by Shannon
Porter, Personal Wine Consultant with The Traveling Vineyard
Valentine’s
Day brings thoughts of wine, chocolate and roses. But wine with chocolate?
Who knew! Wine is a wonderful compliment to both white and dark chocolate.
However, for a true match made in heaven you need to serve the right
wine with the right chocolate.
The general
rule of thumb is that the wine should not be sweeter than the chocolate
you are serving with it. If the chocolate is sweeter than the wine,
it will make the wine taste sour or bitter. (This rule also applies
to any food you are serving with wine.) If you have a lighter-bodied
wine, serve it with a lighter, elegant chocolate. If you have a bittersweet
chocolate (my personal favorite with red wines) you should pair it with
a heavy red, such as a Cabernet Sauvignon or Red Zinfandel.
If you love white chocolate, which tends to be more mellow and buttery
in flavor, try it with a Moscato d’Asti from Italy. This slightly
sweet wine with a hint of mandarin orange on the palate also offers
a bit of carbonation. It will pick up the creaminess in the chocolate
and is equally good when served with a cheesecake. Another good choice
with white chocolate is a Muscat, which is a sweet wine made from Muscat
grapes.
If milk chocolate is your favorite, a Pinot Noir (try one from Oregon
or the Russian River Valley of California) or a light-bodied Merlot
will compliment a creamy chocolate mousse, a chocolate accented cheesecake
or a simple Hersey’s milk chocolate bar.
If you’re a dark chocolate fan, you need a wine that offers a
slightly bitter, roasted flavor to compliment the bitterness of the
chocolate. As mentioned previously, you can’t go wrong with a
Cabernet Sauvignon or a California Red Zinfandel.
Reading the descriptions of the wines can also help you create different
taste sensations. One of my favorites is a Camellia Cellars Red Zinfandel
from the Sonoma area of California that has hints of red raspberry on
the palate. A drink of it with a bite of dark chocolate tastes like
a raspberry chocolate truffle. Yum! Look for red wines that offer notes
of strawberry, raspberry, cherry or blackberry in their descriptions
and the result will taste like a chocolate-covered fruit cream!
Zinfully
yours, Shannon
Shannon
Porter has lived in Colorado since 1999. She has been a wine lover since
a trip to Napa in the 80's opened her eyes to the fact that there was
more to life than white zinfandel. She joined The Traveling Vineyard
in 2003, becoming one of the first independent wine consultants in Colorado.
She is now a Team Leader, has conducted over 100 wine tastings and loves
to educate people about wine! For more information on The Traveling
Vineyard or to contact Shannon Porter please visit
www.freewinetasting.net.
