Pairing Halloween candy with wine? It’s not as strange as you might think

Jennifer Molgat, owner of The View Winery in Kelowna, recommends pairing gummies with white wines, and chocolates with red wines.

Pairing candies with wine might sound weird, but it could be a fantastic experience for the taste buds if you know the food chemistry, says Jennifer Molgat, owner of Kelowna’s The View Winery. (Submitted by Jennifer Molgat)

If you expect to have more sweet treats than trick-or-treaters this Halloween, here’s a tip to make good use of all that leftover candy — try pairing it with different wines.

For years, wine pairing with candies has been a favourite pastime for some adults in B.C.’s Okanagan region.

“I know it seems like an odd choice,” said Jennifer Molgat, owner of The View Winery in Kelowna. “But there’s science behind it, and if you follow the science, it can be magic in your mouth and it’s just fun.”

Just like tasting wines with cheese or other foods, the candy’s characteristics must be considered when pairing it with a wine, Molgat says.

She recommends matching a light-flavoured white wine with Maynard Fuzzy Peach sour gummies.

Sour gummies could match well with lightly-flavoured white wines. (Submitted by Jennifer Molgat)

“They just amplify the intensity of the flavours in the candy and in the wine, but without overpowering one another,” she told Chris Walker, host of CBC’s Daybreak South. “It just creates pleasant harmony in your mouth.”

But Molgat wouldn’t suggest pairing Fuzzy Peaches with a sweet white wine.

“It probably wouldn’t be harmony in your mouth. It would probably be bitter and horrible.”

Then which wine would work with a super sweet candy, like Swedish Berries?

“We serve the Swedish Berries with our sangria cider,” Molgat said about a drink that has a strong berry flavour.

Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups are often a top choice for trick-and-treating. Molgat says they’re also a perfect match for red wines.

Red wines with strong nuttiness could be paired with chocolate, such as Reese Peanut Butter Cups. (Submitted by Jennifer Molgat)

“Red wines have a bit of tannins in them, so they match the nuttiness and the tannins in the peanut butter cups.”

The vineyard hosted wine tasting sessions this week where guests — wearing spooky costumes if they wished — could match the confectioneries with different wine varieties.