If dessert can be a saturating moment when you’re looking for a break from wine before the famous digestif, it can be very enjoyable to create a lovely food & wine pairing. For each type of dessert, you’ll need to choose a different wine to achieve the best taste and aroma match.

Chocolate desserts (cakes or chocolate creations)

Chocolate desserts are usually quite powerful in both substance and aroma. For this reason, this type of dessert (chocolate fondant, ganache-based creation, chocolate mousse, Yule log…) should be paired with wines that are rather sweet and rich in aroma. Two types of wine go particularly well with chocolate desserts: red Bordeaux wines and vins doux naturels.

The red wines of Bordeaux are known to be quite tannic and are marked by a full-bodied palate of stewed black fruit. This dense body, marked by powerful empyreumatic and woody aromas, is perfect for pairing with chocolate desserts (and even more so when the wine is characterized by cocoa aromas).

Vins doux naturels are very, very sweet and have a fuller body than a sweet wine. They are therefore immediately appreciated at the end of a meal, for their higher alcohol content than the wines previously drunk, and for their digestive benefits. Secondly, their aromas, mainly of candied fruit and rancio (cocoa, cold tobacco, spices…), make them the perfect accompaniment to chocolate desserts, especially when they also include walnuts.

Very fruity desserts (cakes, tarts, ice creams, etc.)

The category of very fruity desserts is quite broad, in that it includes fruit ice creams and sorbets, pies and other cakes made with whole fruit, and very sweet cakes made with processed fruit (strawberry bavarois, for example). There are many types of wine that can be drunk with this kind of dessert, but it’s worth noting that sparkling wines are often given pride of place in this type of pairing.

For desserts that are very sweet and fruit-forward, sweet or syrupy wines (e.g. Sauternes or Barsac) are generally a good match, thanks to their full body and very sweet aromas, which have long been recognized as the perfect finishing touch to any meal.

Very fruity desserts, but with slightly less sugar, are best enjoyed with sparkling wines. The low sugar content of these airy wines makes them ideal for refined, fruity desserts. Depending on the type of fruit in the dessert, it can be paired with a different type of sparkling wine: quince and yellow fruit with a Champagne dégorgement tardif or Blanc de Noirs; white fruit, acidic fruit and citrus with a Champagne Brut or Blanc de Blancs; red and black fruit with a Champagne rosé (you can do the same with sparkling wines).

Desserts with little fruit (soufflés, shortbread, millefeuille, etc.)

Finally, for desserts that are not very fruity and not chocolatey, there is greater freedom in food & wine pairing because the fruity aromas present in the wine are rather absent from the dessert. (the same goes for cocoa flavorings). It is generally advisable to pair them with wines typical of the end of a meal.

Champagnes and other sparkling wines are ideal for light, easily digestible desserts such as soufflés. For sweeter desserts (e.g. those with more pastry cream, such as Paris-Brest or millefeuilles), it’s more usual to enjoy a sweet wine, such as a vin doux naturel, a sweet white wine or a syrupy wine.