Food and wine pairing : Which wine to drink with chocolate ?

Once upon a time Easter

Many ancient customs, intended to welcome the return of spring, have attached themselves to the Christian holiday of Easter. The egg is the symbol of germination and renewal that occur in early spring. Similarly,, the hare is an ancient symbol that has always represented fertility.

"We don't know the exact date when we came up with the idea of drilling the eggs on one side, to empty them and fill them with chocolate. Probably in the 18th century, but it was in the 19th century that we began to see the appearance of chocolate eggs, especially, from the years 1830, thanks to the development of cocoa paste working techniques (whose progress has been considerable) and especially thanks to the appearance and diversification of mussels (copper or tinned iron), which make it possible to obtain more and more varied chocolate shapes", tells the author of the book Chocolate and her story, Elisabeth de Contenson.

The chocolate aroma of wine

During a wine tasting, we can easily find chocolate aromas. We are primarily talking about empyreumatic aromas. This term characterizes the aromas of roasting or burnt. Chocolate and coffee are the two most well-known empyreumatic aromas.

Barrel aging promotes the emergence of empyreumatic aromas, depending on the more or less strong heating of the staves. You can learn about these aromas with wines made from Grenache grapes. Take for example a Châteauneuf-du-Pape, a Gigondas, a Maury or a Banyuls.

The aroma of cocoa is also common in Bordeaux wines on appellations such as Saint-Emilion or Pomerol having a dominant of Merlot.

These are just a few examples, but you can find many other wines with cocoa aroma, so ask your wine merchant…

Wine and chocolate pairings

The whole difficulty of matching wine with chocolate lies in the bitterness of the latter. We can often read here and there that red wines should be preferred. However, I consider that a successful pairing is not made by pitting two powers against each other — cocoa and tannin —, because one of them will take over the other. Wine should enhance chocolate as much as the other way around.

The pairing with dark chocolate

Dark chocolate has powerful aromas. It is also rich in fat and sugar. Finally, it develops a persistent taste which ends with a certain bitterness. For all these reasons, dark chocolate needs to be paired with a sweet red wine — sweet, dessert wine or naturally sweet wine —.

The Natural Sweet Wine (VDN) most recommended to pair chocolate is a Vintage Porto. He is truly the king of Porto wines. From grapes picked in the same year and bottled two to three years after each harvest, it gradually evolves during 10 to 50 years in bottle. During the first five years, it retains its aromas of red fruits and forest fruits, all balanced by strong tannins. After ten years, it develops subtle and complex aromas including ripe fruit. However, the rather prohibitive price of vintage Portos may cool more than one. — we can't have, butter, butter money and the creamer —

In France, we also have beautiful natural sweet wines that can pair your chocolate. You can choose a Banyuls and its Grenache grape in majority. You can also go to a Maury more tannic and its Grenache grape too. Let’s not forget either the Rivesaltes or the Pineau des Charentes which is a liqueur wine. Again, it's important to focus on — if possible, of course — wines aged of 15 or 20 minimum years.

Pair with white chocolate, with milk or praline

Easter bells don't just bring dark chocolate and some prefer white chocolate, with milk or praline. These sweeter dishes, more milky and sweeter flavours can also be matched with a white wine. — but not just any one —

For this kind of chocolate, I'm proposing a dry and fruity white wine. What could be better than the white wines of Alsace for this pairing with a Gewurztraminer or a Riesling ? In addition to responding to the sugar of chocolate, they bring freshness to the pairing. You can also opt for a sweet white wine which is sweeter and often more aromatic than the previous ones.

The trap to avoid : Champagne and other sparkling wines

We tend to fool us by serving a champagne for dessert and by extension with chocolate. Although this may work in rare cases, the effervescents are too acidic and the aromas too fine to sublimate and be sublimated by chocolate. Therefore, we should avoid to make this mistake.

It is important to have a finish

Now that you have solid ideas on the wine and chocolate pairings, all you have to do is test them. Don't hesitate to comment on the pairings you find interesting with chocolate. On this, I'm going to go eat myself a little square of chocolate to get ready to go egg hunting !