Check out these delicious wine and chocolate pairings,
Whether white, dark, milk or nutty, there is a wine for that
Chocolate and wine can be toe-curlingly good or downright horrendous. But you can nail it every time if you follow the rules. They’re not hard, but they matter.
First: Pair white chocolate with light wine.
Second: Pair dark chocolate with reds with a touch of bitterness.
Third: Pair milk chocolate with saturated, fruit-forward reds.
Fourth: Pair nutty chocolate with wooded wine.
But those are just words on a page. Make it real with these specific matches — some of which might become your new go-to indulgences.
Fall in love with the NV Champagne Pommery Pink Pop Brut Rosé from France (LCBO 16944 $18.95/200ml). This adorable single serve sparkler that just hit shelves in Ontario tastes fabulous on its own — but better with white chocolate. Each sip offers immediate pleasure with its gentle mousse, creamy-brisk attack and wispy flavours of polished stone, cool pear and nougat, with quiet rhubarb undertones that persist for ages on the finish. Score: 93. Have a sip. Then a bite of white chocolate. Then sip again. And savour the effect. The wine cuts the richness of the creamy confection while the white chocolate makes the wine taste drier and even more elegant. Pure alchemy.
The 2015 Marchesi di Barolo Tradizione Barolo from Piedmont, Italy (Vintages Essential 168179 $44.20 till Nov. 8 reg. $45.95) offers sophisticated pleasure — especially with dark chocolate. The wine’s glorious scent is ethereal, suggesting cherries, violets and black licorice. The entry is smooth, silky and suave. And the flavours suggest blackberries and blackcurrant laced with rose petal, earth and black olive. Score: 90. This wine lingers on the finish. So while that lingering is going on, have a bite of dark chocolate, sit back and swoon a little. Just the kind of pairing that makes the world slow down a little bit. The 2015 Amarone Tommasi Amarone della Valpolicella from Veneto, Italy (Vintages 356220 $49.95) is another great Italian red that works well with the bittersweetness of dark chocolate. Each sip starts with liqueur-like aromas that suggest black cherries and figs, black pepper and roasted hazelnuts. The entry is smooth and mellow with intense concentration and supreme seamlessness that fans out with dried and fresh berries, figs, nuts, peppercorns and, yes, dark chocolate. Score: 93. A sip of this wine with a bite of dark chocolate is a greater than the sum situation. I particularly like this wine with dark chocolate torte at the end of a meal.
Or go local with the 2018 Sandbanks Dunes VQA Ontario (LCBO 346445 $12.95 till Nov. 7, reg. 14.95), which I score 92, and milk chocolate. Each sip of this sweet-fruited red delivers a big, smooth swirl of plummy fruit layered with black cherries and cream. Just perfect with this particular confection. Dead easy, great value, and the wine is made in our own backyard.
Fans of chocolate covered nuts should look for wooded wines. And an outstanding example is the 2019 The Wanted Zin Zinfandel from Puglia, Italy (LCBO 416487 $12.95 till Nov. 8, reg. $14.95). Each sip is thrilling on its own with its heady aromas of superripe mixed berries and deep dark appeal. It floods in with intense blueberry, poached plum and dark chocolate flavours threaded with a touch of gingerbread and dried currants — as well as vanilla-almond notes from time spent in American oak. Score: 92. Definitely a better than average pairing. And you might just find your next house wine in the process.
Or opt for the ultimate wooded wine — tawny Port — with those chocolate covered nuts. Port is made by aging ruby Port in wooden casks for years, developing its characteristic amber hue and nutty complexity. And a reliable bottle is the Taylor Fladgate 10-yearold Tawny Port from the Douro in Portugal (Vintages Essential 121749 $35.95) — score: 92 This wine teems with aromas and flavours of toffee, dried currant, a touch of orange zest, clove, nutmeg, allspice, a whisper of dark chocolate, cherries and cream. The high alcohol of this fortified wine melts the dark chocolate on the palate while the savoury quality of nuts balances the inherent sweetness of each sip. And tawny will last for up to a month after opening, making it a good bottle to have on hand.
So next time someone says they don’t like chocolate and wine, suggest one of these pairings. It might just change their mind.