Dessert to have with a 2005 Rieussec Sauternes

I am throwing a little party and need help with a dessert that will go with the wine. Please no cheese save for a bit of Mascarpone. Something that I can plate and serve with out 2 hours of prep.


Gary Bobier

Gary, Hi......


Any fruit-based tart, torte or pie, perhaps especially of pears, apples or apricots.

Best
Rogov

[Jenise]

Gary,

Have you ever heard of Olive Oil and Sauternes cake? This is an Alice Waters recipe but the cake itself is a tradition in southern France. The texture is a souffle-like, not-too-sweet sponge that works great with any summer fruit, but peaches are especially good with Sauternes )(and perhaps no Sauternes is peachier than a ripe year Rieussec) and they're in season right now in the Northern Hemisphere. Take advantage of both! Make the cake the day before, and the peaches a few hours before serving--because of the oil, the cake is very moist and doesn't dry out as easily as many others would. I love this cake. Here's the recipe for your consideration.

Serves 8 to 10.

RCP: OLIVE OIL AND SAUTERNES CAKE

5 eggs plus 2 egg whites
3/4 cup sugar
1 tblsp grated orange or lemon peel
1 cup sifted flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup Sauternes
1/2 cup plus 2 tblsp extra virgin olive oil

Preheat the oven to 375F. Separate the eggs, and in a large mixing bowl beat the five egg yolks with the sugar until light colored and well-beaten, about three minutes. Add the peel and set aside. Combine the flour and salt, and then add bit by bit to the sugar and egg mixture, beating continually until it is incorporated. Add the Sauternes and the EVOO in the same fashion.

Beat the seven egg whites until they stand in stiff peaks, and then fold them into the egg mixture throughly.

Pour this batter into an 8 inch springform pan whose bottom has been lined with parchment or wax paper and whose sides have been well-buttered. Bake for 20 minutes, then reduce the oven temperature to 325F and bake for another 20 minutes. Then turn off the oven, open the door a few seconds to let some heat escape, and then close leaving the cake in for another ten minutes while it deflates like a souffle.

Remove the cake from the oven, invert it onto a flat surface, remove the pan and allow it to cool completely. Dust with powdered sugar.

I think creme brulee is "the classic" but fruit based tarts are also excellent. I always stagger the serving of the wine with the food when its a high end wine like Climens, Yquem or Rieussec. That is, serve the dessert wine then in 15-20 minutes bring out the dessert item. This seems to work best particularly if the sweetness of the food and wine isn't 100% in-synch. 2005 Rieussec could use more time in the cellar but I assume you know that.

No cheese? Dang. A thin slice of Humboldt Fog with ripe pear and honey drizzled over is very good with Sauternes (as I was told several years back when I posted the same question).

If not that, I'd probably go with creme brulee just because I love the stuff. Not too time-consuming to prep, either.

Thank you all for your time and effort in helping me. I was leaning towards a tart like the following:
A ground almond hazelnut crust, brushed with an apricot glaze, a layer of pastry cream with a hint of orange and then grilled ripe pineapple sprinkled with candied lemon zest. Maybe a mango garnish.
I would like the creme brule because it would be a bit quicker and the cake sould great but the group would kill me if I used the wine to cook with.

Gary Bobier

[Jenise]

Thank you all for your time and effort in helping me. I was leaning towards a tart like the following:
A ground almond hazelnut crust, brushed with an apricot glaze, a layer of pastry cream with a hint of orange and then grilled ripe pineapple sprinkled with candied lemon zest. Maybe a mango garnish.
I would like the creme brule because it would be a bit quicker and the cake sould great but the group would kill me if I used the wine to cook with.

Gary Bobier

Gary, jeesh, wasn't suggesting (and woudln't suggest) you cook with the Rieussec! Rather, use some other inexpensive dessert style wine and serve that cake with the better wine. Me no dummy....

Am I offering too many flavors if I do the tart? I do them because all of the flavors are in the wine. Is it a bit too much?

Gary

[David M. Bueker]

I think trying to match up food & wine flavors is nearly impossible. I don't know if you have tasted a bottle of 2005 Rieussec lately, but I had it not that long ago, and it's really a big, liquid coconut creme brulee right now. I would not try to match it, and I would not worry about there being too many flavors in the tart.

[Jenise]

Gary, there are two schools of thought in wine pairing. Some look for an exact, seamless match of all the flavors as you're trying to do with your tart. Others look for contrast, to 'pop' the flavors in a complementary way. I'm in the latter camp so as delicious as your tart sounds, for me personally yes there's too much going on. You can actually cancel out your ability to taste what's in the wine by repeating all those same flavors in the food. That's why creme brulee, the simple cake with fruit I suggested and in fact a great little wedge of biscotti (unfrosted) would work so well. It lets the wine shine. But again, this is my own preference.

Another vote for creme brulee.
Can you make a dessert from a piquant creamy blue and accompany it with an apricot coulis - because a creamy blue cheese and dried apricots with fully botrytised wines can be so simple - yet so sublime.

PS The first time I had Ch d'Yquem it was accompanied with a NZ blue called Kikorangi. It was mind blowingly delicious and as I think about it, I am transported right back to that place and time - I can taste it now.

Is it possible to put away the 2005 and drink a 1988 instead?

Is it possible to put away the 2005 and drink a 1988 instead?

I've tasted the 2005 recently. The colour is quite golden - looks older than you would expect for its age - and it's very ripe and very sweet. I guess the oak component would settle a bit with more time.

Is it possible to put away the 2005 and drink a 1988 instead?

Jeff, Hi......

Put away the 2005? Yup...... but only on the condition that you get to it before 2050.

My most recent tasting notes for the two vintages follow. Perhaps those will help in your decision-making process.

Best
Rogov



Chateau Rieussec, Sauternes, 1988: My fourth encounter with this wine and as predicted (ever so often even the guess of the critic is correct) finally starting to show its best. Full-bodied, opening with orange and lemon peel and pear and apple pie notes, opening in the glass to reveal dried apricots and then hints of fig. An abundant note of botrytis runs through and on the long finish notes of anise and toffee. Drinking beautifully now-2020. Score 93. (Re-tasted but not blind 8 Apr 2008)

Chateau Rieussec, Sauternes, 2005: Deep gold with orange reflections, full-bodied, a super-sweet, generously oaky Rieussec, showing traditional dried and fresh apricot and peach fruits on a background of caramel candies (the hard kind on which one sucks leisurely for ten minutes). From mid-palate on notes of eucalyptus honey. Don't let the deep sweetness put you off, for the balance between that, natural acidity and fruits is in near-perfect harmony. Like nearly all Rieussec, approachable and enjoyable now but this one will be showing its best only starting in 2015 and then cellaring comfortably until well beyond mid-century. Score 97. (Tasted 19 Feb 2009)

Pithiviers.

rwj

I would either serve this wine AS dessert, or at the other end of the dinner with seared foie gras.