"God, I hate Candy Corn."
Those were the first words from Timothy Mercer, wine buyer at Cork in Uptown, after I asked about this week's pairing. And, as it turns out, I
hate the stuff as well. In fact, I can think of very few people who really like
Candy Corn.
Few treats, however, have lasted as long as these artificially colored wedges
of corn syrup, sugar and honey. Since first created in the 1880s Candy Corn has
become an institution, with Americans snapping up bags by the tens of millions
each year...although most of that ends up in landfills, feeding a breed of
super rats.
Come Sunday, most of us will have some leftover Candy Corn around the house.
Might as well open a bottle of wine to go along with them--but which one?
The natural flavor combination is simple: sugar with a slight tint of honey.
"Instead of trying to fight it, I'd run with the sweetness," Mercer
said after getting over his initial disgust. "I'd pick a dessert
wine."
Todd Lincicome, wine director at Al Biernat's, came to the same conclusion. All
that sugar would completely parch a dry wine, he warned. But ice wines would
enhance the candy's basic taste while adding a little sophistication. He also
recommended a Hungarian Tokaj for its butterscotch notes.
Since both experts pointed in the same direction, I picked up a bottle of
Jackson-Triggs Vidal Icewine, 2007--one of the less expensive Canadian brands.
I also picked up a stern warning from the guy at Goody Goody, where I bought
the wine: "Take plenty of insulin tablets," he said.
The wine is rich on the nose, releasing aromas of pear syrup, mango, dried
apricot and perhaps some white pepper--though that could have been the mango
talking. The taste is of candied peel and caramel wrapped in a cashmere
blanket.
In other words, the texture is soft and silken.
I had dreaded the pairing, but the two--natural ice wine and artifical sweet
corn--work together beautifully. The wine picks up on the sugar and honey
flavor and carries it along, adding depth and interest. A burnished,
bittersweet notes creeps in, making it seem as if whichever company made the
Candy Corn used good local honey. The nasty corn syrup taste retreats for a
while, slipping back across your palate after the flow of wine dissipates.
Well, no pairing is absolutely perfect. But this is about as
close as we've come.