When acid meets spice – the unexpected side of rhubarb

Finding the right wine accompaniment for a dish that most people only know as a dessert ingredient is a particular pleasure. Combining wine and food here means rethinking rhubarb. In its savory form, it brings the same qualities that it brings to dessert – a pronounced acidity, a fruity freshness, a slight bitterness – but in a context that puts it in a completely new light. The goat’s cheese adds creamy richness and a tart depth, the walnuts bitterness and nuttiness, the buttery shortcrust pastry earthiness and melting texture. This tart is a dish for anyone who challenges boundaries when cooking – and discovers that rhubarb is just as at home in savory cuisine as it is in crumble. Gewürztraminer from Alsace, with its rose petal and lychee aroma, is the only wine that fully understands this complexity.

Ideal wine accompaniment: Gewürztraminer AOC Alsace (Alsace, France)

From the Grand Cru and local sites of Alsace, where volcanic granite, limestone and loess soil give Gewürztraminer an intensity of aroma that hardly any other grape variety can match, comes a white wine of almost perfumed expressiveness. Rose petals, lychee, ginger, cinnamon, dried rose and a hint of grapefruit – at first glance, these aromas sound like the opposite of a hearty accompaniment to a tart. In the rhubarb and goat’s cheese dish, however, a surprising harmony unfolds: the rose blossom of the Gewürztraminer mirrors the floral fruit acidity of the rhubarb, its gingery spice meets the spiciness of the goat’s cheese, and its natural residual sweetness – also hinted at in the dry ageing – tames the acidity of the rhubarb rather than contradicting it. On the palate, it is full-bodied and aromatically impressive – not a wine for people who seek restraint, but the right one for a dish that itself knows none.

Further wine recommendations for this dish

Pinot Gris AOC Alsace (Alsace, France)

The melting, less expressive brother of Gewürztraminer from the same growing region: ripe peach, quince, ginger and a hint of smoke. It is more accessible than Gewürztraminer, less floral, but with a similar fullness. For those who find the aromatic intensity of Gewürztraminer too overpowering and prefer a more subdued approach to the rhubarb tart.

Riesling Spätlese dry QbA (Rheingau, Germany)

The precision and citrus acidity of the Rheingau Riesling act as a cool counterpoint to the rhubarb acidity – acidity against acidity, but in an elegant way. Its slate minerality gives the goat’s cheese a grounding note. For all those who prefer tension to harmony in a glass with a hearty rhubarb dish.

Grüner Veltliner Smaragd DAC (Wachau, Austria)

The white pepper and quince spice of the emerald hit the goat’s cheese in a direct, powerful way. Its fullness supports the buttery shortcrust pastry, its minerality balances the rhubarb acidity. A powerful, self-confident companion for a powerful, self-confident dish.

Chenin Blanc AOC Vouvray demi-sec (Loire, France)

A semi-dry Vouvray has exactly what rhubarb needs: a natural residual sweetness that captures its acidity and a floral honey note that communicates with the goat’s cheese. For all those who deliberately choose a semi-dry wine for their rhubarb dish, allowing the acid-sweet balance to play out on both levels – in the dish and in the glass.

Muskateller QbA dry (Baden, Germany)

The floral character of muscatel – rose blossom, citrus blossom, white grapes – meets the savory rhubarb in a surprisingly direct way. Lighter than Gewürztraminer, less opulent, but with the same basic principle: flower versus fruit acidity. For all those who prefer a lighter, more accessible floral style for a rhubarb evening.

You can find more unusual spring recipes with matching wines on the spring and wine overview page.

The recipe: