Wine with chocolate
Red wine with chocolate is a marketing idea, not a taste experience. Cocoa has tannin, red wine has tannin, and together they turn dry and bitter. The rule is simple: the wine must be sweeter than the chocolate. That rules out almost all dry wine and leaves a short list that does it spectacularly.
Three styles that work
- 1
Pedro Ximénez
With dark chocolate of seventy percent and up, PX is the only wine that wins. Raisins, figs, coffee and a sweetness that outruns even the bitterest bar. A five-centilitre glass is enough, and the bottle keeps for months. No need to spend more: the entry-level bottle from a big house already does it.
- 2
Cream sherry with milk chocolate
Milk chocolate is softer and sweeter, and PX becomes too much. A cream sherry, oloroso with a dash of PX, has the nuts and caramel that suit milk chocolate and pralines, without overpowering it. Lightly chilled, and not the cheapest one on the shelf.
- 3
Doux champagne with white chocolate and raspberries
White chocolate is not chocolate but cocoa butter and sugar, and in a dessert with red fruit it calls for bubbles with sweetness. A demi-sec or doux champagne, ideally rosé, brings the red fruit back and keeps the dessert light. A dry Brut turns sour and thin here.
Without alcohol
Espresso, honestly
There is no alcohol-free wine yet that is sweet and deep enough for dark chocolate; dealcoholisation leaves sugar without the maturity behind it. Anyone not drinking takes an espresso or a strong tea, and loses nothing.
Frequently asked questions
What about port?
Ruby or LBV port works with chocolate and red fruit, and tawny with chocolate and nuts. Port simply carries more tannin than PX, so with very dark chocolate sherry wins.
Which wine with chocolate mousse?
Mousse is lighter and creamier than a bar, so PX is too heavy. A cream sherry or a Banyuls, lightly chilled, keeps the dessert in balance.
No scores, but an opinion. The bottles I name I tasted myself; how each reached me is stated at the bottom of every review.