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The leaves are falling, the air is turning colder, and everyone has their costumes ready for Halloween. This is my favorite holiday of the year. I love carving pumpkins into jack-o-lanterns, bobbing for apples at parties, and dressing up in a ridiculous costume with an attractive date, who I most likely called at the last minute. Oh well. While my relationship pairing may need some help, I have some other pairings in mind that just might turn this potentially sour event sweet with a few choice treats.
Before I continue, I probably should introduce myself to ya’ll, right? Howdy! I’m Doris, self-proclaimed taste technician and notorious cuddle bunny, here to present part 2 of our Carefully Curated pairings for the Halloween Candy & Wine theme. Cork Genius has partnered with Wired for Wine, a wine & sake delivery service for top-rated vino brands for 30-70% off EVERY DAY until sold out!
In addition to contact-free delivery, Wired for Wine provides a 90+ Wine Club subscription that sends you 12 top-rated wines every 3 months. I truly enjoy the convenience and quality of Wired for Wines service and if you’re a homebody like myself, you will too!
Without further ado, I present Halloween Candy & Wine pairings, part 2! Enjoy!
Our Recommendation: Forge Classique Dry Riesling 2019, 91 pts
This particular Riesling is a late harvest vintage (meaning picked later than the rest of the grapes) sourced from New York’s Hudson Valley and Finger Lakes region. At 91 pts, this is one of the higher-rated yet affordable wines we’ve found for our Carefully Curated pairings! This Riesling features bright, mature fruit flavors and the most natural residual sugar of all wines. It is ideal for sipping while nibbling on candy corn since the sugary flavors are so similar. The high acid content in the Riesling means each sip cleanses the palate and helps the richness of the candy. Together they make the ideal fall dessert!
Our Recommendation: Carlisle Papera Ranch Russian River Valley Zinfandel 2018, 95 pts
This is a heady, concentrated wine with flavors of macerated cherries and raspberries. The wine smells like fresh baked cookies right out of the oven and is meant to be shared with your closest friends over a good conversation! Pairing it with Hershey Kisses will only feed into that warm home feeling as you gaze contently, into the distance. The wine’s slight bitterness is balanced by bright acidity, allowing the sugars in the candy to play well with the residual flavors of this dry red wine. The Hershey Kisses will make your pallet ask for another sip of Zinfandel after each bite!
Our Recommendation: Domaine Huet Le Mont Demi-Sec Vouvray 2019, 97 pts
This round, candy bar of chocolate is so smooth and textured that it demands a wine with the same silky qualities. The almost lanolin-like texture of Chenin Blanc is what makes this an ideal pairing for 3 Musketeers! Its natural effervescence will roll right into the rich nougat of this candy, providing a velvety finish with every satisfying bite. The whipped-up chocolate on chocolate taste interwoven with the citrus fruit aromas and dense flavors of the Chenin Blanc make for a seductively fruity and sweet treat!
Our Recommendation: Quinta do Vesuvio Vintage Port 2017, 97-99 pts
I am head over heels in love with this pairing- one of my favorite wines of all time and one of my favorite candies! Port is a sweet, high alcohol fortified wine that can be described as “fruit-forward” since the taste is so similar to the actual fruit it was made from. The fun ensues when combining the dark, sweet, black fig and dried fruit character of this Port with your favorite M&M variety. The hard crunch of the candy shell is a great counterpoint to the milk chocolate inside and provides the perfect soft pillow for this lavishly flavored Port to land on. But this combination’s best feature is the delightfully textured finish. It’s delicious, long, and kind of spectacular. Hehehe. Good times, indeed.
If you didn’t already know, our team decided to take the candy corn to the next level and make a dip out of it. Was it successful? See for yourself here. I’ll say that it didn’t turn out the way we expected, and that adding butter is not a solution to EVERYTHING in the kitchen, Paula Deen be damned.
