It’s Valentine’s Day; Indulge in the Perfect Wine & Chocolate Pairing

As many of you may already know, Whole Foods Market hosts a wine tasting every Friday evening from 5pm – 7pm. Each week, our Specialty Team chooses a theme for the tasting. It is easy to assume this week we chose a theme to suite Valentine’s Day: “Sweet Wines for your Sweetie.”

Last year, I fell head over heals with my husband’s unexpected culinary skills. It’s not very often he makes a plan, let alone plans a romantic evening. However, at this time last year his gourmet creativity shined! He baked a super-moist, delicate lava cake that oozed chocolate-y goodness. He served this sensuous lava cake with a delicious sweet red wine, Dulce Tinto Sweet Red. It was harmonious for me, ‘lust meets love.’ My guilt- ridden lust for anything chocolate and my ever-evolving love for wine put my taste buds into sensory overload.

The pairing was perfect! Biting into the depths of a warm and gooey lava cake only enhanced my experience when I sipped my slightly chilled wine. The chocolate cake seemed to intensify the fresh berry notes from the wine. The journey from a rich chocolate lava cake to a medium-bodied wine that followed through on sweetness and expressed red berries complimented one another in a way that a good relationship should.

Everyone should have the opportunity to experience the goodness of chocolate paired with a sweet red wine, so here are a few tips to keep in mind:

• As a general rule, wine should be as sweet as or sweeter than the dessert.
• If you want to pair chocolate with a dry table wine; like a Cabernet, Merlot, or Zinfandel, your best option is dark, bitter, or bittersweet chocolate with a high cacao content. But, be careful! Oftentimes, the sweetness of the food can make the dry wine seem sour and the wine and chocolate clash – think chocolate cake with lemonade – yuk!
• If you want to play it safe, pair chocolate with a sweet wine. Because chocolate has strong flavor, red dessert wines like late-harvest Zinfandel or Port are a good option without the risk of any sourness.

Valentine’s Day is the perfect excuse to indulge in the simple pleasures of life….freshly cut flowers, cooking your favorite dish together, or simply just telling someone how special they are in your life. Life lives fast. Slow down and do something special for someone on Valentine’s Day. Your heart will thank you, I promise!

I would like to create a fun dish for my husband to indulge in this Valentine’s Day. What can I make him that is healthy, but “man-friendly?” Please share your favorite recipes!

**Sara Nilsson is a Specialty Team Member. Before moving to Ohio, she developed her knowledge and love for wine while volunteering at a local winery in California. Her education for wine became distracted by the “beach bum” lifestyle when she and her husband relocated to Sanibel Island, Florida to operate a bicycle and rental shop on the island, but now her passion is being put to good use to deliver Friday’s 5 After 5 events at Whole Foods Market Dublin.

“If food is the body of good living, wine is its soul.”

— Clifton Fadiman