Wine and chocolate: Yes or no?

Wine

By Bill Daley
Chicago Tribune

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I discovered by mistake how well a Dewar's on the rocks went with some Hershey's Kisses.

The pairing of Scotch and chocolate went so well that I wondered if Scotch can go with chocolate, why not wine? And not just the sweet wines such as port, Madeira or orange muscat, but regular, dry wine. You know, that half-bottle of red left when the dinner plates are taken away.

Interestingly, given its rep as a food fighter, cabernet sauvignon is the first choice of many experts in pairing wine with chocolate. Maybe it's because both can be as heavy as prize fighters dukin' it out.

A bottle of Mettler wine paired with chocolate. (Bill Hogan/Chicago Tribune)

"Tannins in the chocolate and the wine work best when they're well-matched," said Ziggy Eschliman, the Sonoma Valley-based "Wine Gal" of television and radio and self-styled "sommelier to rock stars." "A big cab, malbec, petit verdot or Bordeaux blend that has well-integrated tannins or has an influence of oak seems to be a good mix with dark chocolate," she said. "A sexy syrah/shiraz does work well with dark chocolate, too."

Eschliman said the velvety quality found in many merlots makes this red a good candidate for milk chocolate.

"Take a Milky Way with a merlot that has seen some nice oak, and you get a little cocoa and caramel in the wine and the chocolate," she added.

In his book "Perfect Pairings," master sommelier Evan Goldstein warns readers to steer clear of fruit-forward wines such as riesling and Sauternes. "Incorporating some fruit with the chocolate can help, but it's still tough on the wine and usually flattens it," he writes.

Goldstein suggests avoiding ice wines, young late-harvest wines and sparkling wines, except brachetto d'Acqui and sparkling shiraz. If you have a chocolate dessert with a strong fruit accent, it can pair with berry- or cherry-based wines or wines with an orange or citrus nose, such as orange muscat, he said.

"With red wine, the chocolate must be bitter, with a high cacao content, and the wine must be ripe with a perception of sweetness," Goldstein said. For his money, so-called "New World" reds that are on the jammier side — Australian shiraz or California zinfandel and ripe petite sirah — work best.

Not everyone is sold on wine with chocolate.

"I know there are plenty of people who like the combination," said master sommelier Doug Frost, a wine consultant based in Prairie Village, Kan. "I suspect they would enjoy chocolate and swamp water, since it's the chocolate they're after."