Creme brulee and custards

Assuming a set vanilla custard under a cracked sugar crust, and by extension the custard family: pot de creme, panna cotta, trifle, a proper egg custard tart.

Two things are going on and a wine has to answer both. Underneath is cold set cream and egg yolk, rich and fat-coated, which lean sharp whites fight rather than flatter. On top is burnt sugar, bitter at the edges and caramelised. What suits is a sweet wine with honey and stone fruit for the custard, its own caramel note for the crust, and acidity running under both to keep the fat moving.

Pairs Perfectly

Sauternes or Barsac, Bordeaux, France. Pairs Perfectly. Botrytis gives honey, apricot and a saffron edge that meets vanilla custard exactly where it lives, and the acidity beneath cuts cream that would otherwise coat the palate and stay there. Barsac is the lighter and finer of the two for a delicate pot de creme. Monbazillac from Bergerac delivers the same logic at a fraction of the price.

Pairs Well

Madeira, Bual or Malmsey, Portugal. Pairs Well. Heated in cask until the sugars brown, so burnt caramel is not a comparison but the thing itself, and it holds the highest acidity of any sweet fortified wine.

Botrytis Semillon, Riverina, Australia. Pairs Well. Botrytis richness with a touch of barrel vanilla that runs straight into the custard, fuller and rounder than the Bordeaux answer.

Worth Seeking Out

Moscatel de Setubal, Portugal. Fortified, then left on its Muscat skins and in wood for years: orange peel, honey and dried apricot. The citrus lift is what a heavy custard wants and rarely gets.

Avoid

Lean unoaked whites, which turn sharp and discordant against cream, and dry sparkling, whose acidity has nothing to balance it once the sugar arrives.

Failing That

A Muscat de Beaumes-de-Venise, Rhone, France.

If All Else Fails

Moscato d'Asti, Piedmont.

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