Hey Reader—
Halloween is behind us, and I've been noshing on leftover candy all week. If you're in the same boat, I've got you! Experimenting with wine and candy pairings is a fun way to work through the stash—and you'll pick up some new tricks with your treats along the way. ;-)
A couple of quick rules: your wine should be at least as sweet as the candy, or it'll taste thin and sour sitting next to it, and think about texture and intensity, not just flavor.
Here's a few of my favorites:
- Snickers (caramel, peanuts, nougat, chocolate): Reach for a Tawny Port or a nutty Oloroso Sherry. The caramelized, nutty notes in both mirror what's already happening in the candy.
- Peanut Butter Cups (chocolate and peanut butter, rich and a little salty): Merlot works surprisingly well here. Merlot is my go-to red wine with chocolate. It's smooth and rich enough to stand up to the cups, and its fruity character can put this pairing into the PB&J territory on your palate.
- M&Ms (simple milk chocolate): Keep it playful with a lightly sweet, bubbly red like a fruity Lambrusco. It's whimsical and matches the candy's simplicity.
- Skittles (all fruit, a little tart and sour): Go bright and fruity with a Moscato d'Asti. This is a sweet, lightly sparkling white wine from the Piedmont region of Italy. It's peachy, floral, and sweet enough to stand up to that candy-fruit punch.
Hit reply and tell me your favorite candy. I'll find you a wine to go with it.
And speaking of sweetness... that's actually where this week's lesson comes in. Let's get into it.
Cheers,
Sip Smarter: Your Weekly Wine Lesson
You Might Be Mistaking Fruity for Sweet
These past two weeks at the winery, I ran labs on both my 2026 Sauvignon Blanc and my 2026 Cab Franc Rosé for Flipturn Cellars, to confirm something I check on every single white (and rosé) I make: residual sugar, or RS. Both came back completely dry. Zero sugar left after fermentation.
And yet, I can't tell you how many times I've poured one of my wines at an event and had someone tell me, "Oh, this is too sweet for me." Or I'll be out tasting with friends at a vineyard, pouring something I know is bone dry, and they'll swear it's sweet.
Here's what's actually happening: they're not tasting sweetness. They're tasting fruit. And our brains mix the two up constantly.
Why your brain does this
Your tongue can only detect five basic tastes: salty, bitter, umami, sour, and sweet. That's it. Sweetness is one of them, registered right on the tip of your tongue, from actual sugar molecules hitting your taste buds.
"Fruity," on the other hand, isn't a taste at all. It's an aroma. Those blackberry, peach, or tropical fruit notes you pick up in a wine come from aromatic compounds (mostly esters, the same family of compounds that make fruit smell like fruit) that your nose detects, not your tongue. But here's the catch: your brain processes smell and taste together, as one combined experience. So when a wine smells and tastes like ripe fruit, your brain shortcuts straight to "sweet," because fruit equals sweet is one of the oldest associations we have.
A wine can be packed with fruit character and have zero grams of sugar. Same way a basket of fresh raspberries smells sweet before you ever bite into one.
A simple way to test it yourself
Next time you're tasting a wine you're unsure about, try this: pinch your nose closed and take a sip. Without the aroma reaching your brain, all that's left is what your tongue can actually detect. If there's real sugar, you'll feel and taste it. If the "sweetness" disappears the second you can't smell the wine, that's your answer: it was fruit, not sugar.
You can also pay attention to the finish. A wine with real residual sugar leaves a lingering, syrupy sweetness that coats your palate after you swallow. A dry, fruity wine's finish is usually crisp, and the fruit character fades along with everything else.
Reframing your vocabulary
This mix-up isn't just a fun fact. It genuinely gets in the way when you're trying to describe what you like to a sommelier or a wine shop owner. If you walk up and say, "I don't like sweet wine," but what you actually mean is "I don't love big, jammy, fruit-forward wines," you'll likely get steered toward something totally different than what you actually want.
Instead, try phrases like:
"I like fruit characteristics, but prefer a dry wine."
"I want something with some ripe fruit flavors, just not sweet."
"This tastes sweet to me. Is that residual sugar, or is that just the fruit talking?"
That last one is a great one to ask outright. Any good sommelier or shop owner will know exactly what you mean, and it'll help them point you toward wines you'll actually love.
"Fruity" and "sweet" are not the same thing, even though your brain loves to tell you otherwise. Once you can separate the two, a lot of your past wine opinions might start making a lot more sense.
Vine To Glass
Wine Of The Week: 2024 Costarossa Farm Rosalba
Earlier this week, I finally made it to Oscar, the newish wine bar in SE Portland that's been on my list for a while. It was a rainy night, so I walked in wanting a red. But the wine steward specifically pointed me toward this one, her current favorite on the list, so I figured, why not.
I'm so glad I listened.
The wine was Rosalba, a skin-contact blend of Albariño and Gewürztraminer from the Columbia Gorge AVA, made by Costarossa Farm. And it had so much texture and depth that it genuinely drank like a red. The fruit and acidity were bright and lifted, but there was real structure underneath, from a little grip of tannin that balanced the whole thing out. This is a FOOD wine, through and through.
My friend and I were headed to dinner right after, so we never actually got to try it alongside a meal, which just gives me an excuse to go buy a bottle for some at-home research.
About the Producer
Costarossa Farm is a small, organic farm and winery on the west side of the Hood River Valley, sitting at about 1,200 feet. It's run by Matthew and Krista, whose home farm and cellar are there, growing a mix of vegetables, flowers, fruit trees, and vines. Beyond their home property, they also farm several additional vineyard sites around Hood River and White Salmon, totaling about fifteen acres under vine altogether.
It started as a vegetable farm, just a few acres, before it grew into the wine side of things. Matthew and Krista's shared culinary sensibility shapes both halves of the operation, from how they tend the land to how the wines come together in the cellar. Everything is farmed organically, with no pesticides or herbicides.
The Wine
The 2024 Rosalba is a blend of Gewürztraminer (from a site called Atavus) and Albariño (from a site called 3 Mile), co-fermented together as whole clusters for three days on the skins, then fermented and aged in used oak. No additions, and the fruit is organically farmed. It comes in at 13% ABV.
That skin contact time is exactly where the texture I tasted comes from. It's the same basic idea as a red wine: let the juice sit with the skins, and you pick up color, structure, and tannin along the way.
What I'd Pair It With
Since I haven't tried it with food yet myself, I'll be testing this out properly soon. But based on the style, here's where I'd start:
- Roast chicken with herbs
- Mushroom-forward pastas and dishes
- Soft, rind-washed cheeses
- Dishes with a little spice (Gewürztraminer loves it)
- Charcuterie, especially something a little fatty
This is a great bottle to grab. I'll let you know how the at-home food pairing research goes!
Cork Report
This Week’s Wine News Roundup
- The MICHELIN Guide Will Reveal Its First Wine Selection in the U.S.
- Wine Enthusiast's Lifetime Achievement Award Winner, Jerry Lohr
- Who Makes Costco's Kirkland Signature Malbec Wine?
