Chocolate. White wine. Three words guaranteed to bring a smile to the face of anyone with a taste for indulgence. But while chocolate and white wine may be divine in their own right, they don’t always combine well together.
Of course, which white wine should be served with which chocolate depends to a large extent on personal taste as well as on the social circumstances involved. There are no rules to say that you can’t curl up on the sofa with a family-size bar of Dairy Milk and a bottle of Jacob’s Creek and if that’s what you feel like eating and drinking, then who is to say you shouldn’t indulge your whim?
But if you’re trying to impress friends, colleagues or relatives with a wonderfully thought-out chocolate and wine taste combination, you’ll need to put a little more thought into planning your culinary escapades. First of all, think about the type of chocolate you want to pair with your chosen white wine. Will it be a buttery, creamy white chocolate? An intense dark chocolate? Or perhaps a sweet and creamy milk chocolate?
Let’s start with white chocolate – considered by many people to be something of an inferior cousin to those more celebrated high cocoa content dark chocolates. Chocolate snobs may scoff, but white chocolate is not without its considerable charms. Decadently buttery and mellow, white chocolate is among the sweetest of the chocolate varieties out there and it is this very same sweetness that can have wine aficionados scratching their heads in puzzlement, as they try to think of a wine that will not taste astringent and sharp in comparison. However, while pairing white chocolate and white wine may be a challenging proposition, there’s no reason at all to shy away from attempting a pairing.
Wine and chocolate matchmakers might want to look beyond the obvious and go for something a little different – for example, the creaminess of a good quality sherry will make a worthy partner to an equally good quality white chocolate. When pairing white wine with chocolate it is important that the wine should be at least as sweet as its chocolate partner, to avoid letting the sweetness of the latter overpower the subtle notes and flavours of the former. A sweet, rich sherry and chocolate make an ideal balancing act, but if you’re looking for something a little swiggable, how about a lightly sparkling Piedmontese Moscato d’ Ásti, or even a frothy, fruity Prosecco? These Italian sparklers are light, effortlessly easy-drinking wines and their very lack of pretension makes them a good match for those often underrated white chocolates.
If you’re still shaking your head at the notion of attempting to match-make a white chocolate with a white wine, how about a rich, creamy white chocolate mousse served with a dessert wine? Sweet-toothed guests are sure to be won over by the concept.
For those that simply will not be swayed to the whiter side of chocolate, let’s look at ways of teaming up a simple milk chocolate with a zingy white wine. Whether you’re thinking of serving slabs of high quality chocolate or a more elaborate milk chocolate-based dessert, it shouldn’t be too difficult to find a winning combination. Again, milk chocolate tends to be on the sweet side, so try to steer clear of any super-tannic, sharp white wines. The idea is to bring out the sweetness of the white wine, not to make it seem harsh on the palate. Rieslings, with their distinctive character and fruity notes, are a good bet for those who don’t want to stray into official ‘sweet wine’ territory, while the raisin-like flavours of a Muscat make this another good white wine option for pairing with milk chocolate, whether it be a mousse, a cake or a simple chocolate bar.
Readers who have a taste in chocolate which leans more towards the dark side, will find their work much easier when it comes to finding a suitable white wine partner for their chocolate treat of choice. The bitter notes mean that whites will seem far from harsh in comparison and, while some wine enthusiasts swear that the only truly appropriate partner for a high cocoa content, better dark chocolate is a bolshy, swaggering red, there are some white wines out there that can give the Burgundies and Cabernet Sauvignons of the wine world a real run for their money. If a heady Gewurtztraminer or tangy white Zinfandel doesn’t quite do it for you, perhaps a light Port will float your boat.
Above all, there’s no right way to go about combining chocolate and wine, so just have fun trying out different combinations.
While we can tell you all about wine you would be well advised to take a look at our friends at Chocolate Reviews who can tell you all you need to know about where to find and buy the best chocolate.
Image by cosmo flash.
