Having devoured with gluttonous gusto a Hotel Chocolate Easter Egg over the weekend, thereby revealing yet again a total character weakness for all things chocolate, I felt a need to compile a collection of ‘wine with chocolate’ scribbled notes into a post.

As with wines there is more than one type of Chocolate Dessert

Light Chocolate Desserts such as mousses – go for a Moscato d’Asti or Vin Santo. Try Malvasia delle Lipari with fruit based desserts such as Pears in Chocolate Sauce.

Rich Chocolate Desserts – profiteroles, chocolate roulades, Black Forest Gateaux – sensational with Recioto, raspberry liqueurs. If orange involved try Orange Muscat or Tokaji. Berry fruit based desserts match well with a Maury.

Richest Chocolate Desserts – Rivesaltes, Banyuls, Australian Liqueur Muscats, Recioto or Marsala Superiore Dolce

Chocolate Cake – Sachertorte, Devil’s Food Cake Try with Ruby or Tawny Port, Liqueur Muscats

Red Wine? Bittersweet chocolate can be accompanied by red wines, specifically New World styles of Cabernet Sauvignon. One experience I had matched Howard Park Leston Shiraz from Western Australia with a Dark Chocolate Marquis, crème Chantilly and Griottines. The match didn’t quite work [read more]

One To Try: Sweet Sherry might not be the first wine you think of as an accompaniment but lightly chilled they can go rather nicely. Decadently, for the sweetest of dishes, a Spanish
Pedro Ximenez, full of gloriously rich raisin and toffee flavours is one to try. Some though might find a glass of PX enough of a dessert by itself. Pour a glass over a mix of chocolate and vanilla ice-cream for a sensational flavour explosion.

Wines To Avoid:
With desserts the rule is to select a wine that is sweeter than the food. A wine less sweet than the food will appear hollow, tart and generally unpleasant. So avoid anything dry – Chardonnay, Sauvignons and the like. This goes especially when matching wine with chocolate desserts, in all their varied glory.