Whether you are celebrating this Valentine’s Day with the one you love or flying solo, wine and chocolate are a must. You may have heard of beer, wine and hard alcohol flights, but why not make this Valentine’s Day special with a wine and chocolate paired flight to conclude your dinner.

Pairing wine and chocolate is not as easy as eating a chocolate bar and sipping on a glass of wine. Here are five general rules when pairing wine and chocolate:

1. Pair darker chocolates with darker red wines.
2. Splurge and go for high quality chocolate. It will pair better.
3. Alternate the wine and chocolate. For example: taste the wine; then the chocolate; then go back to the wine.
4. Move from light to dark and dry to sweet. Like any tasting, sip water in between each pairing to cleanse the palate.
5. Pair similar flavors together. If the chocolate has a fruity or flowery taste, it will pair well with a wine with similar qualities.

To enhance your wine and chocolate flight, make sure your wine is properly selected and served. When it comes to Valentine’s Day consider these two important aspects before popping the cork.

1. Wine Name

While the wine connoisseur in all of us is concerned with the taste and age of wine, also be cognizant of the name of the wine for the night. What type of mood do you want to set? The label may say it all.

Fun romantic wine names include: Menage a Trois, Simply Naked, Taken Wine, Troublemaker, and Monogamy.

1. Wine Temperature

The go-to rule of thumb with wine storage is to store the bottle in a “cellar temperature” which is typically about 50 degrees Fahrenheit. But, if you pick up the bottle from our store on your way home this Friday, you will need to get the wine to the proper storage temperature before following these serving rules.

Red Wine: From a storage temperature, let the bottle sit at room temperature for about a half hour. Optimal taste will occur between 62 – 65 degrees.

White Wine: Refrigerate the bottle of wine for 3 to 4 hours prior to your romantic dinner. While the initial pour of the wine will be chilled, the optimal drinking experience of the wine will occur as the wine begins to warm from the room temperature.

You want the wine to hold at roughly 45 degrees in a bottle holder and your drinking temperature to be around 50 – 55 degrees.

(Although this is Valentine’s Day, so we don’t suggest you pull out your thermometer to test the wine. Just use your own judgment.)

What is your go-to wine and chocolate pairing for the night?