When you match wine with dessert, the rules are different than for salty dishes The wine must be at least as sweet as the dessert, otherwise it will taste bitter and flat. Remember: the sweetness of the drink must match or even a bit surpass that of the food. If the dessert is sweeter than the wine, the wine will become bitter.
It must be sweeter, or you do not feel that weird taste like bitter toothpaste with orange juice.
How to Match Wine with Dessert
Wines with bold tastes match rich and intense desserts, while light wines complete soft and subtle foods. For instance, fresh and sweet Riesling shine together with lemon tart. The fruity notes of Riesling perfectly meet the tastes of lemon cake.
Vanilla cake, because of its simplicity and lightness, match well with Orange Moscato, white wine full of taste with honey and orange notes.
Oaked Chardonnay work genuinely well with lemon bars. The oaked and citrus notes of the wine bring more life to the lemon top, and the buttery taste of the oak naturally fits with the rich crust below. Moreover, Chardonnay can have notes of stone fruits, and the oak matches with candy.
This is a differnt story.
Chocolate is a whole other story. The bitter-sweet notes of dark chocolate manage the fruity Pinot Noir, while the tannins of the wine act as leaders so that everything does not become too sweet. For pure dark chocolate, tannin red wine like young Bordeaux, young Malbec or Amarone would be a good choice.
Fortified wines like Sherry and PX also are great with chocolate.
Apple dessert requires a subtle wine that does not overwhelm the tender tastes. Because apples do not have a very strong taste, desserts from them are cozy and gentle. Chenin Blanc of Loire is a good match for apple cake.
Wines that work with cake also match well with other apple foods, for instance apple-crisp or baked apples.
Sparkling wine, especially champagne, match well with cream desserts. The natural acidity balances the heaviness for a nice finish. Moscato d’Asti is a sweet sparkling wine that should be tried.
Marsala is a fortified sweet wine that works well with chocolate, Parmigiano or Pecorino cheeses. Tiramisu goes well with Italian dessert wine like Vin Santo or Sicilian Marsala, because what grows together stays together.
Because dessert wine is richer and sweet, the serving size is smaller than regular wine. A typical glass is around two or three ounces because of the more intense taste profile. Very fruity red wines, like Gamay, can match with tart berry desserts.
Sauvignon Blanc is a dry wine, so it best works with light choices, like sorbet served in fruitbark.