Wine or Chocolate? Wine AND Chocolate!

Valentine’s Day often brings about a small dilemma—present your beloved with a gift of delicious chocolates or a bottle or two of delectable wine?   Nicole Hitchcock, Turning Leaf Winemaker has a suggestion—why not couple the  chocolates with wine? Here are some of her pairing suggestions to give chocolate a new significant other.

Dark Chocolate, paired with Turning Leaf’s 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon
  o  The richest of all the reds, this wine boasts notes of vanilla and brown that perfectly complement   the bitterness in darker chocolates.

Milk Chocolate, paired with Turning Leaf’s 2008 Merlot
   o  The fruitier character in this Merlot brings out the natural, bright flavors in classic milk chocolate.

White Chocolate, paired with Turning Leaf’s 2008 Chardonnay
   o  A twist on the common red wine & chocolate pairing, the acidity level in drier whites, such as Chardonnay, cuts through the sweetness of white chocolate making for a more balanced bite.

Sounds interesting and this is an idea we have been seeing more frequently—pairing chocolates with wine or fine spirits. It certainly is a way to please multiple zones of your beloved’s (and your) palate.
  
                                                http://www.turningleaf.com/