Wine and food pairing ⅩⅩⅠ:foie gras

For the classic foie gras, however, break out your best Burgundy, red or white, or go for the ultimate luxury pair, foie gras with a rich, toothache-sweet Sauternes.

Additions from readers:

I often find the pairing of Sauternes and foie gras to be cloying - rich on rich, as it were. These days, I save the Sauternes for dessert and with the foie gras open other sweet and semisweet wines with more savoury flavours and/or higher acidity. Memorable pairings have included sweet Parcherenc du Vic-Bihl (Madiran's white); a Condrieu doux; a late-harvest Gaillac; several Coteaux du Layon; Alsatian late-harvest and SGN gewurztraminers, pinot gris and rieslings; a Tokay Aszu; and an Ontario vidal icewine. One advantage of many of these wines is that they are half or even a quarter the price of a good Sauternes. While I've never tried it, Hugh Johnson says "old dry amontillado can be sublime." --Craig Schweickert