Once upon a time, in my role as a wine buyer, I was asked to find out what wine went best with chocolate. I was put in a room with about forty types of chocolate (bars, puddings, you name it) and about a hundred different wines of all styles and colour. I was then told not to come out until I'd found perfect matches. I promise you, I am not making this up. A team of us tasted, sniffed, sipped and spat (ew, sorry) our way round that tasting table. And the verdict? Mostly, wine and chocolate are a tricky match. Wine's acidity and/or tannins fight with the sweetness of chocolate. But every now and again, a particular combination works brilliantly. It really is a case of trial and error. Go on, force yourself. Here are a few tried and tested combinations:
Dark chocolate: Banyuls (a fairly weird but utterly delicious sweet wine from France).
Milk chocolate: Tawny Port (lighter than normal Port so doesn't smother the chocolate flavours).
White chocolate: Mas Amiel (a sweet wine from Maury, south-west France. A tear-inducing match).
Happy Easter!
KM xLabels: chocolate Banyuls, Mas Amiel, Tawny Port