How to Expertly Pair Wine With Chocolate, Because They're Our Real True Loves

Though there aren’t many rules, keep some guidelines in mind when you’re picking what kind of chocolate to gorge on while polishing off your favorite bottle. For example, since both wine and chocolate contain flavanols, or antioxidants, you want to watch them in each -- high levels in both the wine and chocolate will clash on your tongue and make the wine start to taste more bitter.

Milk chocolate is half cream, which makes it both lusciously delicious and easy to pair, and the fat in the cream part of it doesn’t hurt. Light- to medium-bodied reds are the name of the game here, where the fruit and sweetness play a large part of the flavor. You could also go for white or dessert wines, like Riesling and Muscat, since milk chocolate is so mild.

Since dark chocolate is naturally bitter as is, the key is to find a wine that balances it out with sweetness or spiced notes. So, look for a super fruity red wine that’s low in tannins, and make sure you look for one with a good amount of residual sugar to even it out. If you really really really want to drink a dry red with a bar of dark chocolate, you may be able to get away with red blends, Shiraz or Malbec, and full-bodied bottles with sharp flavors can work well. Also, if you’re having a whole dessert that just happens to include dark chocolate, it’s likely that the amount of sugar will work with your dry red.

Versatility abounds with white chocolate; since it really isn’t chocolate, this is one of the few ways we can enjoy a dry red with our sweets. The buttery flavor profile complements the dryer, tannin-y notes. You’ll also want to go tit for tat with your white chocolate and pair it with an ultra-sweet wine. It likes some bubbles, too, so prosecco isn’t out of the question.