How to pair with with chocolate?

How to pair with with chocolate?
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How to pair wine with chocolate?

Two of our favourite things: wine and chocolate. Here is how to pair them.

Pairing wine with chocolate comes down to the cocoa percentage of the chocolate: the higher the cocoa content, the darker and more pleasantly bitter the chocolate. This opens the door for sweet red wines or fortified wines like Port and some sweet Sherries. 

Dark or milk chocolate? 

Tawny Ports make a wonderful pairing with dark chocolate; ideally served between 14-18°C/54-67°F. Tawny Port balances the bitter flavours with its nutty sweetness. Milk chocolate tends to be sweeter, so fortified wines from Australia are wonderful, like aged Rutherglen Muscat for example. Mature Maury from France can also be wonderful. This is also great for chocolate and dried fruit combinations, whereas chocolate and nut combinations are wonderful with Tawny Port. If there is just the straight-forward flavour of milk chocolate, say in a mousse au chocolat, a Banyuls from France is great. 

Pairing chocolate cake with wine? 

Chocolate cake offers sweetness, chocolate and rich texture all in one. The sweetest style of Sherry, Pedro Ximénes will deal with all these elements. This also goes for chocolate lava cake. When there are caramelised nuts in the picture, too, a Tawny Port will also work really well. 

Our six golden rules for wine and food pairing can also help you on a more general level. 

Stefan Neumann MS
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