In recent years I seem to have become something of a dessert wine fanatic. On my kitchen shelf – my home for soon-to-be-drunk, partially-drunk, and particularly attractive bottles (behind which I can hide the others 8-), I keep about a dozen bottles – mostly demi – of several different dessert wines, including Ice Wine, Beerenauslese, Sauternes, Tokaji, Muscat Beaunes de Venise, and Moscato d’Asti.
There’s one wine I didn’t list there though. And curiously enough, it’s also not listed in this about.com Valentine’s piece on wine and chocolate. I say “curious”, because in my opinion, it’s the single best wine match for dark chocolate; Brachetto d’Acqui. It’s a marvellous though obscure (due to limited production) sparkler gem from my favourite all-round wine region, Piemonte in northern Italy. Even the crappy Brachettos – like the one currently adorning my shelf – still posess a red fruit sweetness that you won’t find in any other wine. The better ones are just more fruity, aromatic, and complex. Plus, a red sparkler on Valentine’s Day? How do you miss that?!
no comment until now