8 Wine and Chocolate Pairings to Drool Over

8 wine and chocolate pairings you might never’ve expected, but definitely need to try.

There are few things more romantic than a glass of wine and some nice chocolate, especially if you’ve got the lights dimmed and a few candles lit. It makes for one heck of an evening in, and it’s a great way to spend some quality time just the two of you.

If you want to do your evening just right, here are the wines you should pair with specific chocolates:

• Bittersweet chocolate — The dark, rich flavor of bittersweet chocolate is very strong, meaning you want to pair it with an equally strong wine. Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Bordeaux, and Shiraz are all good options for your bittersweet dark chocolate, and you’ll find that the cocoa butter in the chocolate helps to cut the tannic flavor of the red wines.
• Semisweet chocolate –– While not quite as rich in flavor as bittersweet chocolate, it’s not quite as sweet as milk chocolate. To pair it right, you need a wine that hits that same “middle ground” of sweetness and body. Zinfandels, Orange Muscats, Muscats, and Tawny Ports are all good choices to pair with this type of chocolate.
• White chocolate –– Who doesn’t love a bit of white chocolate to satisfy a very sweet tooth? Its sweet notes usually reflect honey, fruit, caramel, or vanilla, and you’ll find that pairing it with a light wine is the way to go. For example, Gewurtztraminer wine is ideal thanks to its sweet, light notes, or Riesling complements the honey, vanilla, and caramel notes of the white chocolate. Muscat and Mas Amiel are two more excellent wine choices.
• Milk chocolate –– Milk chocolate is good with just about every type of fruit, but be careful when pairing it with wines. You need to find a sweet wine to pair it with, or else the wine will have a tart flavor. Tawny Port, Muscat, and Hungarian Tokaji are three wines that are a wonderful combination for milk chocolate.

READ MORE: Everything You Never Knew About Sparkling Wines

• Caramel/toffee chocolate –– For those who prefer the flavor of caramel or toffee with their chocolate, finding the right wine to pair it with can be a bit challenging. You may need to opt for a young Madeira wine (less than 5 years old), or a good Meursault (from a ripe year) works well with buttery caramels. Tawny Port and Sauternes are two other wines that go nicely with toffee-flavored chocolates.
• Coconut chocolates –– If you’re eating chocolate sprinkled or flavored with coconuts, look for a good Brachetto d’Acqui. This dessert wine matches wonderfully with all nuts. Sauternes and Late Harvest Semillon are two more awesome wines to look for.
• Coffee chocolate –– For a richer, more flavorful coffee-flavored chocolate, you want a dessert wine to pair. Cream sherry and Oloroso sherry are two good options. Or, if you want to break out of the mold, pair it with Coffee Liqueur or Cream Liqueuer.
• Fruit chocolates –– Fruit flavored truffles, chocolate-covered fruits, and chocolate cherries all go nicely with wines that have strong fruit notes. Merlot and Madeira are two excellent wines to pair with milk chocolates and fruits of a gentler flavor. For berries, a Banyul brings out the fruit flavors. For anything covered in dark chocolate, Cabernet Sauvignon is the wine of choice. Ruby Port is wonderful for chocolate covered cherries, while Merlot is good for most fruits covered in milk chocolate.

Combine these chocolates with these wines, and you are guaranteed to have one heck of a delicious night!

Resources: http://www.thenibble.com/reviews/main/chocolate/pairing-wine2.asp