Top pairings

The best wine to pair with rhubarb

Posted by Fiona Beckett (Google+) on March 3 2024 at 08:51

You might be surprised to learn that rhubarb is a great ingredient to pair with wine. Generally dessert wines have to be sweeter than the dessert they accompany and rhubarb has a natural tartness that makes that easier to achieve especially when it’s served with wine-friendly cream as in a rhubarb fool, pannacotta or a creamy rice pudding.

What wines to pair with rhubarb

Sauternes or similar sweet wines from Bordeaux

Light, lush lemony Sauternes and similar wines such as Loupiac or Cadillac work well especially when the dessert is accompanied by cream. Probably the combination I reach for most often as this post shows though I'd generally go for younger rather than older vintages

Other late harvest sauvignons or semillons from elsewhere in the world would work too

Auslese, beerenauslese or other late harvest rieslings

Riesling has a corresponding acidity that makes it a great match. Rhubarb can balance the intense sweetness of even an ice wine. I once had a cabernet franc-based Canadian ice wine with rhubarb cheesecake which was a sensational match.

To gain full access to this article and other premium content you need to purchase a bundle of credits which you can do as a one-off purchase or - and this is better value if you consult the site regularly - on an ongoing subscription basis. (1 credit = 1 article)

To buy credits you need to register an account, which which is easy to do here. Or just sign in to your account if you already have one.

If you’d like be able to check out all the food and wine pairings on the site you can buy a bundle of credits here to access my premium content.

And/or for regular updates on what and where I’ve been eating, drinking and travelling sign up for my weekly newsletter Eat This, Drink That, Live Well.