Wine and chocolate? Blech. At least that's my usual ho-hum reaction when I read (yet another) Valentine's wine-and-chocolate pairing story. If you ask me, pairing wine and chocolate is usually a futile exercise in taking two perfectly delicious things and ruining them by forcing them together. They bring out each other's worst qualities: overharsh tannins, weird flavors and aromas lurking beneath the surface, personality quirks that don't come out when they're alone.

But then I tried Brix, a line of chocolates made especially to go with wine, and I changed my tune. Brix is made from a single-origin chocolate from Ghana blended with Belgian chocolate. Each of the three blends (milk, dark, and extra-dark) was developed to complement different varietals and styles of wine. The darkest is good with Cabernet Sauvignon and other powerhouses; the middle complements Syrah and Zinfandel, and the milk chocolate is good with dessert wine and Pinot Noir.

My husband and I decided to go all out experimenting with the chocolates. We lined them up with a bunch of wines, and added some Dove dark chocolates and Lindor milk chocolate truffles to the mix.

Results after the jump.


The Brix is definitely wine-friendly, no matter which way we tried it. Cabernet Franc with the extra dark, Riesling with the light, Chianti Classico with the dark--they all tasted fantastic, each enhancing the other in ways I never would have imagined, bringing fruit out of the wine and fruity notes in the chocolate.

I was particularly impressed with the Chianti-dark chocolate combination, because on its own, the Chianti had more than a hint of Brett, that in small quantities gives a wine a good hint of earthiness but in larger doses smells and tastes more like funky barnyard, sweaty horse, and medicinal Band-aids. Somehow the chocolate smoothed out those Brett aromas and flavors, bringing out the fruit in the wine instead.

In comparison, neither the Dove nor the Lindor chocolates did well with the wine. I like both of those brands alone, but with wine? Not so much.

The only thing I don't like about Brix is that each bar is just that--a giant bar that needs to be scored with the tip of a knife. It's crumbly and makes kind of a mess. I'd like to see scored bars that are easy to break off into bite-size pieces, which is better for a tasting party. And yes, these chocolates are made for a tasting party. Find them at Cost Plus World Market or online at www.brixchocolate.com (3-pack: $38.95).