Wine pairing with Christmas desserts

Whether you are a fan of Christmas Eve or Christmas Lunch, do not leave out this detail. Here is how to pair Christmas desserts with wine.

Wine is a wonderful way to preserve tradition, spirit and territory. It is a serious topic, not to be taken lightly, but it can also be a lot of fun. Are you ready to discover how to pair wine with dessert? Maybe you do not know, but even for those who prefer savory to sweet, the final part of lunch or dinner is what leaves an indelible memory. Whether positive or negative. All of us, after having carefully prepared an entire meal for guests or for ourselves, we deserve the perfect conclusion. Pairing Christmas desserts with wine. Finire in bellezza, as the Italians say. End in a high, or finire col botto, finish with a bang, as they say in Rome.

What should we do? Let’s avoid the 4 most common mistakes

Simply don’t make the classic mistakes that risk ruining everything, like a bad coffee at the end of a meal. So let’s start right away with the mistakes not to make.

 

 

1- Dry wine and dessert

Let’s talk about the classic Christmas bundle of dry sparkling wine and dessert. Once and for all, Prosecco is not the best choice for dessert. Nor is a Brut Spumante wine, Champagne brut or any dry wine. In fact, unlike the pairing of savoury food and wine, for desserts the rule of concordance applies, or as I like to say, of exaltation. What we must look for is precisely the exaltation of flavors that will make the dessert moment the worthy final conclusion: a bang, in short.

2- Forced regional pairing

This is not really a mistake, but regional pairing is sometimes a limiting trap. Following tradition is fine, but looking for different and unexpected pairings can be a lot of fun. Let’s experiment, also to train our palate.

3- Mess at the table

The trolley of sweet wines and liqueurs at the end of the meal, or the bottles in bulk on the table for an ad libitum pairing, better not! If we have thought of everything, we decide what to serve correctly even in the final phase of our dinner. We will therefore serve the wine chosen by us to pair with the dessert. Then, since hospitality is sacred, after the dessert the guest will have the opportunity to enjoy some limoncello, amaro or Grappa as they prefer.

4- Serving temperature

Sweet wines served warm or at room temperature. It is preferable to serve sweet wine at a low temperature. Around 10 °C, to make tasting easier and more pleasant. Obviously, if the room is at 10 °C you can serve it at room temperature.

How to orient yourself in pairing desserts and wine

There are more or less simple pairings. I will try to give you some useful guidelines first of all in general terms. Every dessert is different, just as every wine is different. You have to evaluate both the structure of the dessert and the creaminess and sensation of the ingredients on the palate. It is also good to choose the wine that can enhance the sensations for taste but also balance the tactile ones of the dessert in the mouth.

Chocolate and wine

With chocolate the pairing is possible but not only with Barolo chinato, indeed. You can certainly pair a red passito wine with chocolate, paying a little attention to the tannins. In fact, the tannin is already naturally present in chocolate and could therefore add to that of the wine. We could have a sensation of astringency, which is not the best for the moment of the meal we are experiencing.

Classic Panettone and wine

With the classic Panettone, which is a soft cake rich in butter, raisins, candied fruit and vanilla aromas, we should choose a complex, fragrant wine. However, this must also be fresh, able to balance, with its freshness, the fattiness of the butter. Furthermore, it can activate the salivation necessary to chew a cake of this structure. A good choice is a white passito.

Chocolate panettone and wine

In this case the situation changes. With the chocolate Panettone, the ideal pairing could instead see a nice red passito, such as an Aleatico.

Pandoro and wine pairing

With Pandoro, which is also very rich in butter, with a strong vanilla flavor, very soft and airy in structure, a sweet Spumante wine will go well. Moscato d’Asti will make even the most skeptical dream. Moscato d’Asti also goes very well with shortcrust pastry, cannoli and all cream pastries.

Honey struffoli and wine

In Naples, at Christmas it is traditional to prepare fried struffoli rich in honey. Here a lot of sweetness is needed, but also a lot of freshness to balance such a load of sweetness and fat. A good pairing could see a white passito from Falanghina grapes.

Ricciarelli and wine

With the classic almond Ricciarelli, a Controguerra passito will give great satisfaction. Thanks to its freshness and minerality, it will be able to balance the sweetness of the almond paste.

Panforte and sweet wine

For Panforte, which is a typical Italian regional dessert with many derivations, rich in spices and dried fruit, a vin Santo will certainly be ideal. Here we can also make a regional pairing. Instead in Rome a similar variant is known, the Pangiallo, of Lazio origins. The name means yellow bread, because once it was covered with saffron water. Today, since the tradition has changed, the color is mostly dark because dark chocolate is added, certainly cheaper than saffron. The right pairing is with a Malvasia di Bosa.

White and chocolate Torrone and wine

For the white Torrone (the Italian nougat), the choice can go to a passito di Pantelleria. Instead, for the chocolate one, I would definitely opt for a Recioto della Valpolicella. For all desserts based on wild berries, especially if in jam, a Primitivo passito dolce naturale gives moments of pure ecstasy.

Cinnamon desserts and wine

For all cinnamon desserts, a sweet Moscato giallo from Alto Adige is perfect. Clearly these are not unique and peremptory indications. As you know there are hundreds of wines that can marry magnificently with Christmas desserts. Without forgetting that the basic rule of personal taste always applies. However, if we want to try different taste solutions it is always interesting to get involved.

Dessert wine is magical not only with desserts

Did you already know the wines we talked about? They are just some of the over five thousand types of sweet wines present in Italy. Our country, once again, gives us the opportunity to explore infinite combinations of taste and pairing. And obviously not only with dessert. Sweet wines also go very well with other foods, such as cheeses. Especially if blue cheeses, they find an exceptional ally in sweet wine that can balance the slightly sour and spicy notes of the cheese. In fact, many serve cheeses instead of dessert, perhaps accompanied by special mustards.

Are you ready to amaze your guests or simply your senses during the Christmas holidays?