I learned this Easter that, when it comes to pairing with honey-baked ham, there is only one wine better than gewürztraminer — and perhaps only one that is more obscure and challenging. (“Oh, I don’t like gewürz-whatever,” I always hear, “too sweet.” Just you wait…)
 
I learned my lesson thanks to the beauty of the leftover. You see, at Easter dinner proper, my family polished off a “yummy” (in my father-in-law’s words) bottle of Gundlach Bundschu’s 2007 “Rhinefarm Vineyard” gewürztraminer. It was utterly dry, perfectly balanced, and medium-bodied; but its tastes were so life-sized it came off big and candied. Flowery, nutty aromas greeted us, and were followed by complex flavors of apple, pear, lychee, and a little lime on the fresh finish. It went just perfectly with our ham, which I served with a spiced pear relish.
 
Guess what, though? The GunBun gewürz got blown off the table by a wine I’d never even heard of before that I drank with leftovers the next day for lunch. For the mystery contender, click here:
 
The wine is a Clairette de Die, an off-dry sparkling muscat from the Rhone region in France. Normally I would never have thought to buy it. But I was shopping around for a blind tasting dedicated to sparkling wines other than Champagne, and it looked like a good mind-opener. I had to miss the tasting, so there it was in my fridge, and one thing led to another until I was guzzling that Clairette de Die (this one a nonvintage from Jean-Claude Raspail, $27) for lunch, aperitifs, dinner, and dessert until, alas, not a dribble remained.
 
I found myself loving the fact that (unlike the Gundlach Bundschu gewurz) the Raspail was slightly sweet. It wasn’t cloying, and the honeyed flavors were balanced perfectly with big, crisp apple and pear notes. And the bubbles gave the wine that cleansing, fresh feeling that a wine needs to pair well with food. The lesson: don’t be afraid of the revenge of the sweet; it’s satisfying for everyone involved.