By Alex Bazzy, Cantoro Trattoria General Manager, Sommelier
Wine with paczki’s? You betcha! After all what is a paczki, a ramped-up jelly doughnut? Sort of.
The basic ingredients are; yeast, flour, egg, vanilla, cream or fruit filling, maybe milk and a little powdered sugar. Sounds like the ingredients of most any other pasty, and that’s exactly what I think of when I think paczki wine pairings.
Like any other wine/dessert pairing, be careful not to use wines that are high in tannins. The bitterness from tannins in red wine can clash with the sweet dessert. The usual citrus notes and dry aromatics of white wine (like chardonnay) can confuse your palate as well- not creating a symphonic mélange. Stick with sweet, not too dry with no tannins structure.
Cannoli
Vin Santo – The classic dessert wine to pair with cannoli’s so it makes perfect sense to enjoy it with your Cannoli paczki on Fat Tuesday.
Custard
A nice Tawny or LBV (late bottle vintage) Port is ideal with Custard paczki.
Raspberry
Brachetto d’ Acqui – My favorite dessert wine to pair with because of its versatility. Light body, slightly bubbly, no tannins with flavors of sweet raspberry and strawberry.
Lemon & Apple
Moscato and Riesling will both work very well with both of these flavors.
