My daughter is a pastry chef and was tasked with creating 3 desserts to pair with 3 wines. I am a WSET2, and she reached out to me for some guidance.
Wines were:
Jordan Russian River Chardonnay
Hatford Court Sonoma Coast Lands End Vineyard Pinot Noir
Groth Cabernet Sauvignon
My guidance was:
“Chardonnay, think creamy. Rice pudding, chocolate mousse or like a fruit tart with butter cream.
That Pinot noir sounds like a lighter one. Think panna cotta/greek yogurt with some stone fruits. Like apricots.
Groth Cab think dark chocolate or flourless chocolate cake something richer”
Her creations (the three levels):
Top:
Marscapone pastry cream with rapsberry foam, white chocolate cremeux, fresh strawberries
Middle :
Crème fraiche and lime zest filling
Caramalized “peacharines” from New Zealand and a crunchy milk crumb
Bottom:
Flourless chocolate cake with a dark chocolate espresso bean and gold flake
She has not tasted the wines with the desserts as of yet.
How did I do?
by neek555
15 Comments
To me sweet needs sweet. I would pick a vin santo for the mascarpone pastry, a semi sec mosel Riesling with the second, and a Sauternes with the third! Just my two cents!
Not a huge fan of reds with chocolate, exception being Port of course
None of these work, sorry. But not your fault, there are no sweet desserts that work with them. In fact, you did the eminently sensible thing and suggested options with fairly low sugar levels (at least my interpretations would have been).
In short, wine has sugar+acid. So the wine will always have to have a good bit more sugar than the food, because it also has to compensate for the acid. Outside a few true stickies (PX, Moscatel, Rutherglen) you’re relegated to less-sweet-desserts even with most true dessert wines, often fruit-heavy ones.
I would probably flip the pinot noir and chardonnay pairings. The desserts look fantastic.
Red fruit in dessert should play well with pinot. Chardonnay can have stone fruit notes and the oak could play well with the caramel.
As others have pointed out, these wines are not ideal for pairing but that’s not on either of you.
I wouldn’t have any of those pairings, sorry to say. I like my dessert wine to be sweeter than my dessert.
Definitely tell the organizer that dessert wines ONLY with desserts. Everyone has pointed out the reasons why.
That being said- I’ve been tasked before with pairing a dry wine with a dessert. It sucks.
I did a Napa cab on the riper side (which means RS) with a chocolate chip cookie. The American oak on this wine was a nice compliment. As a somm- still would not recommend.
But non-wine people regularly pair chocolate and dry red wines despite how awful it is so I wouldn’t worry about it too much.
Food looks great. I wouldn’t drink any of those wines with any of the desserts. That’s on the organizer though
I wouldn’t post those wines with dessert as you’ve said. But tell her the desserts look & sound delicious!
I’ve always considered sweet wines to be a separate course unto themselves, with the exception of Sauternes with foie gras.
My first impression is that all these are too dry.
I find it peculiar that any restaurant would choose wines first, and then try and make dishes around them. I suppose it was for some sort of event.
All in all, I’m sure your daughter did a great job in her own right; but the Sommelier should not have been trying to serve dry table wines at this point in the dinner.
I think people who need a sweet wine with desserts are the same people that NEED a white wine with seafood.
I have a palate, I personally think some red wine goes well with some chocolates. Some dry white wines pair with some citrus forward desserts.
The stodgy belief that “sweet needs sweet” to me is outdated and narrow minded.
I think your guidance is fair, but might be a bit of missing the Forrest for the trees type of thing. I feel like the most important guidance would have been the issue of balancing acidity and sugar levels that other comments have pointed out. Suggesting less sweetness and incorporating more acid or savory elements to the desserts(think savoriness of basque cheesecake for a red maybe, or rhubarb to make the wine feel less acid in comparison perhaps ) to balance out the poor compatibility with desserts is probably more important than subtle flavors notes.
I love that the 2 of you came together to make this pairing. That is more special than any negative reviews you will see. Ignore the haters.
On the plus side, your daughter really can’t go wrong, because the rubes who chose those wines for a dessert pairing are probably not going to think anything is amiss no matter what she makes for them.
I honestly can’t think of a worse list of wines with dessert. Jordan is too reductive and burgundian and Hartford and Groth are both way too heavy.