Dessert and wine matrix

The five catagories are: Muscats | Exotic | Botrytis | Fortified | Spirits

The development work of the second stage of the Arthur Rackham emporia food and wine pairing was undertaken, whilst working with one of the country's most gifted and dedicated pastry chefs, Claire Clark MOGB who at the time was the head pastry chef at Claridges. Together we identified five clear categories of desserts and dessert wines and feeling fairly chuffed with ourselves in discovering this new territory with claire's help we launched the following year a national pastry chef and sommelier competition called 'The Sweetest Chef in Town', rewarding the winners with prizes to visit wineries and restaurants in California, South Australia, Canada and Europe

Arthur Rackham emporia has a strong representation of dessert wines on our list and continued to support pastry chefs with our national sponsorship of their 'Dessert of the Year' competition.

In each of the five categories, Claire developed a dessert which we agreed perfectly paired with a wine or spirit. Here is our dream pudding menu.

Muscats
Light Muscats found in the South of France and the new world.

Summer Berry Pavlova with a tangy lemon curd ice-cream
A meringue topped with lemon curd ice-cream, surrounded by summer berries in a rich fruit coulis and garnished with candied lemon peel.

Quady Elysium Black Muscat
Both the colour and the berry fruit character of the Elysium complement this dessert and they have similar levels of sweetness and acidity.

White wine syllabub, lightly perfumed with orange
Muscat grapes marinated in Muscat de Rivesaltes dessert wine, topped with an orange and Muscat grape flavoured syllabub, garnished with frosted grapes, orange zest and a white chocolate wafer.


Paul Conti Late Harvest Muscat Swan Valley Western Australia 2002
Not surprisingly, this dessert was best suited to the late harvest Muscat, which was itself a key ingredient. The orange flavour further complemented a similar element in the wine.

Strawberry Romanoff, sugar strawberries and elderflower sorbet
A rose of dried strawberry puree filled with a Romanoff of strawberry mousse and crushed meringue, dusted with icing sugar. Served with a delicate elderflower sorbet and strawberries set on a coulis.


Brown Brothers Orange Muscat & Flora
Essentially a light dessert, it matches best the Orange Muscat and Flora. An added bonus is the elderflower elements in both dessert and wine, which are set off beautifully.

Exotic
A special category of wine needs careful pairing, including Champagne and non-grape fruit based wines.

Over-the-top Raspberry Brulee
A thin pastry case filled with raspberries and a crème brulee topped with a raspberry ice-cream and garnished with a nougatine triangle and a chocolate stick. Served with fresh raspberries and a raspberry coulis.

Les Paradoxales Liqueur de Framboise Gabriel Boudier 50cl 25% Vol
The Framboise, which is like a raspberry coulis in itself, goes splendidly with this and is not affected by the eggs in the brulee, which spoil most of the other wines.

Date Bavarois with caramelised spiced red blush pears
A date mousse topped with a praline wafer and dried fruit, which had been stewed in a caramel sauce. On the side, a caramelised, spiced pear poached in a star anise, vanilla and caramel sauce, served with a pear and vanilla caramel sauce.

Champagne "R" de Ruinart Brut Rose
The airy texture of the mousse was a natural pairing for the Ruinart Champagne. The blush pear matched it for colour and the whole dessert was neither too sweet nor too creamy to overwhelm the wine.

Pave of Bramley Apples with a vanilla custard
Layers of sponge and Bramley apple layered into a terrine, served with poached apple pieces in an applesauce and vanilla custard.

Pommeau de Normandie Anee 17% Vol
Strongly apple flavoured with quite a sharp acidity and a slight egginess from the custard. These elements put paid to most of the wines, but the Pommeau, with its strong apple flavour and highish alcohol, provided an excellent match.

Botrytis
Classic Botrytis found in the Sauternes, Germany and other wine regions that have this special climate which at the end of the harvest converts the grapes into a luscious blockbuster.

Banana Parfait with Coconut ice-cream and banana crisps
A banana parfait flavoured with rum and enclosed by burnt banana, topped with toasted coconut shavings and a coconut ice-cream. Decorated with a banana wafer and a crisped banana slice and served with a vanilla crème anglaise and chocolate sauce.

Chateau Richard, Saussignac
The texture and flavours were complemented best by the Saussignac, the creamy texture bringing out too much acidity in the other wines.

Baked Lemon Custard with a citrus jus and lemon sorbet
A set lemon custard on a pistachio, nut and biscuit base garnished with nougatine strips and lemon sorbet, surrounded by raspberries and candied lemon peel in a caramel lemon sauce.

Royal Tokaji Azsu 5 Puttonyos
This is, in fact, a rich and buttery pudding with lovely acidity from the lemon. The Tokay has all of these and the two are an excellent match.

Apple Risotto scented with cinnamon and nutmeg with a cinnamon ice-cream
A disc of cinnamon and apple risotto served hot on a slice of baked caramelised apple, topped with baked apple peel, a cinnamon ice-cream, a wafer thin baked slice of apple and an apple wafer biscuit decorated with chocolate. This centrepiece is surrounded by chunks of caramelised apple in an apple and caramel sauce.

Piesporter Goldtropfchen Riesling Auslese
We expected the apple theme to complement the Pommeau de Normandie, but in fact it tasted too alcoholic with not enough sweetness. The Auslese was a much better match; its sweetness was not overwhelmed while its fruit shone through.

Spiced Hazelnut flan with spiced mulled cranberries and crème fraiche
A round pastry case filled with a spiced nut macaroon, topped with a poached plum and cranberries. Served with quenelles of crème fraiche and a Port and cranberry sauce.

Niepoort 20 Year Old Tawny
Not too sweet, the spice and nut elements of this dessert complement those of the Port. Port in the sauce provides a natural synergy.

Fortified
Port, Madeira, Pedro Ximenez Sherry which pair magnificently with their higher alcohol content with desserts heavy in cholesterol.

Ginger Sables with rhubarb and cardamom
Layers of rhubarb poached in caramel and Chantilly cream with rhubarb parfait sandwiched between ginger biscuits, surrounded by a rhubarb, vanilla and cardamom sauce and garnished with crisped rhubarb curls.

Lustau San Emilio Pedro Ximenez
This very gingery dessert would have completely dominated everything else but was absolutely perfect with the Pedro Ximenez.

Chocolate Chalice with hazelnut cream and praline
A crushed sugared biscuit base topped with a rich chocolate and praline mousse and a hazelnut crème brulee all enclosed by a shiny chocolate cylinder, brimmed with redcurrants. The garnish of three sugar "sails" on a mast of chocolate give the impression of a boat. A fan of three sauces (vanilla and praline crèmes anglaises and chocolate) and some caramelised hazelnuts complete the presentation.

Camus Grand VSOP Deluxe
Although rich and chocolaty, this dessert is not heavy enough to pair with the Pedro Ximenez and it rather brings out the acidity in the Port. The VSOP however, is just right and works well with the nuts and caramel.

Spirits
Most of our work has been with Cognac and chocolate, Armagnac and almond based desserts and Calvados and Tarte Tartin.

Cognac, Armagnac and Calvados
End the meal in perfection with coffee, chocolate and petits fours a glass of Cognac, Armagnac or Calvados.

Camus VSOP - demonstrates the distinctive influence of the Borderies cru, where the Camus family have large vineyard estates. A soft nose, and on the palate quite vigorous. A Cognac, which can be enjoyed very well as a fine digestive, but also on the rocks. Camus VSOP is a blend of mature Cognac of between 5 and 15 years, with over 25% from the Borderies cru.

Camus XO Superieur - A higher proportion from the Grande Champagne cru. A softer, more mellow style, with a proportion of Borderies and Fins Bois. Well balanced, elegant, very subtle and mellow on the palate. Cognacs from the Borderies age and mature much faster than from the Petites and Grandes Champagnes, hence it is at this quality when the Grande Champagne begins to add quality and finesse to the blend. XO Superieur is blended from mature Cognacs of between 15 and 30 years, including a 30-year-old from the Grande Champagne.