How To Pair Wine With Your Halloween Candy

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With fall creeping in, it's natural to start whipping up your favorite Halloween recipes and infusing spooky decor into your home. While pumpkin and apple recipes take over, we can't forget about seasonally inspired drinks. Sure, boozy apple ciders and cocktails intended to look like fluorescent goop abound, but don't neglect your favorite wines during the spooky season.  

It's far from the traditional pairings that grace sommelier handbooks, but if you're the kind of person who gleefully awaits the influx of candy in October, then you'll want to check out our list below. Wine pairings typically work by either contrasting or complementing flavor profiles. With regard to candy, there are plenty of excessively sweet and sour flavors to contend with. You'll want to keep that in mind with some of our sweeter wine suggestions. Although you might not be inclined to sip a high-sugar wine as you hang out by the pool, in some cases it's the perfect option to pair with a sweet dish ... or in this case, candy.

Upon landing on the moon, Neil Armstrong famously said, "I could go for some Twizzlers right now." Thankfully, you don't have to leave the earth to enjoy this sweet licorice. Although it comes in a number of fruity flavors and was originally made with licorice extract, the current top-produced variety is strawberry.

While we're fond of the pairing due to the similar color spectrum, fruity rosé wine is our pick for other reasons too. Though bone-dry Provençal styles are a favorite match for light salads and sunny patios, we're veering toward off-dry types here. If you choose a wine that is too dry, it will take on a notably sour flavor when you sip it with sweet Twizzlers.

Here is your chance to revive the '80s and '90s with a chilled bottle of white zinfandel. Known for its off-dry quality, this wine is brimming with sweet red fruit aromas and a light body that makes it go down easy. Paired with a pack of chewy Twizzlers, this duo isn't so far-fetched. Try Woodbridge by Robert Mondavi's take on white zinfandel for a sweet treat.

Classic Jolly Ranchers are the perfect fruit-flavored hard candy to slowly savor. Whereas gummy sweets get stuck in your teeth and disappear within seconds, hard candies can last several minutes. The original pack of Jolly Ranchers consists of green apple, cherry, watermelon, grape, and blue raspberry flavors. While the candy offers some sweetness, there's no denying it has a subtle sour bite too. Not to mention, you might come across a pack of sour or gummy Jolly Ranchers given the product's variety.

When it comes to the standard version, we're pairing it with Moscato d'Asti. Slightly effervescent and sweet with floral aromas and notes of stone fruits, this wine will highlight the fruity flavors of the mixed candies. Try La Spinetta's Moscato d'Asti to experience the delicate complexity of fruit, flowers, and honey paired with Jolly Ranchers.

Tootsie Rolls are beloved for their tantalizingly sweet and chewy cocoa essence. The recipe was perfected at its very inception and hasn't changed since the late 1800s. Much like sourdough recipes consist of a mother, Tootsie Rolls contain a bit of the previous day's batch. The candies are made with milk and cocoa, along with sugar and other ingredients to create a sticky consistency.

To pair with the creamy chocolate flavor, we've opted for ruby Port. This style of fortified wine is young, sweet, and typically served with a slight chill. The red fruit flavors are fresh and lively and offer just the right amount of sweetness to highlight the chewy treats. Since this type of Port is so widely produced, you won't even need to splurge when you pick up a bottle of Cockburn's fine ruby Port.

It's hard not to love the ease with which you can pop a few M&M's into your mouth. Whether you're chomping down on a couple of candies to awaken your taste buds or digging into a party pack of the sugar-coated chocolate treats, you're bound to be satisfied. Although M&M's come in assorted flavors, including the magical peanut and chocolate twosome, as well as brownie, caramel, pretzel, and crunchy cookie varieties, our go-to is always the classic.

With both a candy and chocolate component at play, we're pairing this sweet treat with a vibrant Beaujolais nouveau. Made mere weeks following the end of the gamay grape harvest, this style is young, fresh, and juicy — perfectly sippable with a pack of M&M's. Given that these wines don't tend to last until the next year, you're best off saving a couple of bags of M&M's until the third Thursday of November when the new wines are released. Georges Duboeuf is among the wineries responsible for this quick-to-market wine and its version is a solid introduction to the style.

When you're undecided between a wafer and chocolate, KitKat comes through with its delicious blend of cocoa and cookie. This candy bar is made in various flavors around the world, notably sake and wasabi in Japan. Even in the U.S., KitKat releases new flavors on a regular basis, such as chocolate hazelnut and strawberry dark chocolate, which both debuted in 2022. That being said, most Halloween candy packs stick to the basic — but no less delicious — milk chocolate variety.

The delicate wafer center and milky chocolate coating work well with red fruit and spice flavors. Pinot noir comes in plenty of styles, so while we wouldn't recommend it as a pairing across the board, fruitier versions with some oak aging are a good bet. Meiomi pinot noir from California is a top seller, and its jammy berry and toasted mocha notes make it a delicious match for a KitKat bar.

Sphere-shaped Whoppers with their creamy milk chocolate exterior and crunchy malted center are deliciously tempting. They provide contrasting consistencies and complementary flavors that make the experience of eating them so enjoyable. While you could easily incorporate them in a baked treat — the brand's website suggests a Whop-pie or old-fashioned malted chocolate cake — we're content enjoying them for their pure essence.

To pair with this rich malted treat, we're reaching for a bottle of Argentinian malbec. The country's primary grape produces rich wines with notes of dark fruit, chocolate, mocha, and vanilla, among others. These flavors are the perfect match for a pack of tasty Whoppers. Try Kaiken Estate's malbec which boasts notes of chocolate, coffee, black fruit, mint, and oak.

With a name that evokes a timeless masterpiece of literature, 3 Musketeers sets the stage for its glory. Originally, the candy packs contained three bars, which provided the basis for the product's name. The company says it best, by describing the treat as "fluffy, creamy nougat wrapped in a chocolatey hug." Although some nougat is made with nuts (per Britannica), 3 Musketeers perfects the airy texture using egg whites, cocoa powder, sugar, and oils.

To play up the milky chocolate and sweet fluffy contents, we're pairing our stash of 3 Musketeers with a bottle of Brachetto d'Acqui. This wine from Piemonte, Italy, is made with a local grape and produced in a sweet and lightly sparkling style. With a low alcohol content and gentle acidity, this wine is the perfect sipper to wash down bite after bite of chocolate-covered nougat. Pick up a bottle by Braida; the winery maintains that no other wine pairs so well with chocolate.

Cinnamon lovers can't get enough of Hot Tamales, the fiery red chewy delights that are touted as "America's #1 cinnamon-flavored candy." Aside from the intense fall-time flavor, Hot Tamales pack in some heat. If you're used to eating spicy food then it might not be such a big deal. But for the uninitiated, you're going to want something to tame the burn, and water won't cut it.

Here is where off-dry sweeter styles of wine can really shine; sugar reduces the sensation of spice, making it a great way to soothe your taste buds. Riesling truly runs the gamut from incredibly sweet to bone dry, which is why we've selected a version by Chateau Ste Michelle in Washington's Columbia Valley. Here, the grape thrives and shows off typical aromas of green apple and peach. While it maintains a crisp freshness, a pleasant sweetness softens the finish and makes this an ideal match for spicy Hot Tamales.

Another bite-sized treat we love for its simplicity, Hershey's Kisses offer just the right balance of creamy and sweet. The original milk chocolate is always a winner in our eyes, but plenty of experimental flavors like candy cane, birthday cake, cookies 'n' creme, and hot cocoa make seasonal appearances. If you've dismissed this classic chocolate treat because you can't stand unwrapping each Kiss individually, consider that from 1907 to 1921 the sweets were wrapped by hand (via Hersheyland).

Zinfandel is often made into bold wines with jammy fruit, oak, and vanilla flavors and we're loving it as a match for Hershey's Kisses. Gnarly Head's old vine zinfandel from California is heavy on notes of dark fruits and toasted oak, which offer a lively contrast to the sweet milk chocolate. The tannins are subtle and smooth, making this an excellent wine to wash down Kiss after Kiss.

You might be surprised to learn that Junior Mints and Tootsie Rolls are produced by the same company although they have little in common. The former contrasts dark chocolate with a refreshing peppermint center, for a sensory experience that tastes great and feels cool. This is the perfect candy to eat if you're on the fence between a weightier chocolate option and something livelier. 

To match this dramatic range of flavors, Viña La Rosa La Palma's cabernet sauvignon from Chile fits the bill. Here, the grape is brimming with aromas of dark fruits, leather, cedar, and a minty finish that together both complement and contrast the peppermint filling. Smooth tannins round this out and prevent the chocolate from tasting too bitter.