Gloria Ferrer & the Poached Pear

There are a few foodie milestones that come with growing into a proper adult – eating your first mouthful of caviar without gagging, knowing the difference between chocolate truffles and actual truffles, and learning to pair a good wine with a yummy dessert.  Well, I can’t help you with the caviar reflex (not something I’ve mastered yet, myself), but I certainly can help you with the dessert-wine pairing.   I recently teamed up with Gloria Ferrer to create a sweet spring recipe to go along with their Pinot Noir.  But before we jump to the recipe, it’s a good rule of thumb to consider the wine’s flavor profile and what it would pair nicely with.  The Gloria Ferrer Carneros Pinot Noir emits aromas of black cherry, cedar, and spice with a smooth mouthfeel and long finish.  Normally this would go well with pan seared duck breast, roasted quail, grilled lamb or even alongside a nice cheese plate.  But today we’re going to compliment the sweet and spicy notes of the wine with a sweet and spicy dessert recipe – a Pinot Noir Poached Pear with a Spiced Cocoa Wine Reduction Sauce.  Follow along with our tutorial below or grab the printable recipe to try your hand at this elegant spring decadence…

Peel the pears and remove the base core with a spoon. Set aside. Place the Pinot Noir, sugar, allspice, and 2 teaspoons of cocoa powder in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil. Once boiling, turn the heat down to a simmer and sit the peeled, cored pears in the pan. Simmer for approximately 40 minutes. Remove the pears from the saucepan and let cool. Add the 2 tablespoons of cocoa powder to the remaining sauce and continue to boil until it turns into a molasses consistency (approximately 2 minutes). Plate the pears and pour the spiced cocoa wine reduction sauce over them. Enjoy! There you have it!  A relatively easy dessert recipe with all the elegant fixings for a lovely spring wine pairing.  A bottle selection from the Gloria Ferrer collection is a great compliment to a night of entertaining. Gloria Ferrer Caves & Vineyards is Carneros’ original sparkling wine house, owned and founded by the Ferrer family of Spain. Named for José Ferrer’s wife, Gloria, the winery opened in 1986 in the breezy, now-famous region in southernmost Sonoma County. Their wines have earned over 400 gold medals and 50 90+ scores in the last 5 years. So try your hand at our poached pear recipe and enjoy a glass of Gloria Ferrer Carneros Pinot Noir… you won’t be disappointed!