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An Expert Guide to Enjoying Wine
Pairing food with wine - Part 4
with HELEN MCGINN — International wine judge, presenter, acclaimed author. Fortnum & Mason’s ‘Drink Writer of the Year’.
Lesson 15 of 25
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The rule when it comes to matching wine with a pudding is that the wine needs to be as sweet, if not sweeter, than the food.
From the Lesson Workbook
Pairing Food with Wine - Part 4
The rule when it comes to matching wine with a pudding is that the wine needs to be as sweet, if not sweeter, than the food.
Pairing with Desserts
| FOOD | WHAT IT NEEDS | RECOMMENDATION |
|------|---------------|----------------|
| Lemon tart | Citrusy sweetness | Sauterne |
| Chocolate | Fruity sweetness | Tawny port |
| Sticky toffee pudding | Toffee and caramel flavours | Rutherglen Muscat |
| Pavlova | Light and bubbly | Asti sweet sparkline wine |
| Vanilla ice cream | Something poured over the top | Pedro Ximenez sherry |
Pairing with Cheese
| FOOD | WHAT IT NEEDS | RECOMMENDATION |
|------|---------------|----------------|
| All cheese | Something versatile | Tawny port |
| Creamy | Delicate refreshing white | Champagne or Chablis |
| Aged hard | Red with good amount of Tannin | Amarone |
| Blue | Contrasting sweetness | Sauterne or vintage port |
| Goat's | Fresh and elegant white | Sancerre |
Your Assignment
Pairing different cheeses with different wines is a great way to get your head around what each unique flavour requires. Put together a cheese board that takes in a variety of blue, creamy, hard and goat's cheese. Have a go at pairing each cheese with a different wine and note down any preferred combinations or special discoveries.
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Your Instructor
Helen McGinn
International wine judge, presenter, acclaimed author. Fortnum & Mason’s ‘Drink Writer of the Year’.
With over a decade of experience sourcing and sampling wines from around the world, it’s safe to say Helen McGinn knows a good bottle. When she moved away from her career as a wine-buyer to raise a family, the requests for recommendations from friends and family persisted and her fascination with good wine remained - so she set up her now award-winning blog ‘The Knackered Mother’s Wine Club’. As well as sharing tips on where to buy the best wine, Helen used her substantial knowledge to help people navigate and understand the complexities of different wines. It’s Helen’s approachable ability to give anyone the confidence to choose and drink better wine that has earnt her a regular seat on ITV’s This Morning and BBC’s Saturday Kitchen. She is also an international wine judge and an author of two novels.
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