Wine pairings for the season

Wine pairings can be serious business: a good wine can be a let down when it’s paired with the wrong food. But taking pairings too seriously can be no fun, either. To counteract such overly critical thinking, Travel + Leisure magazine takes a lighthearted approach, as they offer wine pairings for popular Halloween candy.

Since your kids don’t need that much sugar in their diets, you are really doing them a favor by eating some of their goodies. Now you can choose the perfect wine to accompany those Tootsie Rolls, Milk Duds, and SweeTARTS. Scoff if you want, but listen to the descriptions before you make a final decision. The site pairs Peanut M&M’s with Gaja Barbaresco Sito Moresco 2011 (Italy, Langhe; $50), noting that “This wine has a great balance plus soft texture. The flavor profile includes dried red fruits, refined woodnotes, white pepper, some leather and tar.” Who knew that leather and tar would complement the candy that melts in your mouth, not in your hands?

If SweetTARTS are more your style, you may want to choose the Erben von Beulwitz Kaseler Nies’chen Riesling Spätlese Alte Reben 2011 (Mosel Saar Ruwer, Germany, $28). “SweeTARTS have semi-sweet and citrus flavors-lemon, grape, cherry, blue punch, and green apple-so they would pair well with this German Riesling. It’s fruity with a high acidity and low alcohol level due to a cool climate region, with a hint of blue slate minerality.”

I don’t know about you, but now I’m planning a strategic sampling of Halloween goodies.