Chocolate and Wine
Does Wine pair with Chocolate? And with so many different kinds of chocolate, how do you know which wines to choose?
The answer is YES - wine 100% pairs with chocolate. In Episode 16 of The Wine CEO Podcast, I discuss some of the top pairings for wine and chocolate! Listen now at the button below if you want to hear the entire show!
Now there are some wines that complement certain chocolate flavors better than others and today I’m going to share some top flavors that complement one another well and are considered great pairings in the culinary and wine world. As always, please remember that my recommendations are not gospel! I encourage you to try my pairings to enjoy some great flavor combinations and maybe find a new favorite, but if you love something, stick with it (even if you are going against a "typical pairing").
Don't hesitate to email me at Sarah@thewineceo.com and I would be happy to give you a free personalized pairing recommendation!
Today I’m going to break down a few types of chocolate and then the wines that would pair really nicely with them. These same pairings would work nicely for things that have those chocolates in them, like a dark chocolate molten lava cake, white chocolate cheesecake, or peanut butter cookie.
Below I’m going to explain options that pair well with white, milk, and dark chocolates as well as a few stuffed chocolates or truffles, but if you have any additional questions on specific pairings I didn’t mention, don't hesitate to email me at Sarah@thewineceo.com and I would be happy to give you a free personalized pairing recommendation!
White, Milk, and Dark Chocolates
First up today is white chocolate. Now I’m not a huge white chocolate fan and I don’t normally eat it unless it’s coating my favorite Christmas Trail Mix, but I know it’s very popular! I do enjoy it with dried fruits or fresh strawberries because it’s very light and delicate. Believe it or not, there’s actually a debate as to whether or not white chocolate can even be called chocolate because milk & dark chocolates are made with cocoa solids, but white chocolate is only made with cocoa butter. Nonetheless, I think most people consider it a part of the chocolate category and around valentine’s day you will find tons of white chocolate candies. White chocolate tends to have really buttery, vanilla flavors so it pairs perfectly with buttery chardonnays, especially from California because these wines typically have very oaky, vanilla like flavors. But since white chocolate is often paired with light fruits and berries like strawberries or raspberries, white chocolate actually pairs really nicely with rosès as well. I like to pair them specifically with sweeter roses because if the chocolate is sweeter than the wine, it will actually make the wine taste more dry or even bitter.
If your chocolate is sweeter than your wine, it will make the wine taste bitter. Try pairing sweet chocolates like white or milk, with dessert and sweet wines.
Up next is Milk Chocolate, which I feel is the most creamy and approachable of the chocolate family. Because milk chocolate isn’t too adventurous and is just light and easy to enjoy, I think you need a wine that is really similar with characteristics that are light, without bold tannins and just really approachable. Now because milk chocolate has cocoa in it, unlike white chocolate, I would pair it with a red wine. I think you need some berries and fruit flavors to complement the cocoa, so I would definitely choose a light and fruity red wine like a Pinot Noir from California or Oregon or a Gamay from Burgundy, France. You may remember that I talked about gamay in our thanksgiving episode because this is the grape varietal used in Beaujolais Nouveau – the first harvested wine of the season. But you can get regular Beaujolais (not nouveau) made from the gamay grape varietal and it’s just as delicious!
My personal favorite chocolate is Dark Chocolate. The darker the better! For all of my Dark Chocolate lovers, you need a red wine that has bold flavor to stand up to the bitterness and strong flavors in Dark Chocolate. If you were to pair a pinot noir with dark chocolate, the strong flavors in the chocolate might overpower the light wine. On the other hand, if you pair the dark chocolate with something bold, like a Merlot or Cabernet Sauvignon, the wine will stand up to the strong dark chocolate flavors. Both Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon are also known for being fruity in flavor which also help to mellow the bitterness of the dark chocolate. Merlot is great for your lighter dark chocolates, but the darker and more bitter the flavor (70%-99% intense dark) I recommend going with a Cabernet Sauvignon.
Truffles
When you are pairing with a truffle, or a chocolate filled with some flavor, you’re most often going to pair your wine with the filling more than the chocolate. It’s likely that the filling will overpower the chocolate so you want your wine to match the strongest flavor in the truffle. This can get tricky because the flavor of chocolate can still dictate a complement with a particular wine, but to keep it simple, I would try to pair with your filling. When in doubt, know that you can always default to bubbles as champagne and sparkling wines will go with anything! You can also stick to really sweet dessert wines like port, sherry, madeira, tokaji, or ice wine and these will almost always pair perfectly with any chocolate as well.
One of the most popular flavored chocolate around the globe is Chocolate with Caramel filling. Caramel tends to be chewy, buttery, and almost nut like so I like to recommend pairing these strong flavors with a Madeira. Madeira is a fortified sweet dessert wine from the Portuguese Island of Madeira and it has incredible caramel like flavors. It’s nutty and a little oily which make it a perfect pairing with caramel. If you’re uncertain about madeira or it’s hard to find near you, I actually love recommending these chocolates with a sweet Riesling as well because the green apple notes of the wine will pair perfectly with the caramel flavors.
Peanut Butter is an American staple and there are tons of Peanut Butter filled Chocolate truffles out there. So is there a wine that would go with a grown up Reese’s Peanut Butter cup….or honestly just a Reese’s because I love those too. 100% YES! Think about what you would normally eat with your peanut butter? A peanut butter and jelly sandwich – so fruity jams like a strawberry, grape, or raspberry jam. Apple slices dipped in peanut butter make a great combo. So similar to the caramel chocolates above, you could pair a peanut butter filled chocolate with a sweet Riesling, but my personal favorite is Lambrusco. This sweet red wine from Italy is traditionally sparkling and tends to have a lot of fresh berry notes like strawberry and raspberry. It’s a delicious pairing and the bubbles help to cleanse your tongue of the sticky peanut butter. If you aren’t sure of Lambrusco or you can’t find it near you, I also love peanut butter with Pinot Noir. Again, California and Oregon Pinot noirs tend to have really fresh fruit and berry flavors that complement the peanut butter in the same way a PB&J sandwich would.
And lastly, fruit filled ganaches or truffles would pair nicely with these same fruit forward wines that would pair with peanut butter. So Sweet Riesling, Lambrusco, or Pinot Noir would all make great wines to complement chocolates with cherries, strawberries, raspberries or other red fruit. If the truffle is dark chocolate with cherry, this is delicious with bolder wines like a merlot or cabernet sauvignon, but I like to pair the lighter berry fillings with lighter red wines. When in doubt though, remember that port or a sparkling rosè, are also great options for fruit filled truffles, so there are lots of options out there to enjoy!
I created the diagram below for quick reference and easy shopping, so be sure to pin it to pinterest or save it to your phone for future use!
Whether you are celebrating with girlfriends, the love of your life, or a little self-care this week, I hope you enjoy some new Chocolate and Wine combinations and have a lovely Valentine’s Day! Cheers!