If you've never poached pears before, you should definitely start because the flavors that come from them are outstanding. It's essentially infusing delicious sweet grape flavors, along with some lemon and mint, into your pear while softening it as it cooks. While this tart recipe calls for white wine poached pears, you can absolutely poach them in red wine, in fact this is only the second time I've ever poached pears in white wine. The reason I went with white wine is because I wanted to use frangipane instead of a chocolate ganache.