Wine Enthusiast – October 2019

34 | WINE ENTHUSIAST | OCTOBER 2019

AD

RI

AN

M

UE

LL

ER

PAIROLOGY

HONEY

Where many fruits offer a simple tug-

of-war between sweet and tart, pears

have a complex floral sweetness more

akin to honey than sugar. Dry or sweet

Chenin Blanc (depending whether

the pear dish is sweet or savory) has

flavors of honey and orchard fruit,

with refreshing acidity.

VANILLA

Many pears exude a subtle perfume

that can be reminiscent of vanilla’s

muskiness, which might be why

it’s one of the best flavors to pair

with pears. Find it in a California

Chardonnay aged in American oak,

which often imparts a spicy vanilla

note to wine. 

WARMING SPICE 

Pears go extremely well with all sorts

of baking spices—clove, nutmeg,

cinnamon, ginger, pepper—and

many varieties (Bosc and Anjou in

particular) themselves have spicy

undertones. Fruity Gewürztraminer

f eatures these same sweet flavors,

helping bring out a pear’s sassier side.

BUTTER

Pears were nicknamed “butter fruit”

in the 1700s, and Bartlett and Comice

pears have an especially buttery

mouthfeel. Dry or extra-dry Prosecco

has complementary flavors of pear

and cream, while its fizz, by contrast,

accentuates this lush texture.

PEARING

MADE SIMPLE

This fall fruit is even more seductive

when accompanied by the right wine.

In

The Odyssey, Homer calls pears a “gift from

the gods,” and for millennia, writers and

painters have considered them to be a symbol

of temptation, fertility and longevity. Enticing

for those with patience, pears are among the only fruits

that don’t ripen well on the tree, where they become

mealy. Instead, they’re picked when mature but hard,

to be ripened on your counter. The good news is that

virtually all supermarket varieties will ripen evenly

to sweet perfection; eat them when the neck yields to

gentle pressure. The many types of pears can be quite

different, but most share certain qualities and

complementary flavors that make wine

pear-ing a breeze. —Nils Bernstein