What’s the best wine to serve with chocolate?
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Dear Dr. Vinny,
What’s the best wine to serve with chocolate?
—Hannah, Indianapolis
Dear Hannah,
Great question! As I slowly eat my weight in Halloween candy this fall, it’s a good chance to talk about pairing wine and chocolate.
Chocolate—like all sweets and sugary desserts—can be tricky to pair with wine because its sweetness can linger in your mouth and make pretty much anything else seem bitter in contrast.
That especially includes young, tannic red wines. Tannins can taste bitter to some people from the get-go, so combining them with a sweet chocolate or dessert can make the bitterness even more pronounced.
That said, many chocolates can pair well with intense red wines with riper fruit flavors. These wines—think Zinfandel, Cabernet Sauvignon or Grenache, as well as many red blends—can enhance the fruit and vanilla notes of the chocolate, especially if they’ve been aged in oak.
In my experience, this sort of pairing is more likely to work well if the chocolate isn’t terribly sugary (think a high quality dark chocolate) and the wine is served at the right temperature. A slight chill will prevent any bitter or alcoholic notes from being too pronounced.
The most classic chocolate pairings are fortified wines like Port, Sherry and Madeira. Late-harvest and botrytized dessert wines, like Sauternes and Tokaji, can also work well. These can amplify the flavors of the chocolate, especially if it’s intense and on the bitter side. Keeping the wine sweeter than the chocolate or dessert will prevent the wine from seeming bitter or sour.
Tawny and ruby Ports are particularly versatile chocolate pairings, but I’d encourage you to explore the full range of dessert wines, which are stunningly delicious and a great way to end a meal. And again, a slight chill will help the pairing shine and prevent the wine’s alcohol (which will be quite high in the case of fortified wines) from sticking out.
I like chocolate with a sprinkle of sea salt, and luckily, salt will amplify the flavors of both the chocolate and the wine and make them more palatable. Pay attention to the style of the chocolate. Those with dried fruit added (and fruity flavors in general) will be more wine-friendly, but chocolates with mint or spicy, hot peppery notes might complicate things—as might bitter cocoa nibs. My favorite fillings of caramel, toffee and peanut butter also tend to pair well with slightly chilled red wines and fortified wines, but it really depends on the wines and the chocolates (and my mood).
I’m still on the fence about how sparkling wines and chocolate pair together. At worst, you’re drinking sparkling wine and eating chocolate, so there isn’t much to complain about! Sweeter bubblies—and those made from red wine grapes—are more likely to be chocolate-friendly.
But don’t lose hope if, like me, your taste in sparkling wines tends toward drier styles, like brut Champagne. Dry bubbles with toasty, nutty notes seem to do well with chocolates with nutty notes, but I think I need to do some more research ... on that note, cheers!
—Dr. Vinny
