Weekend Cooking - Wine and Chocolate Pairings!!

I saw a romantic tweet the other day. A man was planning to bring his wife wine and chocolates. And, it got me to thinking...what kind of wine pairs with chocolate?

This post was written as part of Weekend Cooking over at BethFishReads.com.  Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, fabulous quotations, photographs. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to head over to Beth Fish Reads, grab the button, and link up anytime over the weekend.  (The button is on your right...)

I decided to do some research. Foodandwine.com seemed like a reliable source. And, sure enough they had an article on wine and chocolate pairs.

But, the article starts on a bit of a down note with the following words (my picture, above, is also from the article): "Everybody loves the idea of pairing chocolate and wine, and with good reason. But the flavors of chocolate and wine aren’t always that compatible. And the culprit is the chocolate."

The article goes on to talk about chocolate's strong flavor and recommends Ruby Port and/or Madeira to pair with it. Interesting... I decide to check a few more sources.

I found a Huffington Post article (also the source of this photo), and this is a paragraph from it that summarizes things nicely: "There is one standby that works wonders with most chocolate: the sweet red wine Banyuls from Southern France. Based on the Grenache grape, Banyuls seems to have the elusive balance of fruit, sugar, acidity and tannin that makes it chocolate’s perfect partner. Similar to Banyuls is Port -- in particular, the fruity style of port referred to as Ruby Port, which accounts for most of the branded port wines that the Port houses offer at very agreeable pricing."

Interesting, we now have Banyuls, and two votes for Ruby Port!

My final source was Godiva's website(!) They blew everything I had learned so far out of the water with a list of recommended pairings that included all sorts of different wines to go with the different Godiva flavors. You can click on the link if you would like to see the list. They also recommend a tasting party - fun!

I guess the bottom line is that wine and chocolate pairings - like beauty - may be in the eye, or palate, of the beholder. But, that the sweet wines, such as a Ruby Port, are a nice safe bet!