Wine & chocolate pairing

Chocolate is often hard to pair with wine. What details do you have to keep in mind when you want to pair your appetising chocolate dessert with a fine glass of wine for the ultimate after dinner moment.

Like with food pairing, you have to take a few basic elements in consideration when pairing wine and chocolate. This starts with the preparation. How is the prepared? For instance with the warm chocolate in a Bavarois, brownie or cake. Temperature is also a very important factor to consider, what is the temperature of your dish? Is it room temperature, refrigerator temperature or warm? And not to forget, is it white, milk or pure chocolate? Garnish like mint, vanilla sauce or whipped cream is also a detail to consider. Analysing your dessert is not very appealing. However, it will aid you in successfully pair your wine.

There are many kinds of delicious dessert wines, but not all of them are suited to be paired with chocolate. And it is even more troublesome with pure chocolate.

A classic example where wine is perfectly suited for chocolate, is Banyuls. This sweet dessert wine with tones of red fruit pairs splendidly with the bitter, stiff feeling in the mouth that is caused by pure chocolate.

Written by Jeroen van Mierlo<