Perfect Wine for a Sparkling Valentine’s Day Celebration

Posted by foodwineclick on February 6, 2016 · 27 Comments

A Romantic Wine Pairing Weekend
Our Wine Pairing Weekend group has a bunch of great Valentine’s ideas for you! Slide down to the bottom of this post to find ideas for romancing your significant other! My focus this year is on dessert.

Your Romantic Finish to a Valentine’s Celebration
Chocolates and Cabernet Sauvignon? Don’t believe it! On Valentine’s Day you’re much better off with something light and delicate. What could be better than a dessert full of fruit paired with a sparkling wine which elevates the fruit?

Delicious dessert choices for Valentine’s Day

Wine Pairing with Sweets
The best wine pairing advice for sweets is to ensure the wine is sweeter than the food. That’s why chocolates and Cabernet Sauvignon are such a mystery. If the food is sweeter, the wine is likely to taste thin and bitter. The real trick with sweet wine is to make sure it has sufficient acidity to balance the sweetness. Sparkling wines always feature high acidity which provides a powerful balance to sweetness.

Sweet & sparkling, but great acidity to balance the sweetness.

Enter the Brachetto grape. Brachetto is an aromatic red grape with high acidity. It’s perfect for vinifying into a sweet sparkling wine. Low in alcohol, it displays bright red fruits with lively acidity. Bonus: at 6.5% alcohol, it won’t leave you woozy. Demarie Birbet fits the bill!

Demarie Birbet, a rare combination of red, sweet, sparkling wine

Az. Agr. Demarie Giovanni Birbet NV ($20 retail, my sample from the winery)
Eye: Beautiful ruby color with fine bubbles
Nose: Sweet, ripe cherries and strawberries. A touch of fresh herbs in the background.
Mouth: Sweet with high acidity, very lively. Fresh red cherry and ripe strawberry flavors with a hint of a bitter note in the finish. Refreshing!

Demarie Birbet is delightfully sweet and lively. We tasted it with a sour cream strudel, raspberry mascarpone tart in a chocolate shell, and a raspberry topped white cake. The wine was plenty sweet for all the dessert choices, perhaps best with the raspberry mascarpone tart. Sweet, fizzy fruit in the wine was very nice with the creamy mouthfeel, the berries and chocolate all at once. (click on any photo to view slide show)

Looking for the perfect wine for dessert.

At brunch, try a sour cream strudel garnished with raspberries, strawberries, or fresh cherries

Can’t go wrong with fresh fruit, mascarpone cream in a dark chocolate shell

Is your Valentine a cake person? Rich frosting topped with fresh red fruit.

My Valentine’s pick would be Demarie Birbet with a creamy Raspberry Mascarpone tart.

Sponsored post: Thanks to Az. Agr. Demarie Giovanni for providing the wine for this post. The pairing ideas and opinions expressed are my own.

Win a case of Piemonte Wines in a Wine Check
Are you interested in a chance to win a dozen Piemonte wines, including several from Demarie, all delivered in a cool reusable piece of wine luggage? Go to my blogging friend, Mike, at Please Bring Me My Wine Blog and enter! What’s a Wine Check? See my writeup here.

Great Ideas for Your Valentine’s Day

For more great food and wine pairing ideas please visit my fellow #WinePW weekend friends’ web sites:

Jade from Tasting Pour:

Love Letter Pastries and Brandborg Winery Pinot Noir
Cherry Hazelnut Scones

Martin of Enofylz Wine Blog – Valentine’s Surf and Turf with a Twist and Champagne Pairing

Nancy from Pull That Cork – Shepherd’s Pie and Burgundy: A Cozy Valentine’s Day Pairing

Kirsten of The Armchair Sommelier – My Squashy Valentine

Jennifer from Vino Travels – Sparkle Your Valentine’s Day with Brachetto from the Roero with Demarie

David of Cooking Chat –

–Cauliflower Kale Soup paired with Pinot
-Sweet Strawberry Cream with Chocolate and Wine Pairing

Sarah from Curious Cuisiniere – Gougeres (French Cheese Puffs) and Blanquette de Limoux

Cindy from Grape Experiences:

Lori from Draceana Wines – Need a Valentine’s Wine? As You Wish.

Diana from Wine Pass shares – Valentine Risotto and Rich Chocolate Beet Cake with Brachetto d’Acqui

Valerie of Girls Gotta Drink – A Moscato Food Pairing: #Moscato for Breakfast

Wendy from A Day in the Life on A Farm – Asian Tuna and Noodles with Rodney Strong Pinot Noir

Camilla of Culinary Adventures with Camilla :

-Cherry-Glazed Chicken with Hahn’s Santa Lucia Highlands Pinot Noir
-Barley Stuffed Acorn Squash & Zesty Crayfish with Landmark Vineyards’ Overlook Chardonnay
-Wild Boar Mushroom Pot Pies with Landmark Vineyards’ Overlook Pinot Noir
-Seared Venison Medallions with Justin’s Cabernet Sauvignon
-Rosé-Cured Salmon with Balletto Vineyards’ Brut Rosé
-Epoisses, Crackers, & Cremant de Limoux

Christy from Confessions of a Culinary Diva:

-Valentine’s Day Steakhouse Dinner at Home
-50 Oysters a Day & Other Tales of Seduction
-Pick a Picpoul de Pinet for Your Valentine
-Smokin’ Duck & Pinot
-Valentine’s Take-In Dinner
-Apple of My Eye Pork Chops & Pinot
-Lobster, Corn Fritters & Balletto

If you read this in time please join our Valentine’s Day food and wine pairing chat at 10CST using #WinePW then print out these recipes and head to your local grocer and wine merchant to craft your own delicious meal!

Filed under ItalianFWT: Italian food, wine & travel, Wine & Food, WinePW: Wine Pairing Weekend

Comments

27 Responses to “Perfect Wine for a Sparkling Valentine’s Day Celebration”

Jill Barth says:

February 7, 2016 at 1:22 pm

Such a pretty wine! Would look so lovely by a warm fire with these goodies.

Reply
- foodwineclick says:
  
  February 10, 2016 at 10:23 pm
  
  Thank you, Jill!
  
  Reply
Valeriekq says:

February 8, 2016 at 3:26 am

All look so good, Jeff! Yum – I want!

Reply
- foodwineclick says:
  
  February 10, 2016 at 10:24 pm
  
  Thanks, Val!
  
  Reply
binNotes© | a food, wine & travel blog. says:

February 8, 2016 at 8:20 am

Nice job – I’m thirsty!

Reply
- foodwineclick says:
  
  February 10, 2016 at 10:25 pm
  
  Thank you, Lyn!
  
  Reply
Martin D. Redmond says:

February 8, 2016 at 11:24 pm

Almost picked up a Brachetto from WF yesterday. Wanted to pair with a Chocolate Truffle Tart. This one also sounds like it would be a great pairing for the Chocolate Truffle Tart. Sadly not enough time this week… Great post Jeff!

Reply
- foodwineclick says:
  
  February 10, 2016 at 10:29 pm
  
  Thanks, Martin. I know what you mean. There never seems to be enough time!
  
  Reply
Vino Travels (@VinoTravels21) says:

February 9, 2016 at 12:01 pm

Love the variety of desserts and could really use one right now!

Reply
- foodwineclick says:
  
  February 10, 2016 at 10:29 pm
  
  Thanks, Jen!
  
  Reply
Diana says:

February 11, 2016 at 7:58 am

I’ve chosen to use Brachetto too! A fun bubbly 🙂

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Christy Majors says:

February 12, 2016 at 12:53 am

So gorgeous! Would love to try this – will need to look for it (however, pairing will be different – chocolate causes migraines :()

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Jade Helm says:

February 13, 2016 at 3:28 pm

Such a pretty pairing and you are singing my song about pairing wine with desserts. One of my very few wine pairing soap box issues.

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culinarycam says:

February 14, 2016 at 10:15 pm

I haven’t tried Demarie. I will definitely check it out. Thanks for sharing, Jeff.

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Dracaena Wines says:

February 15, 2016 at 9:29 am

Those raspberries look so delicious! This is another reason why I can’t wait to live in Paso 100% of the time. Food markets for that fantastic fruit all year round. The supermarkets just don’t cut it!

Reply
armchairsommelier says:

February 15, 2016 at 11:46 am

This looks superb, as always, Jeff!! I always forget about Brachetto . . . Cheers!

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