National Bittersweet Chocolate Day- January 10

It's National Bittersweet Chocolate Day! So what wine should you pair with your sweet treat?! Well unfortunately if you do any amount of searching you'll often see conflicting recommendations. Some state champagne with Valentine's chocolate is a great combination. Others loathe that and say a hearty red is a better choice. Part of this is due to personal preference, but mostly it is because chocolate, like wine, can be so diverse.

Today we will primarily be focused on bittersweet chocolate, and the wine that pairs best with that will be very different from a semi-sweet, milk chocolate or even white chocolate. Bittersweet chocolate is a full flavor, complex, chocolate flavor containing between 70% and 100% cacao. Flavors found in this dark chocolate can be bitter, roasted, fruity, earthy or nutty.

There are two major factors to consider when determining what wine will pair best with a given chocolate. The first is sweetness. In general you want to select a wine that is about as sweet, or slightly sweeter than the chocolate. This allows them to play off one another and prevents the wine from tasting bitter or the wine from completely overpowering the chocolate. Bittersweet chocolate, having the least amount of sugar, would be best paired with wine that is less sweet, like a red. Whereas a milk chocolate or white chocolate would be better pair better with sweeter red or white wine.

Next you want to match wine and chocolate in terms of complexity and weight. Bittersweet chocolate has a pretty complex flavor so you would want the wine to compliment those elements. A dark chocolate paired with a lower tannin wine will highlight the tannin. Although that same chocolate when paired with a high tannin wine you may notice more of the fruit flavor. If the chocolate is flavored, try to fine a wine that also has that characteristic.

For bittersweet chocolate some recommendations are Cabernet Sauvignon, Bordeaux, Malbec, Tawny Port, Shiraz and California Zinfandel. However if you have a favorite chocolate and a favorite wine, by all means, consume them together! Most wine pairings are very personal. Although I wouldn't hold it against you if you want to experiment how some of the different combinations taste!