Pairing wine and chocolate all depends on what you want from the experience. Although red wine and chocolate is the classic match, you can get really interesting flavours when you pair white and rose wines with it.
The golden rule when pairing food and wine is that you don’t want the food’s sugar level to overshadow the wine’s, otherwise you’ll be left with a mouth full of sweetness and no other levels of flavour. If sweetness is your bag and you want a high sugar chocolate, like most high street bars, you need to pair it with an equally high sugar, probably fortified, wine like port.
As all of our cans are low sugar, we’d recommend investing in premium high cacao, low sugar chocolate. This will bring out the best flavours in both the wine and the chocolate without one dominating.
To get you started we’ve curated a set of gift boxes pairing each of our award-winning wines with luxury organic chocolate from our friends at Solkiki. Each set showcases a different way to pair canned wine and chocolate, and demonstrates just how good they are together.
Our full-bodied Old Vine Garnacha is brimming with black cherries, strawberry and vanilla spice so we’ve paired it with an award-winning 72% Gran Palo Blanco Peruvian dark chocolate. The tannin from our Garnacha complements the fat content in the high cacao chocolate, intensifying the rich, fruity qualities in both. (If you’re unsure what tannin is, learn more about it and watch our #winewithben video here.)
The juicy acidity of our Gruner Veltliner goes perfectly with Solkiki’s artisan 68% Marañón Peruvian dark chocolate. The Gruner’s citrus cuts through the smooth texture of the chocolate, bringing out its nutty caramel notes which in contrast makes the wine seem fruitier, boosting its peach and grapefruit flavours.
Our Grenache rose is light and slightly creamy, full of berries and orange, but when it’s paired with 70% Gran Chililique Peruvian dark chocolate it becomes ultra-creamy and its luscious butterscotch flavours are brought to the forefront.
When you pair wine and chocolate remember: red wine and chocolate will complement, enhancing the deeper notes in each other and making for a super indulgent experience, whereas white and rose wines will contrast, their acidity cuts through the fat content and changes the flavours of both.
By Niamh Harkett
