Wine and chocolate pairing

Wine and chocolate pairing gathers several difficulties, the sugar, fat, bitterness and tannins inherent to cocoa, which flatten the fruit of a dry red and harden it. Sweet fortified wines, port, banyuls or maury, provide the classic solution, their richness and power standing up to the dessert. Milk chocolate suits less full-bodied wines than an intense dark bar, the intensity needing to match the bitterness of the cocoa served.