Best Wine with Chocolate: A Complete Pairing Guide

The Allure of Wine and Chocolate

Wine and chocolate share more in common than most people realize. Both are products of fermentation, both develop complex flavors through careful processing, and both contain tannins that create structure and depth. When the right wine meets the right chocolate, the experience can be transcendent, with each amplifying the other’s best qualities.

However, chocolate and wine pairing is also one of the trickiest in the food and wine world. Chocolate’s intense sweetness, bitterness, and fat content can easily overwhelm a wine or create unpleasant clashes. The key to success lies in understanding the different types of chocolate and matching their characteristics with complementary wine styles.

Understanding Chocolate for Wine Pairing

Cacao Percentage Matters

The cacao percentage of chocolate directly affects which wines will pair well. Higher cacao means more bitterness and less sweetness; lower cacao means more sugar and milk solids. This scale from bitter to sweet is the most important factor in choosing your wine.

The Sweetness Rule

The fundamental principle of dessert pairing applies to chocolate: the wine should be at least as sweet as the food. A dry red wine paired with sweet milk chocolate will taste bitter and thin because the chocolate’s sweetness makes the wine’s residual sugar seem nonexistent. This is why fortified and dessert wines are the most reliable chocolate partners.

Fat and Tannin

Chocolate’s cocoa butter content interacts with wine tannins similarly to how fat in steak does, softening the wine’s astringency. This means that tannic wines that might be too harsh on their own can become velvety when paired with high-fat chocolate.

Dark Chocolate (70% Cacao and Above)

The Challenge

Dark chocolate with high cacao content is intensely bitter, moderately sweet, and has deep, complex flavors that can include notes of coffee, dried fruit, smoke, and spice. It needs wines with enough sweetness to balance the bitterness while possessing the concentration to match the chocolate’s intensity.

Best Pairings

Late Bottled Vintage Port (LBV): This is perhaps the most reliable dark chocolate pairing. LBV Port has rich blackberry and plum fruit, firm structure, and enough sweetness to balance dark chocolate’s bitterness. The wine’s own tannins are softened by the chocolate’s fat, creating a seamless, luxurious combination.

Vintage Port and Vintage Tawny Port: For aged dark chocolate truffles or high-end dark chocolate bars, a 10- or 20-year Tawny Port from the Douro Valley is exceptional. Its caramel, walnut, and dried fig flavors interweave with the chocolate’s complexity.

Banyuls: This fortified Grenache-based wine from southern France is often called the best wine for chocolate. Made in a style similar to Port but with Grenache’s characteristic red fruit and spice, Banyuls has a natural affinity for dark chocolate that is almost uncanny. Look for Banyuls Grand Cru for the most intense pairing.

Maury: Another fortified Grenache wine from Roussillon, France, Maury offers similar chocolate-friendly qualities to Banyuls with sometimes even more concentrated fruit and spice.

Australian Liqueur Muscat: From Rutherglen in Victoria, these incredibly sweet, concentrated fortified wines have flavors of toffee, raisin, and dark chocolate themselves, making them a natural echo of high-cacao chocolate.

Dry Red Wine with Dark Chocolate

Some dry reds can work with very dark chocolate (80% and above), where the chocolate’s sweetness is minimal. Argentine Malbec from Mendoza, with its plummy fruit and velvety texture, can complement a square of intense dark chocolate. Barossa Valley Shiraz, with its dark chocolate and mocha notes, creates a mirror-image pairing. However, these combinations require careful balance and are less forgiving than fortified wine pairings.

Milk Chocolate

The Challenge

Milk chocolate is sweeter, creamier, and lighter in flavor than dark chocolate. It has pronounced caramel and vanilla notes from the milk solids and sugar. Very dry wines will taste bitter and austere against milk chocolate’s sweetness.

Best Pairings

Brachetto d’Acqui: This lightly sparkling, sweet red wine from Piedmont, Italy, is a perfect milk chocolate partner. Its strawberry and rose petal flavors, gentle bubbles, and moderate sweetness complement milk chocolate without overwhelming it.

Moscato d’Asti: The gentle sparkle and peach-apricot sweetness of this Piedmontese wine pairs beautifully with milk chocolate, especially pieces with caramel or hazelnut filling.

Ruby Port: Younger and fruitier than LBV or Tawny, Ruby Port’s bright berry flavors and moderate sweetness are well-calibrated for milk chocolate.

Recioto della Valpolicella: This sweet red wine from the Veneto, made from partially dried Corvina grapes, has cherry and chocolate flavors that harmonize beautifully with milk chocolate.

Pedro Ximenez Sherry: The extraordinarily sweet, syrupy PX Sherry, with its fig, date, and toffee flavors, creates an indulgent pairing with milk chocolate and caramel combinations.

White Chocolate

The Challenge

White chocolate is not technically chocolate at all, as it contains no cacao solids, only cocoa butter, sugar, and milk. It is very sweet, very creamy, and has delicate vanilla and butter flavors. It needs wines that are sweet enough to match but with enough acidity to prevent the pairing from becoming cloying.

Best Pairings

Late-Harvest Riesling: A German or Alsatian late-harvest Riesling, with its honey, apricot, and citrus flavors and razor-sharp acidity, is outstanding with white chocolate. The acidity cuts through the cream and sweetness, keeping the pairing fresh.

Sauternes: The great sweet wine of Bordeaux, with its botrytis-influenced flavors of honey, marmalade, and creme brulee, is a luxurious partner for quality white chocolate.

Moscato d’Asti: Its gentle sweetness and stone fruit flavors complement white chocolate’s vanilla notes without either element dominating.

Ice Wine (Eiswein): The concentrated sweetness and bracing acidity of Canadian or German ice wine provides a stunning counterpoint to white chocolate’s richness.

Chocolate Desserts and Wine

Chocolate Cake and Brownies

Rich, dense chocolate cake and fudgy brownies pair well with fortified wines that have both sweetness and structure. An LBV Port or a Banyuls Grand Cru can handle the intensity of a flourless chocolate cake. For lighter chocolate cakes, a Recioto della Valpolicella or a Maury provides a gentler match.

Chocolate Mousse

The airy texture of chocolate mousse calls for a wine with some elegance. A demi-sec (off-dry) Champagne is a surprisingly wonderful pairing, with its bubbles complementing the mousse’s lightness. A 10-year Tawny Port also works beautifully, its nutty complexity adding depth to the mousse.

Chocolate Truffles

The type of truffle determines the wine. Dark chocolate truffles with a ganache center pair with Banyuls or LBV Port. Truffles flavored with orange call for Muscat de Beaumes-de-Venise. Salted caramel chocolate truffles are magnificent with a 20-year Tawny Port, whose own caramel notes create a flavor echo.

Chocolate-Covered Strawberries

The fruit element opens up lighter, more refreshing pairing options. Brachetto d’Acqui is the dream pairing, with its strawberry flavors creating a bridge between the fruit and the chocolate. Demi-sec Champagne also works beautifully.

Chocolate Fondue

With a variety of dipping items (fruit, marshmallows, biscotti), chocolate fondue needs a versatile wine. A Ruby Port or a Recioto is adaptable enough to complement the different elements.

Special Chocolate and Wine Combinations

Chocolate and Chili

The combination of chocolate and chili, popular in Mexican cuisine, benefits from wines that can handle both sweetness and heat. A Zinfandel from California, with its ripe fruit and spicy character, is interesting alongside a chili-infused chocolate. Shiraz with pepper notes also works, as does a Banyuls with its inherent spice.

Chocolate and Orange

Orange-flavored chocolate or chocolate with candied orange peel pairs beautifully with Muscat-based dessert wines, which often have orange blossom and citrus peel aromatics. Muscat de Beaumes-de-Venise or an Orange Muscat from California creates a harmonious, fragrant pairing.

Chocolate and Coffee

Mocha and espresso-flavored chocolates pair well with Tawny Port, which often has coffee and toffee notes from extended barrel aging. Australian Liqueur Muscat, with its dark, roasted character, also complements coffee-chocolate combinations.

Chocolate and Sea Salt

The salt in salted chocolate amplifies the perception of sweetness in wine, making even moderately sweet wines taste more luscious. Tawny Port, Maury, and even a sweet Madeira with its caramel and saline character are all excellent choices.

Wines to Avoid with Chocolate

• Dry white wines: They will taste harsh and acidic against chocolate’s sweetness.
• Tannic young reds: Cabernet Sauvignon and Nebbiolo combined with chocolate create an unpleasant bitterness.
• High-acid dry reds: Sangiovese and Barbera can clash with chocolate’s sweetness.
• Light-bodied, delicate wines: They simply get lost.

Hosting a Chocolate and Wine Tasting

A chocolate and wine tasting makes for an unforgettable evening. Arrange a progression from light to rich:

1. White chocolate with Moscato d’Asti
2. Milk chocolate with Brachetto d’Acqui
3. Dark chocolate (60%) with Ruby Port
4. Dark chocolate (70%) with LBV Port
5. Dark chocolate (85%) with Banyuls Grand Cru

Provide plain crackers and water between tastings to cleanse the palate.

Find Your Chocolate Pairing with Sommo

The Sommo app makes exploring wine and chocolate pairings a delicious adventure. Scan the label of any fortified or dessert wine to see its flavor profile and chocolate pairing potential. Discover new sweet wine styles from around the world, learn about the grapes behind your favorite Ports and dessert wines, and build a personal library of your best pairings. Download Sommo and make your next chocolate indulgence even sweeter.