The Ultimate Guide To Wine And Chocolate Pairing

Chocolate and wine are considered a timeless pairing by some, but if you've had the experience of biting into a piece of bitter chocolate and washing it down with the last of the tannic cabernet you had with your main course, you might feel differently. As with most things, pairing chocolate and wine has its nuances. While some combinations shine, others are best left off the table. Of course, those perfect matches won't present themselves effortlessly, so it's worth understanding a few key points about the delicate balance.

As a certified specialist of wine, a lot of my interest lies in finding optimal food and wine pairings. After all, the sum of the two is often greater than the parts. This simple guide will help you find an even footing in the world of wine and chocolate pairings. With general rules and specific examples, you'll be on your way to the ideal pairing in no time. Read on to familiarize yourself with everything there is to know about enjoying chocolate with wine.

When choosing a pairing for milk chocolate, it's helpful to remember it contains dairy, which affects both the taste and texture. This type of chocolate tends to have a smoother and creamier profile, as well as a greater fat content, which has some benefits when looking for a match. It also tends to be on the sweeter end of the spectrum, which makes it better suited for pairing with sweet wines.

Ruby Port, Brachetto d'Acqui, fortified wines from Southern France like Banyuls or Maury, Rutherglen from Australia, sweet Lambrusco, or late harvest red wines are generally a good choice. Similarly, off-dry rieslings and Moscato d'Asti have just the right amount of acidity to balance the richness of the chocolate, while rounding it out with fragrant aromas. If you're not looking for a dessert wine, fruitier styles of table wine can also complement the milky notes in chocolate. Look for New World pinot noir or merlot for an option that takes you from dinner to dessert.

You might have an image of indulging in a piece of dark chocolate and a glass of bold red wine, but oftentimes, that's not going to be the best match. Weighty red wines with a strong tannic structure work well with meat and grilled dishes, since they can stand up to hearty flavors and work as a great palate cleanser to prep your mouth for the next bite. However, alongside a bitter chocolate with an equally prominent tannic structure ... well, you might as well rub your tongue on sandpaper.

That's not to say all red wine is off limits with dark chocolate, but you'll want to choose wisely to actually enjoy the combination. Zinfandel, cabernet sauvignon, malbec, merlot, and shiraz, especially those made in warm climates where the fruit can ripen properly and develop sugars, are easier to match.

Dessert wines that are sweeter than the chocolate will help tame the bitterness, while coaxing out the sugar in the treat. Wines made with raisined grapes, like Vin Santo or Recioto della Valpolicella from Italy, are good candidates. These wines tend to have more intense aromas due to the flavors becoming concentrated as the water in the fruit evaporates. Other dessert wines, like Tawny Port or Pedro Ximenez Sherry offer sweet, nutty, and complex flavors, adding another layer to the bitter notes in the chocolate.

Whether or not white chocolate is chocolate seems to be a regular point of speculation. According to the FDA, as long as it contains a minimum of 20% cocoa fats, it fits the bill. It is primarily made from cocoa butter, which comes from the cacao bean. Conversely, milk or dark chocolate are made by pressing the roasted beans to extract cocoa liquor, the paste that contains the flavors and aromas we typically associate with chocolate. What this means is that white chocolate has a greater fat composition than the others, which is good to note when choosing a wine pairing.

The creamy experience of eating cocoa butter-heavy white chocolate calls for some acidity to balance the richness. Consider rosé, riesling, late harvest gewürztraminer, Sauternes, Moscato d'Asti, or even ice wine to introduce concentrated flavors and tropical fruit notes that will mingle with the buttery essence of white chocolate. On the other hand, you may want to enhance those buttery aromas by serving it with a bold chardonnay, or even Champagne. Play up the subtle nuttiness in white chocolate with fortified wines like Pedro Ximenez Sherry or Sercial Madeira.

One of the key components of balancing food and wine pairings is checking that the different taste elements are in harmony. When it comes to chocolate and chocolate-based desserts, sugar is the primary factor to consider. If you've ever had the unpleasant experience of washing down a spoonful of dessert with a high-acid dry wine from dinner, you'll understand why. When the wine is less sweet than the food, it introduces an unpleasant contrast that often makes the wine taste more bitter.

While there are exceptions, it's worth sticking with sweeter options for your milk and white chocolate desserts, whereas dark chocolate can tolerate a little less sweetness from the wine. There are always exceptions though, and other characteristics can make a wine be perceived as sweeter than it is, like fruitiness or a fuller body. In these cases, the actual sugar levels are just one component to consider when finding a pairing. Additionally, if you're serving a chocolate dessert and there are other ingredients to tame the sweetness, this can also influence your choice. Nevertheless, if you're looking for an occasion to pull out a bottle of dessert wine, this is it.

When acidity is in balance, it's easy to forget about it. However, when it's especially prominent, it tends to produce a pretty visceral reaction and cause your mouth to pucker. Since the goal is to enhance your chocolate-tasting experience with wine and vice versa, it's helpful to find the right balance of acidity in both regards. Milk and white chocolate tend to be creamier than dark chocolate, emphasizing more buttery notes rather than acidity.

Dark chocolate, on the other hand, is often described using acidity as a metric. This is in part due to natural compounds in cacao, but it is also influenced by the roasting process and the quality of the beans. Tasting notes like fruitiness, acidity, earthiness, and bitterness often come up when talking about chocolate, which isn't that different from wine. To enhance the pairing experience, pair high-acid chocolates with sweet wines for balance. Consider wines that already display both acidity and sweetness for a complementary and contrasting pairing. Moscato d'Asti, late harvest rieslings, and ice wine make a good match.

Whether you're picking up chocolate bars with add-ins or whipping up a chocolatey dessert, several ingredients and flavor profiles might be at play. Sometimes, the added ingredients might even stand out more strongly than the chocolate. This is best seen in bars with hot chili infusions or baked goods where chocolate is one of many components. In these instances, you might be better off looking toward the extra ingredients when determining the optimal wine pairing.

For example, citrus additions like orange zest or candied lemon peel offer the chance for fresher zingy white wines, like pinot grigio and sauvignon blanc, to shine. Other fruit mix-ins like raspberries, strawberries, or cherries, work well with wines that feature some of these notes too. A New World pinot noir, merlot, zinfandel, or Ruby Port would all be good matches. Meanwhile, nutty add-ins introduce earthiness and extra sweetness if they are caramelized. Pedro Ximenez Sherry or Tawny Port tend to have nutty aromas, which makes them a good option to pair with these types of chocolates. Caramel chocolates can be enhanced by equally buttery and rich wines, so now's the time to bring out the Sauternes, oaked chardonnay, and Tawny Ports.

As for chocolate desserts, if the other components make for a relatively light treat, then dessert wines like late harvest rieslings or Moscato d'Asti are a good pick. On the other hand, pick bolder fortified wines to serve with a weightier chocolate dessert to ensure the wine can stand out among other flavors.

One of the common recommendations when pairing food and wine is to choose things with a similar weight and intensity. This means skipping the delicate white wine when digging into a hearty beef stew, and passing up on the tannic cabernet to go with your scallop crudo. Similarly, some chocolates offer a subtler palate with creamy notes and a sweet profile, while others come in strong with bold aromas and a mouth-coating effect.

To enhance the pairing and avoid overwhelming your palate with either the chocolate or the wine, you'll want to try to keep your two selections on the same weight and intensity level. This is especially relevant when you start to consider chocolate-based desserts. A light and airy chocolate mousse can benefit from the freshness of a lightly sparkling Moscato d'Asti or a fruit-forward Brachetto d'Acqui. On the other hand, a rich flourless dark chocolate torte has the bold profile to stand up to a glass of cabernet sauvignon or merlot. Imagine the sensation of eating your chocolate of choice or drinking the wine you'd like to serve, then follow from there when finding its match.

Another cue to take from general food and wine pairing tips is to look for similar flavors between the two. Whether you're munching on a chocolate bar or indulging in a decadent dessert, there are bound to be several tasting notes at play. Desserts that feature chocolate as one component among many will present different pairing opportunities, depending on the other ingredients.

Milk chocolate tends to have creamy, milky notes with hints of vanilla, while white chocolate emphasizes sweet, buttery, and vanilla notes. Meanwhile, dark chocolates can feature single-origin beans, which encompass a wide range of nuanced aromas depending on the source. Earthy, floral, vegetal, fruity, and spice notes can all be at play, providing plenty of points from which to start your wine pairing.

Wine tends to encompass all of these flavors, with some options like oaked chardonnay, featuring prominent cream, butter, and vanilla notes, while others like pinot noir offering earthy, fruity, and floral aromas. Fortified wines bring a lot more to the table, with nutty, spiced, and caramelized notes present in certain types of Port, Sherry, or Madeira. Stop and think of the dominant flavor profile, and work your way from there.

Serving like with like is one tenet of food and wine pairing, but the concept of combining contrasting flavors is just as common. It makes sense when you think about it; you can develop palate fatigue by consuming too much of the same thing (or two things with a similar flavor profile), which is why opposing tastes stand out so well. Many culinary specialties highlight this fact, such as squeezing acidic lemon juice over a rich, creamy pasta dish or enjoying the seemingly incompatible flavors in the iconic salted caramel duo. When done right, introducing a contrasting element can enhance both components of the pairing and make them stand out.

For example, milk chocolate, with its creamy and rich nature, pairs well with lightly sparkling Moscato d'Asti, which features fruity and floral aromas. Yet, the two are of similarly medium weight and sweetness, which helps tie in the pairing. Another case could be a nutty dark chocolate paired with a bold fruit-forward red wine like zinfandel. With both having a velvety finish on the palate and rich aromas, the combination doesn't overshadow either element.

Ultimately, when looking at food and wine pairings, it's worth considering what you want to achieve. Are you searching for the perfect chocolate dessert and wine duo to serve to your discerning in-laws? Are you setting up a tasting experience with an assortment of wine and chocolate for friends? Or are you just looking to round off your meal with a piece of chocolate and a post-dinner sip?

Identifying your purpose will greatly determine how much effort you should put into choosing the pairing. There are plenty of tried and true favorites that will guarantee a delicious experience, without having to step outside your comfort zone. There's no need to run out to the liquor store to buy a bottle of Ruby Port because you want something to drink with your bar of milk chocolate.

That said, if you're keen to dig deeper into the nuances of chocolate and wine pairing, then setting up a selection of both based on the parameters detailed in this guide is a great way to learn about how flavors mingle together. For the optimal learning experience, taste milk, white, and dark chocolate, as well as chocolates with add-ins, alongside red, white, rosé, sparkling, and fortified wines to see the variations and how the flavors evolve together.

There are plenty of nuances to pairing chocolate and wine, but it doesn't have to be complicated. If you're simply looking to pair the duo because you're a fan of both, stick to classic combinations. Ruby Port and milk chocolate mingle well with their berry, spice, and creamy flavors. But you can just as well keep sipping the bottle of zinfandel, merlot, or pinot noir you had at dinner as you snap off a square of chocolate.

If you're in the mood for dark chocolate, pair it with a fortified wine like Pedro Ximenez Sherry or a grenache-based option from Southern France, like Banyuls or Maury. Fortified wines keep longer than table wines due to the high alcohol content, so you can hold onto a bottle for a few weeks to pour when the chocolate comes out. Or, just go with the bottle of red wine you had for dinner, as long as it's fruit forward and not overly tannic. And if you're a fan of white chocolate, an oaked chardonnay, sweet riesling, or Champagne with brioche notes all make a tasty pairing.