Why you should never drink dessert wines with dessert, according to Eric Lanlard

Baking personality Eric Lanlard told the drinks business he doesn’t have a sweet tooth and shudders at the thought of Chateau d’Yquem with cake, at a wine pairing evening with Domaine Paul Mas.

“I don’t have a sweet tooth” — Eric Lanlard reveals the best wines to serve with dessert. (Photo: Edith Hancock)

Lanlard, one of the most recognisable faces in the baking world with stints on shows like The Great British Bake Off and Masterchef: The Professionals, told a room of bloggers and journalists at his South London bakery Cake Boy that he’s not a fan of sweets and would never pair them with dessert wines.

“I know that sounds ridiculous, but I just think they’re too sickly” said the patisserie chef.

“I find a lot when I go to people’s houses, because it’s me they want to open a bottle of Chateau d’Yquem and show off about it,” he added, “and it’s just not for me.”

“Maybe with foie gras, but not a cake. You want something it can work against.”

Photo: Edith Hancock)

Lanlard had partnered with charismatic French estate owner Jean-Claude Mas to host an evening dedicated to the winemaker’s range of crémants and sparkling wines from France’s Languedoc, showcasing their versatility by pairing them with petit fours baked by the Cake Boy team.

Guests were also challenged to bake their own cakes with flavours that could be paired with a bottle of Château Martinolles’ Crémant de Limoux Rosé.

Mas currently owns 13 estates in and around the Languedoc region, having concentrated on building his estate in recent years in order to boost the number of estate-grown grapes and maintain control.

While the baker added that he preferred “something drier and more acidic” to drink with dessert, Mas and his team said that this was where the idea came from to join forces with Lanlard.

In fact, while many consumers consider sparkling wine an aperitif, Lanlard said that Champagne was always treated as a dessert wine growing up in France.

“At home we would drink Champagne throughout the meal, and especially with dessert.”