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The best wine for cheesecake is one that is at least as sweet as the cheesecake and has enough acid to cut through the cream cheese. Moscato is the safe bet, a sparkling rosé is the fun bet, and a late-harvest Riesling or a Sauternes is the serious bet. Dry wines, red or white, taste sour next to a slice, which is why the Shiraz left over from dinner is such a letdown with dessert.
Cheesecake is dense, rich, sweet and slightly tangy, and the topping changes everything: berries want something pink, lemon wants something zesty, chocolate wants something dark, caramel wants something nutty. This guide matches the wine to the slice.
Table of Contents
The Short Answer
- Classic baked or New York cheesecake: Moscato d’Asti, late-harvest Riesling, or a demi-sec sparkling.
- Berry or strawberry cheesecake: sparkling rosé, Brachetto d’Acqui, or a pink Moscato.
- Lemon or passionfruit cheesecake: late-harvest Riesling, Sauternes, or a sweet Semillon.
- Chocolate cheesecake: Rutherglen Muscat, a ruby port, or a sweet sparkling red.
- Caramel, biscoff or salted caramel: Tawny port, Pedro Ximénez sherry, or a Rutherglen Topaque.
- Serve every one of them cold, and pour small; dessert wine is a 60 to 90 ml glass, not a tumbler.
What Cheesecake Does to Wine
Three things matter. Sugar first: any wine drier than the dessert will taste thin and sour beside it, so the wine has to match or beat the cheesecake for sweetness. Fat second: cream cheese coats the mouth, and acidity is what cleans it, so a sweet wine with bright acid (Riesling, Moscato, sparkling) beats a flat one. Tang third: cheesecake has a lactic sourness of its own, which a sweet wine with a citrus edge complements and a heavy red fights.
Bubbles help too. A sparkling wine scrubs the richness off your palate between mouthfuls, which is why Moscato d’Asti and sparkling rosé are the two answers that never fail.
Best Wines for Cheesecake, by Slice
Moscato and Moscato d’Asti
Light, fizzy, grapey and sweet, with low alcohol so it does not fight the dessert. The universal cheesecake wine, and the one to reach for if the table has three different slices on it. Read our Muscat guide for the family.
Sparkling rosé
Strawberry and raspberry notes, bubbles and freshness. Perfect with a berry-topped cheesecake or a strawberry one, and pretty enough for the photo. Choose a demi-sec or a fruit-forward Australian rosé rather than a bone-dry Champagne, which will taste sour.
Late-harvest Riesling
Sweet, but with the electric acidity that makes Riesling great, so it cuts the cream cheese and lifts a lemon or passionfruit cheesecake beautifully. Clare and Eden Valley make lovely ones. Our Riesling guide explains the sweetness scale.
Sauternes and sweet Semillon
Honey, apricot and marmalade with a long, rich finish. The luxury match for a classic baked cheesecake or anything with citrus. Australian botrytis Semillon from the Riverina does the same job at a fraction of the price.
Rutherglen Muscat and Tawny
Dark, sticky and nutty. These belong with chocolate, caramel, coffee or biscoff cheesecakes, where a lighter wine would vanish. A small glass goes a long way. Our Hanepoot guide covers the sweet Muscat family.
Drink One Tonight
Jansz Premium Rosé NV
The bottle we would open with a strawberry cheesecake. Serve it cold and pour small.
- Tasmanian sparkling rosé with strawberry and cream notes made for a berry cheesecake
- Bubbles scrub the richness between bites
- Pretty in the glass and on the table
- A real Australian sparkling at a fair price
- Drier than a Moscato, so best with a fruit-topped cheesecake rather than a very sweet caramel one
What to Avoid With Cheesecake
- Dry reds: Shiraz, Cabernet, Merlot. Tannin plus sugar plus cream cheese equals bitter and sour.
- Dry whites and brut sparkling: they taste thin and acidic next to sugar.
- Oaked Chardonnay: the oak clashes with the tang. Oddly, it is fine with a savoury cheese plate, but not with cheesecake. See what does go with Chardonnay.
- Anything served warm: sweet wine at room temperature tastes syrupy.
Frequently Asked Questions
What wine goes with cheesecake?
A sweet wine with good acidity: Moscato d’Asti, sparkling rosé, late-harvest Riesling or Sauternes. Match the wine to the topping: pink for berries, zesty for lemon, dark and nutty for chocolate or caramel.
Does red wine go with cheesecake?
Dry red does not; it turns sour and bitter against the sugar. Sweet reds do: Brachetto d’Acqui with berry cheesecake, ruby port or a sparkling Shiraz with chocolate cheesecake.
Does Champagne go with cheesecake?
Brut Champagne is too dry and will taste sharp. A demi-sec Champagne or a sweeter sparkling rosé works well.
What wine goes with strawberry cheesecake?
Sparkling rosé, pink Moscato or Brachetto d’Acqui. The strawberry notes in the wine echo the topping and the bubbles cut the cream.
What wine goes with chocolate cheesecake?
Rutherglen Muscat, ruby port or a sweet sparkling red. Light dessert wines disappear next to chocolate.
How much dessert wine should I pour?
60 to 90 ml, about half a normal glass. Sweet wines are rich, often stronger, and meant to be sipped.
If the main course was risotto rather than pudding, our guide to wine with seafood risotto covers the bottle before this one.
Serving a cheese board before the cheesecake? Our wine and cheese pairing guide matches a wine to every cheese on it.
If you are finishing with something sweet, our guide to wine with tiramisu covers the one rule that decides every dessert pairing.
Serving cheese alongside? Our guide to the best cheese with red wine sorts out which cheeses soften tannin and which ones fight it.
This post contains affiliate links. If you buy through them we earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. It keeps the wine flowing and the reviews honest.
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