, crème brûlées, etc.
Sweet things are bound to come out this Valentine’s Day, and if you want to pair wine with them, remember the words of this snobby sommelier: It is ok to enjoy drinking sweet wines!
Andy Hale is a Certified Specialist of Wine and was a professional Sommelier in Charleston until he moved to Asheville. He is now the Education Director at Metro Wines.
