WINE AND CHOCOLATE…YUM!!
Some people view chocolate as one of the basic food groups. Do you know anyone like that? Chocolate and wine are certainly delicious by themselves but are even better together!
There are some basic wine and chocolate pairing suggestions to keep in mind. But as with any suggestion, always follow your heart’s desire. Wine and chocolate are very similar as both are considered aphrodisiacs and both contain antioxidants. Typically the wine should be as sweet as the chocolate. When looking at pairing wine and chocolate, it is good to start by pairing color shades. So the darker the chocolate, the darker the wine. Some recommended pairings of wine and chocolate are as follows:
Milk Chocolate goes great with Port, Sherry, Pinot Noir
White Chocolate goes great with Champagne, Riesling, Muscat, Fruity Chardonnay
Dark Chocolate goes great with Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Chianti, Port-Style Zinfandel
San Diego has numerous wine bars and dessert shops that offer special wine and chocolate pairing tastings. Several will be scheduled for the Fall. We will list them in the “Special Events” section along with information about upcoming Wine and Food Pairing Dinners and Wine and Food Festivals. Of course, we will also check them out and provide that delicious information in an upcoming blog!
DID YOU KNOW??
- California is the 4th largest wine producer in the world, after France, Italy, and Spain
- In ancient Greece, the host would take first sip of wine to assure guests the wine was not poisoned, hence the phrase, “drinking to one’s health”
- Wine grapes rank #1 among world’s fruit crop in terms of acres planted
- Standard glass of red wine is 110 calories and glass of white wine is 160 calories
- It doesn’t matter whether the glass is HALF FULL or HALF EMPTY- there is clearly room for more wine!!