Wine & Donut Pairings
Can we pairing wine & donuts? Yes, we can and we did!
With the Autumn season, all things sweet and sugary are a part of this time of year with Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas on the horizon. Our team took it upon ourselves to do a wine and donut pairing! SLODo Co recently opened a shop in Paso Robles that is about 10 minutes from our Tasting Room, so we stopped in and picked out a few favorites and seasonal donuts. This is all in the name of research, of course! Below are our findings from our scrumptious Fall pairing.
Late Harvest Sauvignon Blanc
paired with an Apple Fritter, Maple, or Lavender Chocolate Chip Donut
The Late Harvest is a dessert wine, so it is best paired with sweet desserts. It was not surprising that this wine went with multiple donuts. It paired well with the seasonal and popular maple donut, which went well with the notes of honey and apricots in the wine. Then our team’s favorite donut, the apple fritter, tasted lovely due to the wine’s oak notes. Lastly, our team was surprised to find that the floral lavender chocolate chip donut worked with this dessert wine, as this wine can hold up well with herbal or floral notes in cuisine. Darker chocolates work very nicely with this white dessert wine.
Cabernet Franc
paired with a Lavender Donut
Our club-only Cabernet Franc went perfectly with a lavender donut, which was a big surprise of the pairing. It is not uncommon for red wines to have purple floral notes, which helped provide a path for this red wine to pair with the fun donut.
Estate Cabernet Sauvignon
paired with a Coffee Donut
This pairing worked very well as the coffee donut from SLODo Co was not too sweet. Sometimes, slightly sweet dishes and baked items can pair very well with red wines. This was true for the Estate Cabernet Sauvignon as its tannins didn’t get overwhelmed by the sugar, and the mocha notes went with the coffee flavor of the donut. And we love coffee as much as our wine!
Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon
paired with a Devil’s Food Cake, or Plain Old Fashioned
With its bigger structure and tannins, the Reserve Cabernet was a surprise as it went with the chocolatey, decadent devil’s food cake donut and a plain old fashioned, which are both classics. The Reserve Cabernet, while complex, wasn’t overshadowed by the sugar of these donuts, as they allowed a nice marrying of flavors like deep chocolate and toastiness.
Want to do this yourself? Visit our store online, or visit the Tasting Room at 3590 Adelaida Road, Paso Robles, CA 93446 to pick out the wines. You can visit SLODO Co if you are visiting our area, or visit a local donut shop near you. We believe that classical pairing rules don’t always apply and this pairing proved that you can pair tannic reds with desserts. It is worth trying new things to discover fun, complex wine and food pairings!
Chardonnay
paired with a Coconut Donut
The Chardonnay, with its lovely golden fruit notes as well as creamy, toast notes from the oak barrel, works very nicely with the coconut donut that wasn’t overly sweet.
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