Petit fours

Petit fours

Assuming a plate of small sweets with coffee, such as chocolate truffles, fudge, macarons and almond biscuits.

Petit fours are a mix of sugar, chocolate, caramel, nuts and fruit, all very sweet. The wine must be at least as sweet as the sweetest piece, with enough acidity to stay fresh and flavours of nuts and dried fruit that bridge chocolate and caramel alike. A dry wine tastes thin and sour beside them.

Pairs Perfectly. Tawny Port, Douro, Portugal. Toffee, walnut, dried fig and orange peel, which meet fudge, chocolate and almond in turn. It has the sweetness for sugar and enough freshness to keep going through a plate, and it is widely available.

Pairs Well. Bual or Malmsey Madeira, Portugal. Caramel, burnt sugar and dried fruit on a piercing line of acidity, the freshest of the rich sweet wines.

Pairs Well. Muscat de Beaumes-de-Venise, southern Rhône, France. Orange blossom, apricot and honey, lighter than Port and very good with fruit jellies and macarons.

Worth Seeking Out

Rutherglen Muscat, Victoria, Australia. Raisin, toffee and coffee, deeply sweet and made for fudge and chocolate.

Avoid

Dry wines and dry sparkling wines. Against this much sugar they taste thin and sharp.

Failing That

A Pedro Ximénez Sherry, Jerez, Spain.

If All Else Fails

Cream Sherry, Jerez.

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