You may remember my brief look at the best wines to drink with chocolate as part of my Matching Easter Foods & Wine blog. In this post I delve deeper into which wines pair well with chocolate but mainly with chocolate-based desserts. Whilst wine and chocolate sound as if they ought to go together – after all they are both products with which many of us reward ourselves or in which we seek comfort – I find it hard to imagine sitting down with a glass of wine and a bar of my favourite chocolate or a box of pralines. Perhaps this is because chocolate can a challenge (something I didn’t think I would ever say). Whilst chocolate is a difficult food to pair perfectly with wine, there are some matches that are made in heaven!
Generally speaking chocolate is sweet and wine is naturally acidic which makes it difficult to start pairing the two up. Particularly sweet chocolate will make your wine taste more alcoholic, more acidic and even bitter. And if the wine is red, there is the potential for another almighty clash – with the tannins. Sweet food generally can make tannins in wine seem more prominent and even harsh.
Dark cocoa-dominant chocolate which has been becoming more popular in the UK in recent years is a little easier to match but even with that there is a problem. Dark chocolate can be very intensely flavoured and that can simply overwhelm the flavours in the wine you are drinking.
And I am only talking about plain chocolate here, not the whole gamut of flavours added to chocolate these days like salted caramel, ginger, nuts etc as these bring a whole host of other pairing challenges with them.
There is also white chocolate of course though many would argue that this is not in fact chocolate – but if you are a fan of this type, don’t worry, I give a couple of wine pairing suggestions for that below.
Here are a few suggestions for wines (and other drinks) to that would work with the three main types of our much-loved cocoa-based treat:
The milk-dominant chocolate that is especially popular in the UK (and thought of by some as an imposter) is sweet – and the sweeter something is, the more difficult it can be to match with wine. My tip for all sweet foods is always to pair them with wine that is sweeter. This advice applies here too.
So for milk chocolate or lighter but sweet chocolate desserts look to wines like Moscato d’Asti which is sparkling and slightly sweet but also very refreshing. Moscato d’Asti’s acidity helps cut through the sweetness of milk chocolate and creamy chocolate-based desserts.
Other wines that could also work well include still wines made from grapes that have been dried and are therefore sweeter like Recioto della Valpolicella or Amarone, a dessert wine like Sauternes or a sweet fortified wine like Vin Doux Naturel or a vin santo. Some say Pedro Ximénez sherry works well but personally – and here’s a hot tip – I prefer a drizzle of PX on a good vanilla ice-cream. Delicious!
White chocolate is usually even sweeter than milk chocolate so follow the same guidance and find a wine sweeter than the food like the light, slightly sweet but crisp, sparkling wine, Moscato d’Asti already mentioned (also perfect with fruit-based and creamy desserts) or a slightly off-dry Prosecco.
For a good dark chocolate (with minimum 70% cocoa) or a heavier dark chocolate dessert like a ganache, serve port. My tip is always to match heavier, richer dishes with wines with more body so the weight of a good port is perfect. The sweet, fruity and velvety character of a ruby port will work especially well. And if you like nutty & toffee flavours, a tawny port will fit the bill and even enhance the chocolate flavours.
You might get away with some still red wines for example a wine produced from Touriga Nacional grapes, one of the main port grapes, or other wines known for their chocolate-like flavours such as a Zinfandel or a Barossa Valley Shiraz.
If the Easter Bunny visits me on Easter Sunday, I’ll stick to a soft drink or a cup of tea with my egg and save the wine till later – I’ll be opening a bottle of good Pinot Noir to have with my leg of lamb.
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