Which wines are right for Valentine’s Day? The ones you sip with chocolate, of course! I have some ideas about that, but it might be better to consult an expert. There’s none better than wine writer Natalie MacLean, who describes wine as,

liquid sensuality: Its heady bouquet stimulates the appetite and its velvet caress soothes that desire. What other drink is described as both ‘voluptuous’ and ‘muscular’? And when you pair wine with the mouth-coating luxury of chocolate, the combination is impossible to resist.

No doubt, you just can’t wait to hear my thoughts on that, but maybe I’ll just go ahead and give you her top ten wine and chocolate pairings:

Wine and chocolate for Valentine’s Day

1. Dark Chocolate and Banyuls, France
2. Chocolate-Covered Biscotti and Recioto Della Valpolicella, Italy
3. Chocolate-Orange Cake and Liqueur Muscat, Australia
4. Chocolate with Nuts and Tawny Port, Portugal
5. Milk Chocolate and Tokaji, Hungary
6. Bittersweet Chocolate and Amarone, Italy
7. Chocolate-Dipped Fruit and Icewine, Canada
8. Chocolate Ganache Truffles and Sauternes, France
9. Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake and Framboise, California
10. Chocolate Hearts with Cream Filling and Cream Sherry, Spain

You can visit her web site and click the “Food & Wine” link for many more ideas on matching food and wine. If you love her site as much as I do, you’ll want to buy her book, Red, White, and Drunk All Over: A Wine-Soaked Journey from Grape to Glass. It would make a great Valentine’s day gift – who needs flowers?

Ok, you should probably get her flowers too …

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