Wine and chocolate: a decadent combination

February 14, 1998
Web posted at: 11:35 p.m. EST (0435 GMT)

HOPLAND, California (CNN) -- Cheese and wine is a tried-and-true combination. But how about chocolate and wine?

Bittersweet chocolate is rich enough on its own, but pair it with an equally rich cabernet sauvignon, and it's a match made in heaven. Both have a bitterness, a roasted flavor and an earthy quality.

Every year, as a warm-up for Valentine's Day, Fetzer Vineyards hosts a red wine and chocolate tasting.

"Most people like it," said John White of Fetzer Vineyards. "I think you find red wines in particular, the chocolate helps take away some of the astringency and the dryness of the wine. But it's a great match."

CNN's Susan Reed informs us on the art of mixing wine and chocolate. 2.7M/49 sec./320x240 1.7M/49 sec./160x120 QuickTime movie

Some of the combinations served at the tasting include a creamy chocolate cheesecake and a merlot, a relatively soft red wine, and an even lighter chocolate mousse is paired with an even lighter red wine, a pinot noir.

Strawberries dipped in sweet chocolate are served with a white zinfandel, which has a hint of a strawberry taste.

But you can't mix just any wine with any chocolate. The wine must be gutsy enough to stand up to the chocolate. If the chocolate is sweeter than the wine, the fruit flavors of the wine won't come through.

Man dipped in 40 pounds of chocolate

So next year, try wine and chocolate instead of flowers as a Valentine's Day gift.

"I think it's be great," said Colleen Stewart of Fetzer Vineyards. "I think it's more romantic, almost. It's almost hedonistic."

Or you could do what one man did for his wife with the help of a Sonoma County, California, chocolate maker.

"I dipped a man ... in 40 pounds of chocolate and delivered him to his wife on Valentine's Day," said Mark Lardner of Peter Rabbit's Chocolate Factory.

His wife's reaction?

"She actually took him home and hosed him off," he said.

Correspondent Susan Reed contributed to this report

Special section:

• Valentines Day

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