If you offer a client a chocolate-covered strawberry, chances are she will want a glass of champagne to accompany it. Although chocolate and champagne are often associated, open your clients’ eyes to the delicious possibilities of pairing chocolate with various wines.
Pairing Red Wine with Dark and Milk Chocolate
Milk chocolate is milder than its darker counterpart, yet still offers that creamy, rich taste. Sephra’s gourmet milk chocolate for chocolate fountains is no exception. If you want to offer clients wine pairing suggestions for this chocolate, you could suggest Pinot Noir or a lighter Merlot, which will especially complement cheesecake bites dipped in milk chocolate. Other alternatives include a Muscat, Riesling or a Ruby Port. These choices shouldn’t overwhelm, but instead enhance the flavor of the chocolate. The chocolate itself will return the favor for the wine being sampled.
If your clients want dark chocolate for chocolate fountains at their wine tasting, you should recommend a more full-bodied, robust wine. Some of these wines might even possess nuances of chocolate themselves to further complement the decadent chocolate fountain and all its dipping treats. You could pair dark chocolate with a bold Zinfandel or Cabernet Sauvignon, for example. A full-bodied Merlot or Pinot Noir would also pair exceptionally well with the richness of dark chocolate.
Choosing the Perfect Complement to White Chocolate
White chocolate for chocolate fountains is a lighter, sweeter chocolate with a creamy, buttery taste. White chocolate is more delicate but still pairs well with several wines. You could suggest Sherry or Orange Muscat to help complement the creamy texture of the white chocolate and accent the fruit tone in the wine and chocolate.
A bolder choice would be to pair the white chocolate with an oppositely flavored wine like a Zinfandel. This wine will contrast the white chocolate and can work well if you find the right wine. It can be fun to experiment and feel free to get client recommendations that you can pass on to future clients who can’t resist the idea of pairing wine and chocolate for their next sophisticated event.
Hosting a Chocolate Fountain Wine Tasting Event
A traditional wine tasting event usually has a theme, such as Italian red wines, and allows people sample more than one. You could let your client choose one chocolate and five accompanying wines to sample, or for a larger event, choose more than one type of chocolate fountain, such as two smaller fountains, one white chocolate and one dark chocolate. Then, offer a select number of wines for each type of chocolate. Guests will have so much fun sampling the various dipping treats and wine selections that the event will be a success and you will have yet another type of chocolate event to offer your clients.