WINES AND DESSERTS - HOW TO COMBINE THEM (continued)
So now that we went through the general rules on matching dessert wines with desserts, and if you still don't know which wine is best for your desserts, we will now list the common particular combinations that work, and also give some examples on wines you could buy. In many occasions we say that you should use a muscat wine, and there are several good ones to choose from. In France you will find Muscat de Beaumes de Venise, and in Portugal you will find the really fine Setúbal that is good with many desserts, so if you forget about everything else we mentioned just remember Setúbal!
For a fruit dessert, or fruit salad, it is good to combine it with refreshing and more acidic white wines, since they match the fruits. Traditional matches go for riesling and chenin blanc, and the most famous producers for the respective grape are Germany (e.g. from Rheingau) and France (from Loire). For fruit salads that have some spicy or stronger sauce or syrup with them, go rather for a more flavored muscat wine.
For chocolates, it is always a little confusing since nothing seems to really match the heaviness of the dessert. However, sweet sherry or port, that have been aged and provide as much heaviness in themselves as the heavy dark chocolate dessert will work nice. For lighter chocolate desserts choose a stronger semillon wine, and for white chocolate try some muscat wines.
For ice creams and sorbets, it is nice with some refreshing fruity wines, and they should be quite young and sparkling, so they can be served at cold temperatures than the 'usual' wines without losing their flavor. For fruity sorbets, go with the more fruity wines, and for ice creams try some more intensive and flowery wines, including sherry or port. Some tokay wines are also good for fruity creams.
For mousses that are naturally light and refreshing it is simple to match with a similar wine - light and refreshing. try muscat wines here. If you have more full-bodied and flavor-heavy mousses then it is better to get a heavier wine as well, especially if you have a chocolate mousse - which is better with some sherry or port. Pedro ximénes grapes or Bristol Cream are the ones to choose from.
What about Sauternes wine? It is probably best to match it with pastries, especially ones that contain fruits, since they will complement each other so well...