Which wine goes with chocolate?

A wine that is less sweet than the dessert comes across as dry and sour next to chocolate, because the sugar in the mouth suppresses the perception of the wine’s sweetness.

It is the best-known rule for sweet pairings, and easy to check yourself. Have a dry red wine with a piece of dark chocolate and the wine tastes sharper than from the same glass without chocolate. Have a sweet wine with it and the balance is right again. The rule applies just as well to cake, mousse and ice cream.

Dark chocolate calls for a sweet wine with body: a sweet red wine or a dessert wine with plenty of residual sugar.

According to the Warenwetbesluit Cacao en chocolade, chocolate contains at least 35 percent dry cocoa solids, of which at least 18 percent cocoa butter and at least 14 percent fat-free dry cocoa solids. Bars of 70 percent and higher are well above that and therefore bring more bitterness and more fat. A wine with little sugar loses out against that. Choose the sweetest side of the shelf and keep the portion small.

Milk chocolate calls for a lighter sweet wine, because it contains less cocoa and more milk and sugar than dark chocolate.

The Warenwetbesluit Cacao en chocolade sets for milk chocolate at least 25 percent dry cocoa solids, and for household milk chocolate at least 20 percent and less than 25 percent. Less bitterness is therefore left to provide a counterweight. A heavy wine with a lot of tannin quickly becomes too dominant as a result. A sweet wine with fresh acidity keeps the combination in balance.

White chocolate calls for a light sweet wine or a sweet sparkling wine, because it contains no fat-free cocoa solids that give bitterness.

White chocolate consists of cocoa butter, milk solids and sugar. What remains is fat and sweet, without the bitter side of cocoa. A heavy dessert wine quickly becomes too much with that. A sweet sparkling wine works better, because carbon dioxide and acidity clear the fat in the mouth and keep the combination light.

Stick to a small glass of about 5 centilitres, because sweet wine is served in small quantities and dessert comes at the end of the meal.

Put the glass next to the plate and only top up when someone asks. Serve sweet wine cool, around 8 to 10 degrees, because too warm and the sweetness comes across as syrupy. Always provide an alcohol-free alternative with the dessert; with chocolate, coffee or an alcohol-free sweet drink works just as well.