EASTER EGG WINES

Want to match your tipple to your choccie? Jo Cribb is on the case.

They might have been on the shelves since Boxing Day, but they are out in force now. Everywhere I turn there are foiled wrapped eggs and smiling gold rabbits. As I have confessed before, I have a shamelessly sweet tooth, so I am like a pig in mud at Easter. Now, I only have to work out what wine to pair with my crème egg and I’ll be eggstatically delighted.

Your classic hollow milk chocolate bunny – half chocolate, half cream – makes an easy wine pair. Try it with a fruity medium or light bodied pinot noir. Its subtle cherry and herbal notes usually with a touch of spice should deliciously compliment your rabbit.

White chocolate gets a bad rap with chocolate purists, but I’m all in for a creamy white egg filled with buttons or white-chocolate coated marshmallow. But white chocolate is a bit tougher to pair given its sweetness. Try it with a similarly sweet wine like a late harvest riesling. Or even a fruity rosé – its acid and summer red fruit notes should complement the chocolate’s fat and cream. The right chardonnay with creamy notes and a touch of oak (giving nutty notes) might work as well.

For you, the sophisticated reader, nibbling on your single origin 95% cocoa eggs, head for shiraz or malbec. Pick a juicy bottle bursting with strawberries and blackberries that will enhance, not fight with, the tannins already in dark chocolate. Or nibble away alongside a glass of port.

Then, if this all seems too hard, champagne goes with everything and anytime IMHO.

Johner, Wairarapa, Pinot Noir 2021, $30

Grown under that intense Wairarapa sun, this wine has spent 12 months in old French oak barrels. The result is a wine that is richly coloured and packed full of juicy blackberries, raspberries and red cherries with a touch of

earthiness to seal the deal.

Oak Estate, Hawke’s Bay, Syrah 2020, $32

Ever since I sat in Oak Estate’s garden under the autumn sun watching sheep ‘lawnmowing’ the vines, I have been hooked on this wine. It’s a delicious bouquet of dark plum, toasted spice and hazelnuts. It’s like velvet in a glass. Track it down via their website if you can’t find it at your local wine shop.

Hunters, Marlborough, Chardonnay 2022, $20-25

Peaches, citrus fruit, nectarines, with toasted hazelnuts and buttery vanilla as well as a bit of acid backbone to cut through creamy white chocolate. This is an excellent value wine at any time of the year.

// Jo Cribb owns a small vineyard in Martinborough and is a keen student of wine (yes, that does involve sitting exams and writing essays). She is on a mission to hunt out the best wines at the best prices and has no time for wine snobbery. Follow her adventures in wine @winesauvy