Chocolate and Wine Pairing

Posted by Violet Grgich on January 30th, 2020

Napa Valley wines pair famously with many different sweet and savoury foods, but some believe that chocolate and wine are simply not compatible. We believe they're wrong. While finding the right vintage to taste with your chocolate may be more elusive than other types of pairings, you'll experience a symphony of textures and flavours when finding the right combination.

When pairing chocolate with wine, we recommend you strive to match the characteristics of each product. Lighter and more subtle chocolates should go with light-bodied wines and vice versa. In some cases, finding a contrast between subtle and full-bodied flavours can be fantastic but it's a riskier option. The following are some pairings we recommend:

• White chocolate with sweet Sherry, Moscato d'Asti and Orange Muscat. These wines highlight the mellow and buttery notes of white chocolate while also complementing its creamy textures.
• Milk chocolate, including creamy desserts like mousse and cheesecake, with lighter, silky wines like Pinot Noir or Riesling. For an adventurous contrast, try our Napa Chardonnay with milk chocolate-dipped strawberries.
• Dark chocolate with full-bodied, robust wines like Napa Cabernet Sauvignon. Due to the higher cacao content in dark chocolate, pairings with more intense flavours tend to work better.
• Chocolate with nuts, including peanut butter, with ports, Sherry and Madeira. Chocolate with berries also pairs well with these wines as well as many sparkling varietals.

Don't be afraid to test your own pairings to see which chocolates and wines synergize with your palette best. We recommend that you experiment pairing one type of chocolate with many different varietals and vintages. A Napa wine tasting is a wonderful opportunity to test pairings. You could also experiment with many different types of chocolates using a single wine you know you love. For example, arrange a test with a series of chocolate morsels, from white to dark, with our Napa Cabernet Sauvignon.

At Grgich Hills Estate, we can offer a lot of valuable information about pairings with our wines. If you don't find a combination of chocolate and wine that you love immediately, we recommend that you don't give up. The exponential pairing of flavours and textures can produce some less than ideal results at first, but you'll experience delectable fusions through discovery and a bit of outside knowledge.

Make a Napa wine tasting reservation this Valentine’s Day at Grgich Hills where we will be offering chocolate and wine pairing. Taste our Napa Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay with delicious chocolates!