Because the adults deserve a little fun on Halloween, too! Whether you’re stocking up on candy for trick-or-treaters, raiding your kids’ stash, or just getting it for yourself, I wanted to share the very best and most interesting pairing I’ve found lately. It’s with very common Halloween candy, but a pretty unexpected wine out of Sonoma. This is also my first Halloween as a Sonoma resident so I wanted to share a Sonoma wine and Halloween candy pairing guide.
The wine unexpected wine is a Beaujolais Nouveau out of Sonoma. Nou by Karah Estate Vineyard is a pinot noir done in a Beaujolais Nouveau style. It’s a light bodied red wine with tons of character, and it’s actually best enjoyed chilled. The price point is great at $16 per bottle, which can be purchased by bottle or case either online or at the winery. Nou is overall very earthy and fruity, but not sweet. It has flavors of bright but slightly unripe blackberry. I first visited Karah Estate in Cotati a few weeks ago, and fell in love with the low key and casual vibe. This wine was definitely the most unique from the tasting. Karah’s tasting is also one of the best values for the price compared to other wineries to taste at in Sonoma County. The tasting room is also situated at the top of a huge hill that overlooks their rolling vineyards and westward towards Petaluma.
This wine is anything but basic. Here are some of my favorite Halloween candies to pair with this wine.
Beaujolais Nouveau & Twix
Who doesn’t love Twix? The Beaujolais Nouveau wine transforms the Twix cookie flavor into vanilla speculoos shortbread. The luscious caramel explodes with flavor too. Something about the acidity in this wine balances with the cookie and caramel. I didn’t think I could love Twix more until I tried it with this style of wine.
Beaujolais Nouveau & Snickers
Snickers is another Halloween fun size favorite. The wine truly emphasizes the creaminess of the nougat filling of Snickers. Peanuts also emphasize the jamminess of the blackberry noted in the wine, giving a familiar peanut butter and jelly vibe.
Beaujolais Nouveau & Reese’s
Saving the best for last, this has to be my absolute favorite pairing. But I guess I’m always partial to peanut butter cups! Reese’s peanut butter cups really bring out the fruity and jammy elements in Beaujolais Nouveau, despite the wine not being sweet alone. Together it tastes like a PB&J. They complement each other so well!
These are just a few of my favorite candy pairing ideas, but the options are endless! One of the runner up pairings I found was actually a Trader Joe’s wine, the Georges Duboeuf Beaujolais from France which retails for $6.99. It’s much more fruity and and less earthy than Karah’s Nou. It’s also a little more sweet. I wanted to mention it as an alternative that’s a little more widely available. This wine paired best with Peanut M&M’s, one of my all time favorite candies.
If you go to your local wine shop, ask to see their Beaujolais wines. Then ask which are more fruity or earthy to get some ideas of which to pick up. It’s a fun wine on its own, but since it’s so light bodied it works well with many types of foods. Something about this wine being light, acidic, and not tannic lets it work well with very sweet chocolate, peanut butter, and other decadent Halloween candy.
If you try this Sonoma wine and Halloween candy pairing, definitely let me know how you like it. Happy Halloween!
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