Amazing Wine & Chocolate Tasting Party

A wine and chocolate tasting party is the perfect idea for adults. Follow these tips for pairing flavors, plus decoration ideas.

Chocolate theme party

There are many traditional themes and ideas for hosting a party at home, such as a dinner party, a game day party, or a birthday celebration. How about trying something different like hosting a wine & chocolate tasting party?

This amazing party was hosted by Heavenly Blooms. Have you ever seen a more beautiful display of rustic elegance?!

Wine and chocolate tasting party

If you’d like to host a wine & chocolate tasting party there are a few key points to keep in mind.  Once you learn these basic “rules” you can experiment with your pairings as well as with the chocolates that you offer for tasting.

The first thing to keep in mind is that your wine should be as sweet or sweeter than the chocolate. Otherwise, you can end up with a bitter or sour taste. You’ll also want to pair lighter chocolates with lighter and sweeter wines.  Full-bodied wines should be paired with darker chocolates.

As with all wine tasting, begin with the lightest pairings and end with the darkest.  In between each tasting, cleans your palette with small bread cubes or oyster crackers before moving to the next one.  Below we have a list of pairings to help get you started.

Perfect Pairings

• Moscato with white chocolate
• White Zinfandel with white chocolate
• Riesling or Pinot Noir with milk chocolate
• Champagne with milk chocolate
• Tawny Port with dark chocolate
• Shiraz or Merlot with dark chocolate
• Dessert Wine with fruit filled milk chocolates

Tasting Tips

Start by tasting your wine and chocolate separately so you can fully appreciate how they pair together. Then follow these steps.

1. Swirl your glass of wine.
2. Sniff the wine for its bouquet.
3. Take a sip of wine.
4. Bite a piece of Chocolate and hold it on the tongue.
5. When chocolate begins to dissolve, take another sip of wine.
6. Let the chocolate & wine mingle together in your mouth before swallowing.

Once you’ve done your basic tasting you can enjoy more complete desserts as well.  Include chocolate treats such as cake pops, brownies, fudge, truffles, chocolate dipped strawberries, etc.  With these tips and some quality ingredients you’ll be on your way to a festive and delicious celebration!

I wrote this article as it first appeared here during my time as a contributing writer for Tablespoon. I thought I’d update it and bring the topic to Celebrations At Home as well.