5 Tips For Delicious Wine and Chocolate Pairing

admin April 9, 2022April 9, 2022

According to some people, it is impossible to pair wine and chocolate. But this is outdated thinking. You can easily pair if you know which chocolate can be paired with which type of wine. You can easily pair creamy white chocolate or bold dark chocolates with your favorite wines if you know how to pair wine and chocolate. Here, we will share some tips that will help you to understand the excellent chocolate and wine pairing. Let’s get started:

Top Tips for Pairing Wine & Chocolate:

Silky, velvety, and soft wines are the best to pair with chocolates

If you select complex dry flavored wines to pair with a dark and bitter tasted chocolate, the taste of your wine might be destroyed. We mean to say that a balance is required when selecting chocolate to pair with wine. The best way to maintain the balance is to pair less-complex, juicer, velvety wines with chocolates with opposite traits to get the best taste.

Pair sweeter wine with bitter chocolates

This might be hard to believe that a wine that is sweeter than the chocolate makes the best pair, but it doesn’t mean that only dessert wines are denoted by the term sweet. The wines that have ripe, fruity tastes are also considered precious. The sweet wines are the perfect balance to the bitter cocoa that the chocolates contain.

Pair wine and chocolates of similar style and weight

If you are pairing wine and chocolate for the first time and are not confident about how it might work, it would be best to pair those with the same intensity. The chocolates that are less-flavored can be paired with light-bodied wines, and the chocolates that are rich-flavored can be paired with complex and full-bodied wines.

Start pairing chocolates from light to dark

It is better to start anything from lighter and then gradually move towards more profound, and this is not the exception for wine and chocolate pairing. It is best if you begin to pair delicate chocolates with your wine when trying the pair for the first time. So, we will recommend having white chocolates first with the wine, and then you can try the intense dark ones.

Check the other ingredients of the chocolate

Chocolate contains other ingredients like fruits, nuts, caramel, etc. Therefore, these flavors should be considered before pairing chocolate with wine. Suppose chocolate full of dried cranberries might be a perfect pair for red wine with undertones of berries.

Typical Wine and Chocolate Pairing

White chocolate

White chocolates don’t have cocoa-like other chocolates. It is tender and contains a buttery aroma, perfect for the sweet and bubbly red wines like Sherry, Moscato d’Asti, or orange wines like Orange Muscat. It can also be paired with rich and full-bodied white wines for a different experience. However, this experiment is a bit risky but can offer a great experience.

Milk chocolate

The ratio of milk and cream in good milk chocolate is 50:50. The different cream that milk chocolate contains is why it is one of the best chocolates to have with wine. Milk chocolates can be paired with sparkling red wines and port-style wines.

Dark chocolate

Dark chocolates have polyphenols like wine, which adds a bitter taste to both of them. Dark chocolates have many health benefits too. However, the bitterness can be managed if paired with good wine. It is best to pair dark chocolates with port-style red wines.

Nuts, caramel, fruit, and other flavored chocolates

There are some fruity, nutty, caramel, and different flavored chocolates. Strawberry flavored chocolates are the best pair for sweet sparkling/red wines. The sweet and nutty flavors of nutty chocolates go best with red wines. Caramel chocolate goes best with port wine, and ginger flavored chocolate can be paired with orange wines.

Recommended Wine and Chocolate pairing

Wines with white chocolate

White chocolates are the perfect pair for Pinot Noir, Beaujolais, Moscato d’Asti, Brachetto d’Acqui, Ice wine, and Rose port.

Wines with milk chocolate

It would be best to pair milk chocolates with Brachetto d’Acqui, Late-Harvest Red wines, Recioto Della Valpolicella, Ruby Port, Rutherglen Muscat, etc.

Wines with dark chocolates

Dark chocolates are the perfect pair for Vin Santo del Chianti, Port-style red wines, original ports, Pedro Ximinez, and Chinato.

Wines with flavored chocolates

Strawberry chocolates can be paired with Brachetto d’Acqui, Lambrusco Amabile. Ginger dark chocolate goes well with orange Muscat. Nutty chocolates are the perfect pairs for Madeira, Marsala, and amontillado/Oloroso Sherry, and caramel chocolates can be paired with Tawny Port, Moscatel de Setubal.

Conclusion

So, one can pair red wine and chocolate, white wine and chocolate, and even port wine and chocolate by following the tips discussed here. But you can break the rules and make a wine and chocolate combination of your own. After all, in the end, your taste and enjoyment are the things that matter.