Capital Public Radio’s resident wine expert Rick Kushman recently returned from the Unified Wine and Grape Symposium in Sacramento. He joins us for this week’s Kushman by the Bottle to talk about some new trends in the wine industry, including growing competition from craft beers. You can hear “Bottle Talk with Rick and Paul” on KVON 1140 am in Napa Tuesdays at 11am, at www.rickandpaulwine.com, or on iTunes podcasts.

Rick’s Picks:

Here are some suggestions to go with desserts:

White Chocolate: A rich, buttery and slightly sweet Chardonnay; late-harvest Gewürztraminer or other late-harvest whites, Sauternes and ice wines.

Milk Chocolate: Tawny ports, Sherry, Muscat Canalli, Sauternes, sweet Moscato, white ports.

Dark Chocolate: Ruby ports, any red grape varietal port (like Zinfandel, Petite Sirah or Cabernet ports)

 Toffee, caramel desserts, crème brulee: Tawny ports, Sherry, Madeira

Fruity desserts: Late-harvest Gewürztraminer, late-harvest Riesling, most late-harvest white, Sauternes, Muscat Canalli, sweet Moscatos.