If you're anything like me come October, you buy a big bag of Halloween candy, oh, three weeks before the actual holiday with the idea of "getting ahead"--only to have the entire bag mysteriously disappear, leaving you to explain to your significant other that it must have fallen into the cracks in the pantry. Or you're good, good, good until the day itself arrives, and ten minutes before the city's official trick-or-treating time starts, you're tearing over to the grocery to pick through the leftover bags because you've "accidentally" gorged on your own.

Or, (worst case scenario) you are really, really good until your kids have come home with their stash and collapsed into sugar comas in bed. And then you raid theirs and take out all the good stuff, and tell them the next day you went through the pile for "safety reasons."

This year, in order to distract myself from the actual candy, I decided to put together a little Halloween candy and wine-pairing guide. This way I'll have something to sip while I hand out candy and wait for my kids to come home with full buckets (insert evil grin here).

Candy and wine pairings after the jump.

Chocolate of any kind: Port is a classic with chocolate, and it will take the edge off of the fact that you're eating the mass-produced, cheap milk version.

Almond Joy: Sauternes, the sweet white dessert wine, will enhance the coconut and almond flavors (plus, your kids probably won't eat coconut so you can get away with stealing this one).

Reese's Peanut Butter Cups: A sweet cream Sherry complements the peanutty flavors and recalls the creepy bit of Edgar Allen Poe's "The Cask of Amontillado."

Caramel apple: Gewurztraminer's spicy floral notes are a lovely complement to the caramel, or try an off-dry Riesling with its round but crisp apple notes.

Suckers: Champagne or another sparkling wine will cut the sickening sweetness while you figure out how many licks it takes to get to the center of the Tootsie roll pop.

Candy corn and mellow creme pumpkins: A buttery Chardonnay mimics the (artificial) creaminess of these Halloween classics.

Twizzlers: A dry Rose echoes the (again fake) strawberry flavors in the licorice.

And finally, from my food-writer/beer-drinker friend Clare, a recommendation for her favorite hard cider, West County Cider, which she calls "very Halloweenie." I'm not sure which candy it would go with, but it might take the edge off of the sugar high.

Have you found a great wine/Halloween candy match? Do dish.