This Isn't a Trick: How to Pair Wine With Halloween Candy

Let's face it, Halloween is almost as much about stuffing your face with candy and knocking back a drink or two as it is about clever costumes and ghoulish decor. So why not do it right? Pairing candy with wine might sound odd, even kind of gross, but choose the right bottle for your treat of choice and it's actually pretty magical.

A solid wine pairing rule is to pair like with like. So, for Skittles and other sweet and sour fruity treats like Nerds, Starburst, and Laffy Taffy, you can do no better than a crisp, fruity, off-dry Riesling that'll play off those flavors. It can be a little difficult to determine if a Riesling is this style simply by looking at the label (it's best to avoid bone-dry Rieslings as they're not sweet enough to be a balanced pairing) so when in doubt, ask a wine clerk to help you pick out an off-dry bottle.

Our top pick: 2012 Dhron Hofberg Riesling Feinherb

If you happen upon some high-quality dark chocolate, port is the way to go, but for the type of chocolate more associated with Halloween — salty-sweet milk chocolate candy bars like Snickers, Milky Way, and Twix — you'll want a lighter wine to match, as a red wine's tannins would be too bold. Here, a sweet-tart (but not quite dessert-style) white, like a Spätlese Rielsing is the way to go. Look for Spätlese bottlings with a lower alcohol content (aim for something in the 8- to 9-percent range) as this is an indicator that it'll be on the sweeter side.

Our top pick: 2012 Gunderloch Nackenheim Rothenberg Riesling Spätlese