The kids’ Easter candy haul this weekend is actually a great flavour guide for some fun cocktails and terrific wines.
Here to lead us on this adult Easter hunt is our favourite drinks expert Natalie MacLean, editor of Canada’s largest drinks site at nataliemaclean.com.
Welcome, Natalie.
Great to be back with you! Just let me say that no child’s candy stash was raided during the research for this segment, though in the name of science, I do believe in duplicating experiments this weekend.
Today we’re going to find a bridge between your inner five-year-old who wants to eat sugar until your teeth vibrate and your adult self who enjoys things like “structure” and “balance.”
Each candy was chosen because its flavour mirrors something in the wine beside it. Think of it as a cheat sheet for wine vocabulary. The candy tells you what to expect. The wine actually delivers it.
Alright, let us start with those Peeps.
Let’s “hop” right in with our first candy cocktail. Peeps are synonymous with Easter. You either love them or you use them as packing materials … they’re the Styrofoam of the snack world.
I’ve created a Peeps-Infused Vodka Martini as the flavour inspiration for our wine, especially the green apple and lime zest notes, but they’re delivered in a far more refined, less sugar-fueled way in this Inniskillin Late Autumn Riesling.
Inniskillin Late Autumn Riesling VQA
Niagara Peninsula, Ontario, Canada
Inniskillin was founded in 1975 as Canada’s first estate winery to receive a licence since Prohibition. Winemakers Donald Ziraldo and Karl Kaiser went to the Ontario government and made their case. They challenged a decades-old regulatory wall and they won. That decision changed Canadian wine history permanently.
Inniskillin went on to win some of the most prestigious awards in the international wine world, particularly for their icewines, and the winery remains one of the most globally recognized Canadian wine names in the world today. This Late Autumn Riesling carries that same standard of craft.
Feel free to try the Inniskillin Late Autumn Riesling. In the glass it leads with green apple and lime zest. There is a touch of residual sugar that gives the mid-palate a soft, rounded quality, and then a bright clean citrus snap pulls everything into perfect balance. It’s naturally sweet but never cloying.
The beauty of this wine is its versatility. You could pour it to welcome your guests, serve it with a glazed Easter ham and take it all the way to Peter Rabbit’s favourite dessert, carrot cake — the opposite of Peeps because you want your guests to come back next year. It’s just $15.95 in the liquor store.
More Pairings
- Spring lemon thyme chicken, its skin crisped to a golden crackle in a slow oven, served alongside a warm apple and fennel slaw dressed lightly in cider vinegar, the sweet and savoury balance pulling out every layer of fruit and brightness in that Riesling.
- Peeps-inspired orange almond cake, fragrant from the oven, its crumb dense and moist with orange zest throughout, finished with a warm thin honey glaze and a cool spoonful of creme fraiche, the citrus sweetness a direct echo of the wine’s lemon-lime brightness.
Now on to another Easter classic: jellybeans!
This Jellybean Gin and Tonic gives us the berry and floral flavours specifically from these carefully curated purple, pink, and red beans. Now let’s elevate those flavours in the elegant French Bloom Le Rosé organic, 0% alcohol sparkling wine from France. This is for the person who wants to be cosmopolitan and clear-headed to actually remember where the chocolate eggs are hidden.
French Bloom Le Rosé, Organic Non-Alcoholic Sparkling Wine
France
French Bloom is crafted with Chardonnay and Pinot Noir grapes with no added sugars, preservatives, or sulphites. Founded by Constance Jablonski and Maggie Frerejean-Taittinger of the Taittinger Champagne family, and now with Louis Vuitton Moët Henessey with invested, the wine redefines celebration without alcohol and without compromising on taste or sophistication. This is the best 0% alcohol wine I’ve tried.
Feel free to try the French Bloom Le Rosé. It has delicate red fruit, a hint of rose petals, fine bubbles, and a clean refreshing finish. It drinks like a serious wine because it is one. It signals the mainstream arrival of mindful drinking. It’s $49.95 at Holt Renfrew and UpsideDrinks.ca.
Feel free to also try this lovely Lavender Spritz. It’s a simple, sleek cocktail with 100 ml of French Bloom Le Rosé in a flute glass, add 40 ml of lavender syrup, and finish with 5 ml of freshly squeezed lemon. Garnish with lavender if you like, or a jellybean if you must. That’s it. It tastes like spring in the south of France, no passport required.
More Pairings
- Garden party pea and ricotta crostini, the peas barely cooked and still a brilliant jade green, piled generously onto crisp toasted baguette with whipped ricotta, torn fresh mint, and a curl of lemon zest, a light and luminous bite that makes every sip of the Lavender Spritz come alive.
- Easter pavlova with strawberry and rose water, its meringue shell crackling softly under a billowing cloud of whipped cream scattered with fresh berries glistening in the light, the floral sweetness of the dessert and the drink in perfect, unhurried conversation.
That candy rim on the glass is something I was not prepared for.
This Starburst Sunshine cocktail with vodka, grapefruit juice and tonic water is our guide to the fresh lemon and citrus notes in the Villa Maria Private Bin Sauvignon Blanc from Marlborough, New Zealand.
Villa Maria Private Bin Sauvignon Blanc
Marlborough, New Zealand
Villa Maria was founded in 1961 by George Fistonich in Auckland. He started with a small plot of grapes and built what became one of New Zealand’s most celebrated and most widely exported wine labels. The Private Bin Sauvignon Blanc is the flagship of the range, and it has earned numerous 90-plus point accolades across multiple vintages from critics around the world.
Feel free to try the Villa Maria Private Bin Sauvignon Blanc. The Marlborough region defines what we expect from bold and expressive New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc. You get juicy passionfruit, lemon and grapefruit aromas. It’s vibrant, alive, and exactly what you want in your glass when the weather finally decides it is spring.
Villa Maria is ideal for moments of renewal and reconnection, as we transition out of winter and move to fresh, spring entertaining. It’s the perfect Easter treat and one of life’s elegant extras. It’s just $20 in the liquor store.
More Pairings
- Starburst asparagus and goat cheese tart, its pastry shell buttery and flaky straight from the oven, the asparagus charred at the tips and fragrant with fresh lemon, the cool tangy goat cheese pressing back beautifully against the wine’s herbaceous, grassy edge.
- Easter basket prawn and mango salad, the prawns lightly seared and still warm, the mango sliced into golden ribbons and tossed in a bright lime and chili dressing, scattered with fresh cilantro, sesame seeds, and torn basil leaves, every tropical note in the dish echoing right back into the glass.
Natalie, these suggestions are fantastic! Any final words of wisdom for our viewers?
To the candy that inspired the cocktail, the cocktail that inspired the wine, and the wine that made Easter the highlight of our spring calendar.
Thank you, Natalie! Where can we find you and these wines and cocktails online?
On Instagram, you can find me posting wine reviews and tips at:
Online, my website is nataliemaclean.com.
Posted with permission of CityTV’s Breakfast Television. Please drink responsibly.
