3 Wines to Pair with Apple Pie

When matching wine with desserts, the wine has to be at least as sweet as the food; otherwise, it will taste astringent. Because apple pie is not overly sugary, it pairs with a range of dessert wines, from fizzy and light to sticky and caramelly. Here are three to try.

1. Moscato d'Asti

To end your meal on a lighter note, pour Moscato d'Asti, a low-alcohol, sweet, fizzy wine from Italy that's filled with notes of fruit blossoms and happiness. It's delicious with apple desserts and buttery pastry. Look for bottles from Vietti or Barale.

2. Jurançon Moelleux

Intensely honeyed late-harvest white wines are actually best with richer savory foods, like foie gras or cheese. If you're serving a pie with a cheesy crust, however, these wines work nicely. Sweet styles of Jurançon (known as Jurançon Moelleux) are lesser known and offer good value. Bottles from Domaine Cauhapé are great ones to try.

3. Tawny Port

Love a caramel apple? Don't mind a hangover? Try a tawny port. The raisiny, caramelly flavors in these fortified wines (yep, they're extra-alcoholic) are a decadent choice for apple pie. For a medium-sweet Portuguese tawny, look for bottles from Quinta do Infantado. For a sweeter, stickier port, try bottles from Australia, like those from R.L. Buller.

Kristin Donnelly is a former Food & Wine editor and author of the forthcoming The Modern Potluck (Clarkson Potter, 2016). She is also the cofounder of Stewart & Claire, an all-natural line of lip balms made in Brooklyn.