The Versatility of Pairing Sweet Wines with Food
As we mentioned in our previous article about the resugence of sweet wine, in recent years sweet wines have been left behind in favor of dry wines. Now, however, people are rediscovering their love for sweet wines, and learning that, just like their dry counterparts, high quality sweet wines can pair with all types of food, not just desserts. It comes down to understanding what is a well made sweet wine, and understanding some of the basics of pairing theory. Then the fun begins!
Sweet wines can pair will with fresh fruits, like apricots.
First and foremost…
All good wines start in the vineyard. If the fruit isn’t good then either the wine won’t be good or the winemaker may be drawn to tinker, which could lead to some unnatural intervention, or, sometimes, which is the case with many small winegrowers, like the ones Vero supports, the winery will forego a vintage completely and not make a particular wine that year. To learn how these producers can make sweet wine, check out our article “It’s the Sugar Baby”.
One key aspect to an exceptional wine is when the structural elements of the wine, like acidity, balance with the ‘softening’ elements, like sugar in the wine. After all, this residual sugar is what makes wine sweet (learn all about residual sugar in our article “Breaking Down Sugar and Wine”). This contributes to an overall harmonic experience when tasting the wine. A really good sweet wine needs acidity to counter the sweetness and leave your mouth ‘clean’ after swallowing. The acidity is also an important component to when considering a sweet wine that will be good for wine and food pairing.
To learn more about food and wine pairing, in the general conceptual sense, you can quickly refresh yourself with our article “Learn the Art & Science of Wine and Food Pairing”.
Dessert Pairings
Pairing sweet wines with desserts is the most common pairing approach with sweet wines. One theory of wine and food matching is that the sugar in desserts and sweetness of dessert wines work well to complement each other; hence it is also referred to as a complementary pairing.
Let’s start with cookies. Many Italian restaurants in America offer a traditional pairing of vin santo (a Tuscan dessert wine, or passito) with cantucci (classic Italian biscotti). But across Italy, Italians pair many types of cookies with many types of dessert wines, such as an Erbaluce Passito made from the Erbaluce white grape in Piedmont or Vigna Petrussa Desiderio, a Friulian passito made from a blend of three white grapes from the Friuli region in Italy.
Moving onto cakes, sweet white wines generally pair with cakes that are not chocolate based like this fig strudel recipe. Or try an Italian jam pie, called a crostata, which pairs great with both Brachetto d’Acqui and Moscato d’Asti.
Moving onto chocolate based desserts, you would do better pairing with a sweet wine made from red grapes like Quinta de Valbom LBV Port or Vigna Petrussa Perla Nera, made with 100% air dried Schioppettino red grape from Friuli in Northern Italy.
You can try as well Sweet Albana with a sweet snack like the Italian cheese squacquerone on toasted bread.
Experiment with pairing fruit with dessert wine. Think about the flavors already present in sweet wines and pick similar fruits. Light stone fruits (peaches and apricots) will go better with white sweet wines, while darker fruits (plums and berries) will pair better with sweet red wines.
Sweet + Savory = Adventurous Pairings
We encourage you to embrace your own palette preferences, as discussed in our previous article, and keep an open mind to try new types of wines and food pairings because you never know what will surprise and delight you.
Sweet wines can also be paired with savory dishes, not just desserts for amazing effects that just aren’t always possible with dry wines; think of it as an ultimate expression of wine and food harmony. They play more into the contrasting flavor profiles of pairing. The same goes for wine cocktails, like a Brachetto Spritz, where the sweet sparkling wine adds an extra punch to a cocktail.
Picolit is one of the most sought after sweet wines in the world.
Sweet wine and cheese is a classic pairing. Then sweet wines made with noble rot, such as Vigna Petrussa Picolit, do well to have their sweetness cut with fatty foie gras or sharp aged cheeses.
Other foods that can pair well with sweet wines are acidic or salty dishes. In these cases, the flavors are contrasting and the tartness or salt can help to cut the sweetness of the wine. People that love salted caramel, or salty/sweet trail mix will enjoy the contrasting flavor of salty treats paired with sweet wines. Similarly, tangy foods like vinaigrettes can benefit from a sweeter wine, giving a hint of both acidity and sweetness.
Many Asian dishes pair with certain sweet wines, like a lighter sweet wine, such as Braschi Sweet Albana: the low-alcohol sweetness of this white wine might surprise you! Try sweet wines with intensely spicy dishes too: alcohol can augment the spicy sensations on the palate, but tampered with sweetness and sugar, the two round out to lower the heat on certain dishes.
Last on our savory foods lists works in a little bit of complementary pairing as well. Dishes that have sweet saucy elements, like a sweet honey barbeque sauce, can have that sweet element elevated by pairing it with a sweet wine.
Where can you find high quality sweet wines for the best pairing?
We got them! We’ve done the ‘hard work’ of seeking out and tasting many of the best sweet wines from artisanal producers making sure that, not only does it taste good, but that it has that right balance of acidity and sweetness. With so many options for pairing, there is no reason to leave dessert and sweet wines off your next menu. Try experimenting to discover new and exciting flavors that will surprise and delight you! Check out the category for Sweet & Dessert Wines in the VeroShop to see all options.
We sell our farm to glass wines and olive oils to businesses and consumers across the US:
If you are a distributor reach out to us introduce our highly curated portfolio of one of a kind small production wines to your state.
We sell to wine stores and restaurants in certain states - contact us to learn more.
If our farm crafted natural wines and olive oils are not in your local shop or restaurant, buy wine online here, and we’ll ship it to you, including wine gifts.
We also have an award winning wine club for true wine explorers that are seeking to continually discover unique, sustainable and authentic small production wines they never had. These are wines selected by our sommeliers and curated for each box.
We do corporate gifts and sommelier guided wine tastings. Email us and we’ll tailor unique and sustainable corporate gift ideas.
What will you pair your sweet wines with? Savory or Sweet? Or maybe… try both!
“Can we make Brachetto popular, please?” is how VinePair headlines why this artisanal, aromatic red sweet sparkling wine, just recently imported by us first time to the USA, made it to VinePair’s list of 13 Best Sweet Wines.
An aromatic grape, brachetto, creates a pleasantly slightly sparkling sweet red wine, with delicate rose flower and strawberry notes and strawberry and hibiscus taste. ‘Susbel’, in the local Piemontese dialect of Ivaldi in the Monferrato, refers to the location of the vineyard of this Brachetto d’Acqui, where the sun is bright and well exposed.
Left four days in contact with the skins and fermented with native yeast, this natural wine has a bright and clear light red color, dotted with fine effervescent bubbles. Sipping, the immediate impact is indeed sweet, yet with enough acidity and a hint of tannins to create a harmonious and balanced wine that keeps you coming back for more.
Wonderful to serve slightly chilled to sip with friends in the backyard on a hot summer day, or to serve with fruity desserts. Try pairing it with cheese, like with Humboldt Fog goat cheese - it goes incredibly well. It can also pair with charcuterie. Made with native yeast fermentation and has a residual sugar of 120 g/l.
A certified sustainable winery, Ivaldi Dario practices regenerative farming.
Who doesn’t like chamomile and honey? That’s what this wine reminds you of! It’s a Moscato d’Asti that appeals both to sweet wine lovers and dry wine drinkers wanting a moment with a touch of sweetness.
The name of this wine, Ros du Su, means ‘Rays of Sunlight’ in Piemontese dialect where this Moscato d’Asti comes from. Looking at its bright, golden-yellow color, it is easy to understand the inspiration for this name.
In the glass, the aromatic qualities of moscato are the first noticeable aromas, but underneath subtle and persistent notes of honey and acacia and chamomile flowers come forth creating a complex bouquet. Tasting, the sweetness of the residual sugars are well balanced with freshness and sapidity. A pleasant wine that keeps you sipping, it pairs well with desserts, but is every bit as enjoyable alone in contemplation.
A certified sustainable winery, Ivaldipractices regenerative farming.
With an inviting golden yellow color, this fresh and softly balanced sweet wine made from the historic Albana grape from the Romagna area of Italy has intriguing saffron and apricot notes. As a sommelier pointed out when tasting the wine for the first time: ‘It’s a dessert wine that is sort of a dry wine.. Wow, this whispers, not shouts!’
“Run, don’t walk to find and grab this bottle. It is a prime example of the harmony and complexity this style of wine is capable of expressing” is how VinePair describes this wine in their list of 13 of the Best Sweet Wines.
Fruity, spicy and balanced, this multiple award winning women-made dessert wine, Picolit, is the rarest and most treasured varietal in Friuli, the extreme North East of Italy.
It is made from hand-picked and air-dried picolit grapes that went through noble rot, as with the best dessert wines in the world. Fermented and then aged for 18 months in french oak barrique. Only 1200 bottles were made, and we have the last few available so be quick to grab this meditation wine to sip and savor.
Vigna Petrussa is a certified sustainable and biodiverse women-owned winery.
Light fragrance recalling sweet acacia honey and dried fruits. This nectar is made from hand selected grapes, dried in crates and refined in French oak barrique. This is produced in a limited run of only 1000 bottles per year.
Vigna Petrussa is a certified sustainable and biodiverse women-owned winery.
This is Schioppettino red wine is made only in the best years and is made with 100% air dried grapes, or apassimento, like Amarone. It is a rich red natural wine with concentrated flavors made with native yeast fermentation. A delicious 'meditation wine,' its slight sweetness makes it an Italian 'sweet wine' alternative for Port. Pairs incredibly well with dark chocolate. Or you can pair it with flavorful meat dishes, like wild boar.
Vigna Petrussa is a certified sustainable and biodiverse women-owned winery.
This Caluso Passito dessert wine made from 100% Erbaluce grapes is produced only during the best vintages, and exclusively in those extraordinary ones, a small part is reserved to Caluso Passito "Riserva". Aged for 10 years in casks and 4-6 years in bottle, only 1000 bottles are made per vintage. It is sweet, fresh and sapid with delicate floral notes.
