Merlot 101

Dessert Merlot's/red wines?

Usually for dessert wines I go for whites like Riesling or Port but I'm trying to get a good dessert red. Are there any good dessert Merlots out there? Any suggestions?

Public Comments

1. Chocolates go well with Cabernet's
2. Are we talking wine as dessert or wine with dessert? Champagne goes better with almost any dessert than anything else I've tried. Nothing beats (for my palate) creme brulee with a good (not necessarily expensive) champagne. For wine as dessert, I also like reisling or port or ice wines or sauternes. As far as a sweet red, I haven't yet found one I like.
3. Hm, Ports are red. I've heard of white port, but I think it's like white zinfandel - kind of a faux wine. Someone, somewhere is probably making every varietal into a late harvest dessert wine. Late harvest means the grapes are on their way to being raisins so all the flavors and sugars are greatly concentrated. So you end up with dessert wines. I've had late harvest Zinfandel that is awesome. I just googled late harvest Merlot, and people are making it. And if it helps - I have a kind of silly rule of thumb with dessert wines where I match the color of my desserts to the color of my dessert wines - pear, apple, peach, custard, etc gets white wine. Berries get those reds - late harvest or Port and chocolate gets Tawny Port or a red Port, especially if it has some fruit with it. Generally speaking you want to have your wine sweeter than your dessert. This can be considered a personal taste thing, but if it isn't sweeter than the dessert, the food is just going to kill the taste of the wine.