You’ve likely tried matching wine and chocolate before, but it didn’t work so well. Because both beverages have strong, fruity flavors and are sweet, pairing wine and chocolate seems like a terrific idea. Sadly, this may be a good thing gone too far if the match doesn’t taste nice together due to the similarities. It would help to search for the best wine clubs for beginners to learn more about wine and chocolate combinations that highlight the distinctions between the two sweets. Also, you might learn a thing or two about popular wine club gifts.
So how do you succeed? Work your way up to more robust combinations by beginning with the lightest wines and chocolates. Many of the tastes would be lost if you started with dark chocolate before moving on to milk or white. Similar to storing lighter wines for deeper in the tasting, saving fuller-bodied wines until the end assures that you will enjoy the nuances in lighter wines when your palette is fresher. You can take a sommelier certification to learn more about the best wines and their perfect pairings on a course. For now, look into pairing wine with chocolate.
How To Pick The Right Wine?
Because chocolate is naturally bitter, choosing a wine with minimal tannins is critical. Because tannins accentuate bitterness, strong tannin wines will conflict with darker chocolates, making the match unappealing. Tannins are indeed the astringent, harsh molecules that dry up your mouth when you drink wine. They are commonly seen in large red wines such as Cabernet Sauvignon or Barolo. When matching wine with chocolate, substitute a lighter tannin wine such as Pinot noir and Valpolicella Ripasso for your Cabernet. You can alternatively choose white wine or perhaps a sweet dessert wine with fewer tannins that will not compete with the harshness of the chocolate.
How To Pair Milk Chocolate with Wine?
When it comes to wine pairings, milk chocolate is the best choice. Its increased milk and sugar content, as well as reduced cacao content, increase the odds of matching nicely with your beverage of choice. I propose a medium-bodied red, such as a California or Australian Pinot noir. Both locations are warmer, and these wines have excellent ripe fruit aromas that would mix beautifully with this mild-strength chocolate.
How To Pair White Chocolate with Wine?
While chocolate connoisseurs may disregard white chocolate as “not genuine chocolate,” you may also want to incorporate it in your wine match. White chocolate works nicely with light or lively wines since its prominent tastes are cream and butter. It’s wonderful to start with a bubbly, like Moscato d’Asti, which brings out the smoothness in white chocolate. Sherry and Muscat also work.
How To Pair Dark Chocolate with Wine?
Although dark chocolate is indeed the healthiest choice, pairing it with wine can be challenging. More cacao is utilized to make chocolate that is darker, and more cacao has a bitter flavor by nature. We advise staying under 80% cacao if you decide to choose dark chocolate. Any darker than that, especially when accompanied by wine, and the bitter, is not enjoyable. It’s crucial to keep in mind that a large taste goes well with a big flavor when looking for a nice wine to go with your dark chocolate. Consider pairing your robust dark chocolate with either a robust red wine like a Valpolicella Ripasso, Merlot, or Zinfandel from a warm environment.
Do Certain Wines Go Better with Milk Chocolate Than Dark Chocolate?
Sort of! Different types of chocolate will match well with specific wines, while pairings with milk, dark, and white chocolate are more forgiving or interchangeable. This is a result of how delicious the chocolate is.
What Wines Go Best with Chocolates Filled with Nuts or Any Other Fillings?
The chocolate will determine this. Before considering the fillings, it is essential to examine the foundation chocolate (white, dark, or milk). Remember that creating your own unique wine and chocolate combinations may be a lot of fun. Did you get a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup here? For an experience similar to a PB&J, try combining this with a sweet sparkling red wine. Like chocolates with caramel inside? Consider matching these two beverages with wines that have a similar caramel flavor, such as tawny port. There are countless options!
When you pair an old vintage port with milk chocolate peanut butter, it creates a heavenly combination. Adding Vin Santo, also known as the ‘holy’ wine, to your wine cellar is highly recommended due to its flavors of raisin, fig, and almond that beautifully complement the smooth flavor of milk chocolate with almonds. This nutty milk chocolate treat also pairs excellently with Cabernet Sauvignon. Furthermore, Cabernet Sauvignon forms a flawless pairing with any milk chocolate as well as confections containing macadamia nuts or hazelnuts.
As with dark chocolate with fillings, Sherry wine has nutty, dried fruit characters, making it a perfect pair of dark chocolate with walnuts. On the other hand, a dry red Marsala has apricot, brown sugar, and vanilla flavors that go smooth when paired with rich dark chocolate with a sea salt topping.
Conclusion
Have you found your perfect wine and chocolate pairing? Try the wine-chocolate pairing tips above to determine the best pair that matches your preference. You can always experiment based on expert recommendations and your personal discovery to find what’s best to satisfy your chocolate cravings while enjoying the relaxing effect and health benefits of wine and such a sweet delicacy.
