Go Green & Prosper

Is going green here to stay? According to Shari Waters at About.com, “retailers who think ‘going green’ is just another fad or marketing ploy should think again. Consumers are becoming more aware of their overall impact on our communities. Shoppers have developed more of a green attitude as a way of life and retailers need to be there to meet their needs.”

The most noticeable green initiative for a retailer is to discontinue the use of plastic bags. To offer a low-cost green solution, consider selling reusable bags at cost. Print your store logo on the reusable bags and encourage your customers to use them for all their shopping. Your customers feel good about doing their part, and that bag serves as an advertisement for your confections! Not only will potential customers become aware of your brand, they will also remember you as an environmentally friendly retailer.

Take your green initiative one step further by delivering your confections in 100 percent recycled Kraft boxes. Tap Packaging Solutions offers a growing selection of Kraft paperboard packaging options. In addition to our exclusive 2 and 4 piece Wine Hangers and three sizes of our exclusive Cello Caddy, Tap also offers the standard auto bottom Kraft boxes in four sizes and the latest addition to our Kraft line include a Kraft Apple box and three sizes of Kraft Cupcake boxes.

All Kraft products can be foil stamped with your logo to further strengthen your brand. Once you have made the move to green, make sure to make an advertising splash to announce your initiative. Create a window display highlighting your earth-friendly packaging, complete with branches, leaves and/or sand and consider offering a special discount to customers who purchase and use your reusable bags.

To learn more about earth friendly, Kraft packaging for your confections, visit our website http://confectioner.tap-usa.com/search.aspx?find=kraft

How to Get the Biggest Bang for Your Buck at Trade Shows!

The RCI Industry Expo is one of the largest Confection Shows in the country.  RCI shares some helpful tips to help you make the most of your trip to the show.  Hope to see you there!

In light of our upcoming 93^rd Annual Convention & Industry Expo, this week’s tip is to save money by placing orders at industry tradeshows.

In addition to seeing new product innovations and meeting suppliers and fellow confectioners face to face, you can save money on items such as packaging, machinery and ingredients by attending industry tradeshows. Many exhibitors will provide show specials just for those who take advantage of placing orders while at the show. For example, you could secure a reduced shipping rate, free product samples, or deep discounts by placing the same order you were going to place when the need arose a couple months from now. Note that most suppliers will allow you to place an order and arrange for later shipping dates so you could even place your Christmas order and know it will arrive at a later arranged date.

Who will you meet at our upcoming Industry Expo?   View the floor plan here, including exhibiting company descriptions and show specials to plan your orders! And make plans to be at the RCI Industry Expo in Cincinnati, June 25 and 26!

Keep The Ideas Coming!

We all know the importance of diversifying and branching into new markets in order to grow a business.  As confectioners, we are afforded the opportunity to introduce new ingredients to our staple products.  Today you can find almost anything you can think of covered in chocolate.  Nuts lead the way with pretzels, potato chips, popcorn and even bacon as strong contenders.  The success of the chocolate covered cherry opened the door for the strawberry, apple, grape and many others fruits as well.  Although it is difficult to determine which actually came first in the long line of chocolate covered fruits, the extensions have all proved quite profitable for many candy shops.

Some insightful chocolatiers have even branched into incorporating the hype associate with the “Super Foods” into their chocolate covered line ups.  The highly publicized benefits of chocolate and wine have opened up even more avenues, allowing chocolate shops to partner with wineries and wine stores to grow their business.  Our most popular product, the Wine Hanger, was born after discussions with a customer working with a hospital on a study using dark chocolate and red wine! Recently, I learned of the latest creative twist for chocolate ~ edible chocolate play dough now marketed by a European company.  The opportunities are endless.

Our previous posts have discussed the fact that chocolate is recession proof, heart healthy, mind healthy and of course irresistible, but we still need to continue to come up with creative ways to keep our customers engaged and to command more of their disposable income.  Keep the ideas coming and let us know what packaging solutions we can create to deliver your next big idea!

Packaging Gives Products Personality

According to Kacey Culliney, from foodproductiondaily.com, “packaging design is a crucial investment for premium chocolate firms in an overcrowded marketplace, as it gives a product personality, which is essentially what a brand should be.”

Confectionnews.com spoke to Mark Salisbury, director of graphic design agency Solid Block about the role of packaging design in premium chocolate products:  “Communicating brand is first and foremost a priority in packaging.  Consumers are a lot savvier nowadays about who they buy from; they buy from companies they like.  So for chocolate firms it’s about ensuring you are not a faceless company and about building a relationship with your customers.  Packaging design gives personality which is essentially what a brand should be.  Confectioners should look to fill a void in the marketplace.  Their product needs to be something special, either in terms of packaging, ingredients or the story behind it.”

You have heard the concept of differentiation several times in our blogs.  The key to success in any business is setting yourself apart from your competition.  At Tap Packaging Solutions, we pride ourselves on providing uniquely creative packaging solutions that do just that.  Our Wine Hangers and Cello Caddies, both exclusive designs fromTap, offer you opportunities to not only visually impact your store, but also to branch out into new avenues by partnering with wine stores, gift shops and vineyards.  Our products set us apart from other packaging suppliers. Whether you custom stamp a stock product or work with us to design a one of a kind custom box, Tap products lend personality to your brand by making your products stand out. 

Your success depends on the uniqueness of your product offering and packaging plays a major role in that presentation.  Challenge us to help set your confections apart with uniquely, creative packaging!

Creative Ways to Boost Mother's Day Sales

What Will You Do Differently This Mother’s Day?

 

PS Print Resource Center offers some great ideas to make your May a huge success!

 

 

Off-the-Wall Mother’s Day Marketing Strategies

in Holidays and Special Events, Mother's Day

Mother’s Day usually consists of the tried-and-true themes that attempt to convince customers that a particular product or service says “I love you, Mom” better than the next. Naturally this is the emotion that Mother’s Day buyers want to express, but you can best the competition by marketing with more flair. If you want to instantly boost Mother’s Day business, increase customer loyalty and brand your company to the masses, you should consider staging a publicity stunt this Mother’s Day.

For sure, the term “publicity stunt” carries a negative connotation. Call it what you will – an event, a customer appreciation day, etc. – but the bottom line is that publicity stunts are engineered to attract the attention of media and your target audience to increase sales. Successful publicity stunts offer unique experiences, whether it’s through good prizes or entertainment, and thus earn free press coverage. To pull greater profits and leave your competitors in the dust this May, try one of these off-the-wall Mother’s Day marketing strategies.

Break a world record

The Guinness World Records website isn’t just a tool for finding novel feats and facts – it’s a springboard for powerful marketing events that generate free press and boost revenue. Search through world records to see if you can identify any that are relevant to your business and to Mother’s Day, then decide whether there are any you might be able to break. A florist might decide to try to break the record for world’s tallest bouquet, for example.

Mom makeover

Mothers spend countless hours doting on their children and helping them look their best. They match outfits, comb hair and clean faces despite all the whining and resistance as their children grow. Now, it’s time for Mom to be pampered!

Partner with complementary yet non-competing businesses to give away free or discounted makeovers for moms, including a new hairstyle, makeup and wardrobe. If you’re not in the beauty business, no problem: You can still hold a mom makeover event if you choose the right partners. Promote your mom makeover event by printing postcards, flyers, posters, banners, and by contacting local news outlets to generate free publicity.

Lovable landscaping

Flowers represent some of the most popular Mother’s Day gifts, and you can help someone make their Mother’s Day exceptionally special with a free home landscaping package. Hold a contest where competitors write in why their mothers deserve the landscaping package, or – better yet – hold a game show-like competition where mothers and son/daughter teams compete against one another to see who knows the other best. You can do this very simply by inviting your teams to shop at your store in the week preceding Mother’s Day. When they make a purchase, have them instantly fill out forms printed with your questions. Tally the results and award the winner on Mother’s Day! If landscaping and flowers are not relevant to your business, give something else away that is.

Host your own Tasting in your Chocolate Shop!

Now that you have learned the ins and outs of pairing wine & chocolate, turn what you know into profits for your store by hosting a tasting party at your store.  Make sure to highlight your best selling and most unique products in your displays.  Have them sign in on a guest book to capture their mailing and email information for future promotions!

What’s More Fun Than A Party To Taste
Chocolate & Wine? content provided by The Nibble

What good is sitting along in your room, even with several box of chocolate and a few bottles of wine?  We NIBBLE editors have done it more than a few times—it’s a long, lonely night but it’s part of our job. You, on the other hand, can be surrounded by friends who will talk about your event for years, by hosting a chocolate and wine pairing.

We’ve done all the planning for you. Just follow the steps below and a week from today you could be listing to the pairs singing at your own chocolate and wine cabaret.

Setting Up

Step 1: The Menu

• After reviewing our article on Pairing Chocolate and Wine, think about what you’d like to serve at your first party.  We think the best way to start evaluating pairings is to start with plain bar chocolates—bittersweet, dark, milk, and white—and a dozen wines. 
• A more festive approach is to try different flavored truffles and bonbons and contrast wines with the different fillings—classic chocolate ganache (chocolate and cream), praline (ground nuts), and fruit-accented ganache or fondant (bonbon filling).
• The biggest challenge for both you and your guests is to group chocolates by category—plain bar, fancy bar, fruit-filled, mint-filled, enrobed nuts, caramels, and toffee or buttercrunch.
• Plan to taste up to 12 pieces of chocolate and 12 wines. Check out some of our favorite chocolates to try at your tasting, or ask for recommendations at your local chocolate store. After you’ve selected your chocolate, use our wine pairing chart and work with your wine merchant to find the best assortment of wines in your budget range that will let you compare and contrast.

Step 2: The Setting

• Decide when you want to hold the tasting. The best times are mid-afternoon or mid-evening. The timing should be one to two hours after you’ve had lunch or dinner and are no longer hungry, but have had ample time to digest and are ready to taste.
• Assess available facilities. You’ll  need a table large enough so that everyone can have a space for wine glasses, a plate of chocolate, and a rating sheet. If you have a choice, a rectangular table works better than a circular table. 
• The room should be bright enough so that participants can enjoy the visual nuances of the chocolate and wine as well as the flavors and aromas.

Step 3: The Invitation Plan your guest list. A group of six to eight is a good basic size for interaction and discussion; although if your guests are experienced wine tasters and you have room at the table, a dozen can work. With a larger group, be prepared to direct the discussion by asking someone to lead off with comments.

Truffles from Chocolat Celeste.

• If your goal is to learn about pairing chocolate and wine, then invite people who are like-minded. It’s fun, but it also takes concentration.  Those who don’t really have an interest in exploring flavor nuances—who just want to drink wine or eat chocolate and have social conversations—are better invited to a different event where the agenda is only social.
• You can mail invitations (we’ve bought greeting cards with photos of sumptuous chocolates on the cover and blank insides); or create your own e-mail invitations.  Remind your guests to ideally finish lunch or dinner two hours before they arrive for the tasting.

Step 4: The Preparation

• Create a sheet for notes. Set up a table on an 8½" x 11" page horizontally with ½" margins. You will need 4 columns and as many rows as the chocolates and wines you are tasting, plus a “header” row. The headers of the columns from left to right are: Products, Appearance/Aroma, Taste, Comments. In the first column, make a row for each of the products to be tasted, and number each row, so you can refer back to “chocolate number 3.” Allow enough width in each row for people to write notes.  If you are tasting a dozen of chocolates and/or pairings, your table may continue to three sheets.
• Prepare a tasting template. At professional tastings, templates are pre-printed on paper place mats instructing tasters and servers where to place item number one, item number two, etc. If you have access to a printer that uses 11" x 17" paper and are handy with a design program, you can create one.  Otherwise, you’ll have to devise your own system to keep track of the chocolates and wines. One way is to line up two rows of glasses with the chocolate in front of each. If you’re tasting chocolate only, you can put them on a plate starting clockwise at 12, which enables everyone to be in sync when you say, “Let’s move on to chocolate number 3”; and to refer back to their notes sheet.
• It’s also helpful to prepare a sources sheet so everyone can have a record of the chocolates and wines they are tasting. Include the places where the products can be purchased, and the prices. Distribute this after everything has been tasted, since prices can color perception of the products. (So can names, which is why we prefer blind tastings, knowing products only as “chocolate number three” and “Port number 1” until after the tasting.
• Select palate cleansers. In addition to water, to cleanse the palate between comparisons you should have a supply of water biscuits like Carr’s or other bland, salt-free crackers. Unsalted matzoh is essentially the same product as water biscuits; most grocery stores carry unsalted Saltines. Baguette and plain white bread work, but are more filling. Strange as it may sound, a tart green apple like Granny Smith works. Cut it in very thin slices so people don’t fill up. After consuming the palate cleanser, complete the process by drinking some water or seltzer (not club soda—it has salt).
• A snifter or container of unground coffee beans is helpful to clear aromas from the nose (90% of taste is smell).
• On the day of the event, set the table. Each guest needs a water glass, at least 4 wine glasses, a sharp knife for slicing chocolate if you’re serving truffles or bonbons that can be cut in half, an evaluation sheet, and a pen or pencil. Wine glasses should always be clear so you can see the color of the wine. If you don’t have enough glasses, get 8-ounce hard plastic beverage cups.
• You’ll also need to set the table with napkins, a pitcher of water to refill glasses, and, if people won’t have a separate glass for each wine, a “dump bucket” so wine not consumed can be tossed to make way for new wines.  An extra pitcher or a vase can be used for this purpose. Whatever you use, be sure it’s deep enough so that when you carry it to the sink to dump out, wine doesn’t slosh over the side.
• Now you’re ready to prepare a plate of chocolate for each guest. Use large dinner plates or chargers. They don’t have to be white—as long as the beauty of the chocolate isn’t lost, you can use colors, and mix and match for a festive look.
• If you’re serving individual pieces of chocolate like truffles or bonbons, each guest should have one piece.  If you are serving bar chocolate, divide the bar so that each guest gets the equivalent of 2 ounces.

Step 3: The Invitation Plan your guest list. A group of six to eight is a good basic size for interaction and discussion; although if your guests are experienced wine tasters and you have room at the table, a dozen can work. With a larger group, be prepared to direct the discussion by asking someone to lead off with comments. In any tasting, start with the mild tastes and conclude with the stronger ones.  If you do the reverse, your palate is conditioned to the stronger tastes and when the more delicate tastes are presented, they pale in comparison.

• You or one of your guests may wish to act as sommelier and pour all of the wines; or if the group is small, you can pass the bottle around the table. Each person should get a pour of about 1/3 glass (3 ounces).  You can get about 12 pours from a bottle of wine.
• You should pour the wine in flights of three or four wines at a time. Depending on what you’re serving, they would be poured in this order (as with chocolate, from the mildest to the most robust): champagnes, then white wines, then light and medium reds, then robust reds, then dessert wines. 
• If you are tasting a number of different wines and don’t own (or want to rent) many glasses, consider buying plastic tumblers. People can drink their wines from regular stemware, but save their extra wine in a plastic cup instead of dumping it. This enables everyone to keep all of their wines throughout the tasting, referring back to earlier wines to make comparisons.
• Start with the white chocolates or; if you’re not tasting white, with the milk chocolates; and with the champagnes and white wines. Move to the light and medium reds when you are still tasting milk chocolate; and build to the dark and bittersweet chocolates with, robust red wines and ports.

Step 6: The Process

• Take half of the piece of chocolate. Look at the color and smell the aroma. Take a bite. Chew it slowly and note how it feels. Read more about this process in our article, How To Taste Chocolate, and see The Flavors & Aromas of Chocolate. Take notes.
• Take a bite of the chocolate. Chew it several times and let it slowly melt on the tongue. Is it smooth, velvety, creamy, soft or gritty? It should not be waxy or hard to melt. Savor the chocolate—roll it around on the tongue to taste the many flavors. (The tip of the tongue senses sweetness, the front sides sense sour flavors, the back sides of the tongue taste salty flavors, and the very back of the tongue detects bitter notes.)
• Swirl the wine in the glass and sniff the aroma (the “nose”).  Note the scents. Take a sip and swirl it in your mouth so it blends with the chocolate. How does it impact the chocolate flavors?
• Cleanse the palate by eating an unsalted cracker and taking several sips of water. Take another bite of chocolate and try a different wine.  How is this pairing different from the prior ones?
• Repeat this process until you have gone around the plate.  Then discuss conclusions and vote for your favorite pairings.

 And then...give your guests  a tour of your store.  You want your guests to take away not only the positive experience of the event, but you want to give them something to remember where to come for all their chocolate & gift needs.  Why not send them off with a couple of your favorite truffles in a Wine Hanger!

Content Provided by:  KAREN HOCHMAN is Editorial Director of THE NIBBLE.
The Nibble:  The Magazine About Specialty Foods

Get the most out ot the Easter season!

Get the most out of the Easter season! 

The PS Print Resource Center offers some great ideas to boost your Easter sates.

http://www.psprint.com/resources/easter-direct-marketing-ideas/

Direct-Marketing Ideas for Easter

Once reserved for kids and candy, Easter has become one of the most profitable holiday seasons of the year. The March/April market rush makes sense, too, since spring is in the air, and people are out and about armed with pleasant attitudes – and often, tax return money. This season of rebirth and renewal is a good time for you to kick-start your marketing campaign to boost your company’s profits.

Here are a few direct-marketing ideas you can use this Easter:

Launch a new product

Everything about Easter symbolizes rebirth, whether it’s in the form of religion, Easter eggs or the appearance of green leaves and bright flowers. In the same spirit, this is the perfect time to launch a new product or service, or take an old product or service and re-brand, or re-name it, to give it a fresh look and appeal to your prospects. Of course, this leaves plenty of creative marketing ideas open for your advertisements. Imagine your new product hatching out of a pastel egg on your next postcard mailing. Make sure your new product or service launch includes a great sale to attract high potential prospects. You might also want to consider putting a coupon on your direct mailers to drive consumers to your door, which doubles as a great way to track the success of your campaigns.

Hire the Easter Bunny

One of the quickest ways to get your products and services in front of people is to bring them to your business through an in-house promotion. Second only to Christmas, Easter provides an excellent opportunity to do that. Hosting an Easter egg hunt for the kids or hiring the Easter Bunny to spend the morning or afternoon at your store attracts droves of children – and their parents. Since you’ll have the parents milling around while their children search for eggs or stand in line waiting to meet the Easter Bunny, this is an excellent opportunity to have an entertaining, attention-getting product display or demonstration. You could also try filling plastic Easter eggs with coupons and have one egg with a slip for a free product or service – the grand prize – to get adults into the mix. Make sure you have take-home flyers or brochures available.

Advertise

Whether you’re considering launching a new product or hosting an Easter-related event, the key to success is advertising. You’ll have a lot of competition for your audience’s attention this time of year, so make sure you do it right. Hire a graphic designer or use attractive templates to design your postcards, door hangers, flyers, sales letters and posters and launch an effective direct-mail campaign beginning several weeks before the event or product launch sale so your audience is blanketed – and reminded. Postcards are a very efficient and inexpensive way to do this and can work hand-in-hand with other marketing efforts such as newspaper advertising. You could advertise in a newspaper several weeks before your event, for instance, and send a postcard the week before the event, and then hang door flyers the day before the event to maximize your return on investment. A well-rounded campaign that takes advantage of the opportunities and resources available to you can do wonders for your Easter profits.

Product launches and bunnies aren’t the only ways to promote springtime sales. Try to think outside of the box when planning your Easter promotions. Each year marketers come up with new ideas to bring new customers in the door and keep loyal customers coming back. Above all, make sure you get the word out and market to the right audience to achieve the maximum return on investment.

Wine & Chocolate ~ The Perfect Pairing

The secret to success in any business is finding unique ways to set yourself apart from the competition.  Many of you have taken advantage of our Wine Hangers to expand into new markets serving wineries, wine stores and grocery stores.  For those of you who haven't  yet tried to cash in on all the hype about wine and chocolate, read on and you maybe asking yourself what you are waiting for!

Who doesn't love wine & chocolate?  They have both been proven, as stated in our previous articles, to be recession proof, non subsitutable and heart healthy!  The Nibble, a magazine that deals in specialty foods, offers some insight into the art of pairing wine & chocolate.  In a series of 3 posts, we will provide you background info, perfect wine & chocolate pairings and tips for hosting your own wine tasting event.  Enjoy!

Chocolate & Wine Pairing

The Right Wine And Chocolate Matches Are
A Happy Marriage

• Part I: Introduction
• Part II: Pairing Chart

Those who love fine chocolate and fine wine find key points of similarity. Both are made from fruit (the cocoa nibs from which chocolate is made are the seeds of the fruit of the cocoa tree, and fruit was eaten by early Americans long before they discovered how to make chocolate beverage from the seeds). The flavor and aroma yielded by both cacao pod and grape are a function of not only their rootstock, but of their soil, climate, and the weather conditions affecting any single harvest. 

Both are made from a blend of beans or grapes, each with distinct flavor profiles; and when the product is made from a blend, it adds to the complexity of tastes. Just take a look at the vocabulary professionals use to describe the flavors and aromas: You’ll find hundreds of words, a seemingly impossible number but truly authenticated.

The good news for those who love them both is that wine and chocolate complement each other.  What might sound at first like an unlikely marriage is quite a harmonious one—with a bit of pre-marital counseling.  As with foods, there are many kinds of chocolate preparations with different flavor profiles; so no one wine is a universal match.  While that creates a challenge to find the perfect suitor for a box of assorted bonbons; it also makes it fun to seek your favorite pairings, and test on an ongoing basis which combinations you prefer.

In general, semisweet and bittersweet chocolates go best with stronger red wines while milk and white chocolates paired better with lighter reds and sweeter white wines. The perfect pairing balances sweetness, fruitiness, and acidity—and your own flavor preferences, of course.

• Most of the time, Champagne and chocolate don’t pair well.  Against the sweetness of the chocolate, Champagne appears tart; even the secs and demi-secs (sweet Champagnes) are too delicate to stand up to the cocoa butter mouthfeel of chocolate. Save the Champagne for fresh strawberries.
• Similarly, Rieslings, Chenin Blancs, and Sauternes lack the right structure to pair with rich chocolate. They do, however, pair with white chocolate.
• One prominent sweet wine that does have the balance to pair splendidly is Muscat or Moscato.
• Another ideal pairing is fortified wine: Port or Banyuls, a red wine made of Grenache in the Languedoc Roussillon region of Southwest France.  Save the  complex vintage Port to savor with the cheese course or after-dinner drinks; and bring out the Ruby Port and Tawny Port to drink with chocolate.
• Some experts don’t believe in drinking dry red wines with chocolate.  We disagree, as long as it is a wine with straightforward, strong notes—not too dry, too tannic, or too astringent. Try it and form your own opinions.  The cocoa butter in the chocolate mellows out the tannins and astringency; and fine dark chocolate (semisweet and bittersweet) has enough complexity to hold its own with most reds.

There are many pairing options, as you can see in the results of a poll of THE NIBBBLE newsletter subscribers, asking what they drank with chocolate (continue on the other side of the chart):

Here’s what readers drink with chocolate...	...though quite a few said they drank...(continued in the next column header)	“Absolutely nothing! Great chocolate must be enjoyed on its own.”
Armagnac Banyuls or Maury Beaujolais Beer Bourbon Brachetto D’Acqui Cabernet Sauvignon/Bordeaux/ Merlot Champagne Cognac Framboise (Bonny Doon Dessert Wine)	Hungarian Tonka Jurançon Late Harvest Riesling/ Gewürtztraminer/ Semillon/Zinfandel Liqueurs: Anisette, Cointreau, Grand Marnier Marsala Mas Amiel Muscat/Moscato di Asti Pinot Noir Port: Ruby, Tawny, Vintage	Riesling Rum Sauternes Setubal Sherry: Cream, Fino or Pedro Ximinez Single Malt Scotch Vin Jaun Vin Santo Zinfandel
Non-Alcoholic Nominations
Coffee Tea	Water Sparkling Water	Milk

VISIT OTHER AREAS OF THENIBBLE.COM FOR LEARNING MATERIALS Start With 40+ Food Glossaries Or Your Favorite Category Of Food

However, it isn’t as simple as the chart looks. As you’ll see in the next step—the chocolate and wine pairing chart—pairing individual chocolates with wine is as complex as pairing the right wine to the right dish. Change the sauce on the pasta from seafood to tomato, and you need a different wine. Change the center of the chocolate from mint to nuts, and you need a different wine!

Content provided by:  KAREN HOCHMAN is Editorial Director of THE NIBBLE.

The Nibble, The Magazine About Specialty Foods

Wine & Chocolate Pairings

Product Reviews / Main Nibbles / Chocolate

Pairing Chocolates & Wines

From Mint To Nuts, There’s A Perfect Wine For Every Chocolate

Part I: Introduction Part II: Pairing Chart An Overview Of Matching Wine & Chocolate Chart: Chocolate & Wine / Spirits Pairings

As with food, when pairing wines with chocolate, match lighter-flavored chocolates with lighter-bodied wines, and more intense-flavored chocolates with more full-bodied wines. “Lighter” chocolate doesn’t refer to white and milk versus dark chocolate, but the overall flavor of the piece. Dark chocolates with delicate ganaches, for example, can be lighter in flavor than white or milk chocolate filled with intense caramel or with spicy or nut centers.

When pairing wine with chocolate,  you can seek wines that have the same flavor notes as the chocolate (nutty, cherry, mint); or look for contrasts. As with food and wine matches, only you are the arbiter of what works best: There are no absolutes. Some people enjoy a fruity Cabernet or Zinfandel with chocolate, others find them too dry; some love matching Bourbon with chocolate, others find spirits too harsh. Most experts would recommend sticking with fortified wines because the sweetness and structure of the wines match well with chocolate, but that’s too simplistic. As you can see in the pairing chart below, there’s a lot to choose from, and reasons to journey beyond fortified wines.

John Anderson of Woodhouse Chocolate in St. Helena, California, was a vintner for 20 years, making Cabernet, Chardonnay, Merlot, and sparkling wines. He cautions against serving Champagne with chocolate—it’s too dry and astringent. We agree in general, but as an exception would pair a demi-sec or sweet Champagne with white chocolate. Joan Coukos of Chocolat Moderne pairs a rosé Champagne with her raspberry jam-filled chocolate. John Anderson, too, likes fortified wines like Port, but he also likes Bourbon with chocolate.

We went to a Lindt chocolate event where the Lindt 65% Madagascar chocolate was paired with a light Chianti, and white chocolate Lindor truffles (one of our favorite ways to eat white chocolate) was paired with a fruity Chardonnay and a piña colada. Who would have thought of those combinations—yet they were perfect!

The fun part of building lists like the one below is that pairing decisions don’t have to be made in a day—in fact, they can’t be. There’s too much to taste; and over time, one’s own preferences will evolve as well. It’s important to recall that any wine variety—Cabernet Sauvignon, for example—offers a broad spectrum of choices, from light-bodied wines to heavy hitters. Leave the big, structured wines for food pairings (or to enjoy alone), and look for the lighter-bodied and fruitier wines that complement the fruitiness that is natural to most chocolate. Or, if you know your chocolate has a dark roast or naturally smoky flavors, think “smoky” and you might head for a single malt Scotch.

The more you know the nuances of your chocolates, the more you can match them to wines or spirits that have similar characteristics. Nowhere is this better done than in New York City at the Michel Cluizel chocolate salon. If you are in the neighborhood, do partake of the wonderful sommelier-conducted chocolate and spirits pairings. It’s an eye-opening and memorable experience.

We’ll update this list from time to time, so please tell us about your favorite chocolate and wine pairings. If you enjoy wine and spirits with your sweets, also read our article on the best dessert and wine pairings in our Wine section.

Note: This content is copyrighted and cannot be adapted or reproduced in whole or part without written permission from THE NIBBLE.  Visit other areas of TheNibble.com for learning materials in other food areas. Start with our 40+ food glossaries or your favorite category of food.                                  

CHOCOLATE	WINE PAIRING
BITTERSWEET CHOCOLATE The most intense, richly-flavored dark chocolate is 70% to 100% cacao. Bittersweet chocolate can have bitter, roasted, fruity, earthy, woodsy, ashy and/or nutty notes. The same wines will match bittersweet chocolate and semisweet chocolate.	BANYULS                         BEAUJOLAIS BORDEAUX CABERNET SAUVIGON COGNAC/ARMAGNAC GRENACHE MALBEC MARSALA MERLOT     MAS AMIEL CLASSIQUE ORANGE MUSCAT TAWNY PORT                    RUBY PORT SHIRAZ ZINFANDEL Because of the intensity of flavors, bittersweet and dark chocolates need to be paired with stronger red wines with concentrated fruit notes. While some of the wines above may appear too tannic to pair with chocolate, the cocoa butter decreases the astringency and dryness of the tannins and the higher cacao content enables bittersweet chocolate to pair well. PLUS: Vin Jaune from Jura with its powerful, nutty flavor, pairs well with plain, high percentage (80% to 85%) cacao, as well as praliné/gianduja and enrobed nuts.     (List continues below.) Chocolat and Cream Liqueurs (Godiva and Bailey’s, e.g.)
SEMISWEET CHOCOLATE Dark chocolate with 50%-69% cacao has strong, complex flavors, with nuances that are nutty, spicy, floral, earthy, fruity, and/or caramel. The aftertaste is balanced, not too sweet.	SAME WINES AS ABOVE Fortified fruity wines like Banyuls (AOC) and Ruby Port have cocoa or chocolate in the nose, as well as cherry raspberry or other berry fruit, and are classic companions to chocolate. Banyuls is made from the Grenache grape, Port is a blend of several grapes. Banyuls and nonvintage Ports have softer, rounder tannins than vintage Port, which pair better with chocolate. Beaujolais and Orange Muscat bring out fruity notes. While Orange Muscat, a dessert wine, is a predictable choice, Beaujolais is unusual. If you like the wine, try it. Cabernet Sauvignon (including Bordeaux) brings out the fruity-peppery-grapey notes in the chocolate. Muscat complements dark chocolates with fruit fillings, or fruit-flavored truffles, bringing out the fruit notes. Tawny Ports, which have nutty and tobacco/leather notes, also make good pairings. Vintage Ports should be matched with caution: Their high sugar and alcohol content can overwhelm the chocolate. Spicy Zinfandel brings out chocolate’s spicy nuances.      Chocolat and Cream Liqueurs (Godiva and Bailey’s, e.g.)
MILK CHOCOLATE Milk chocolate has a higher percentage of sugar and smaller percentage of chocolate liquor. This, along with its milk content, yields a milder, sweeter product with fewer flavors and aromas. Prominent flavors include brown sugar, cocoa, vanilla, honey, caramel, milk, cream, nutty and/or malt.	HUNGARIAN TOKAJI MAS AMIEL ROUGE & VINTAGE BLANC MUSCAT/MOSCATO TAWNY PORT    Sweeter chocolate needs sweeter wine, or the wine may taste tart. Hungarian Tokaji dances beautifully with milk chocolate ganache. Muscat, a white dessert wine with peach and apricot flavors, is also a popular partner for milk chocolate. Tawny Port, a fortified wine, is the strongest match with milk chocolate. Its nutty nuances highlight milk chocolate’s nutty and caramel notes and enhance the overall chocolate flavor.
WHITE CHOCOLATE Made without chocolate liquor and thus not a true chocolate, white chocolate is a rich product made with cocoa butter, sugar and milk solids. It has sweet flavor notes including cream, milk, honey, vanilla, caramel, and/or fruit.	CHAMPAGNE GEWURTZTRAMINER MAS AMIEL VINTAGE BLANC MUSCAT/MOSCATO RIESLING While to some the concept of Champagne or other sparkling wine with chocolate is romantic, the acid in sparkling wines produces tart flavors when paired with the cacao in milk or dark chocolate. However, there is no cacao in white chocolate, so white is a fine choice. Fresh strawberries dipped in white chocolate are very romantic! Even then, don’t crack open a great bottle which is vinified to be dry for food. Get a sweeter Champagne: a sec or a demi-sec. Gewurtztraminer has a slight sweetness plus typical lychee fruit. Along with Riesling (see below), an exotic pairing with white chocolate’s typical dairy and caramel flavors. Mas Amiel, a line of sweet wines from Southwest France, were born, to match with chocolate; and their Vintage Blanc specifically with white chocolate. Muscat, also pairs well with white chocolate, bringing out any fruit notes within. It may pair better than other white dessert wines because it is less acidic. Riesling has an exotic sweetness that complements the vanilla, caramel and honey flavors of white chocolate. The right Alsatian or German Riesling can also provide an unusual petrol note. Chocolat and Cream Liqueurs (Godiva and Bailey’s, e.g.)
CHOCOLATE THAT ALSO INCLUDES:
CARAMEL OR TOFFEE	HUNGARIAN TOKAJI MAS AMIEL ROUGE & VINTAGE BLANC MADIERA MEURSAULT OLOROSO SHERRY SAUTERNES TAWNY PORT Hungarian Tokaji, with notes of apricot, butter and caramel, pairs well with buttery salt caramels. Young Madeira (5 Year) has classic caramel and toffee flavors and good acidity to pair with chocolate. Because caramel and toffee alone would pair with Mas Amiel Blanc and chocolate alone would pair with Mas Amiel Rouge, both work here. See which one you prefer. Buttery caramels and toffees pair well with buttery wines.  Meursault from a ripe year, with rich, lush fruit and low acid, complements the brown sugar and caramel flavors of the caramel or toffee as well as the cocoa flavors of chocolate.  The nutty bouquet of a dry Oloroso Sherry complements the nuts in toffee. We particularly enjoy this pairing with salt caramels. Sauternes, a rich, sweet dessert wine, has honey and apricot notes that complement caramel and toffee. The chewiness of the candy stands up to the viscosity of the wine. Tawny Port enhances the nutty nuances of toffee; and to a lesser extent, caramel.
CHESTNUT CREME (CRÈME AUX MARRONS)	MEDIUM DRY SHERRY Also try this pairing with marrons glacées.
CHILES (HABAÑERO, e.g.)	MAS AMIEL ROUGE RUBY PORT A fruity, fortified red wine will pair well with the heat of chile-infused chocolate.
CINNAMON & GINGER	MAS AMIEL CLASSIQUE ZINFANDEL (OR A DRY RED) Two different options to pair with spicy cinnamon and ginger: Mas Amiel, a fortified, sweet red; and Zinfandel, a spicy dry red. If you can find a sweet Late Harvest Zinfandel, go for it: They can be almost Port-like.
COCONUT	BRACHETTO D’ACQUI SAUTERNES/LATE HARVEST SEMILLON    Brachetto d'Acqui (DOCG), a light, ruby-colored sparkling dessert wine from Piedmont, with typical aromas of fruit and roses, is a great match with nuts and coconut. Sauternes (Lafaurie-Peyraguey is a good style) or  a Late Harvest Semillon from Australia are good complements.
COFFEE Espresso, mocha, coffee bean and other coffee flavors	SHERRY Oloroso sherry or cream sherry. Coffee Liqueurs (Kahlúa, Illy, Starbucks, Tia Maria, etc.) Chocolate and Cream Liqueurs (Godiva and Bailey’s, e.g.)
FRUIT Fruit-flavored truffles, chocolate cherries, chocolate-covered fruit, dipped glazed or fresh fruit	BANYULS CABERNET SAUVIGON  MADIERA MERLOT RUBY PORT Wines with strong fruit notes are good matches for fruit-accented chocolate. Banyuls, with its cherry and berry flavors, pairs nicely with these fruit flavors in chocolate. Cabernet Sauvignon brings out cherry-pepper-grape notes. With its heavier tannins, it may be a better match with dark chocolate.  Madeirais a traditional complement to fig, and goes beautifully with any fig-filled or dipped-fig chocolate. Merlot, a softer red than Cabernet, can also partner well. Try it with milk chocolate. Ruby Port brings out cherry and chocolate flavors. Fruit liqueurs, e.g. Afrikoko  (coconut-chocolate), Chambord or Framboise (raspberry), Cherry Heering or Crème de Cerise (cherry), Cointreau, Curaçao or Grand Marnier (orange), Creme de Banane or 99 Bananas (banana), Crème de Cassis (currant), Destinee (tropical fruits), Fraises (strawberry).
FRUIT GANACHE & FRUIT CREME	FRAMBOISE DESSERT WINE ORANGE MUSCAT MARSALA PINOT NOIR PORT ROSÉ Champagne     Bonnie Doon Framboise, a dessert wine that is an “infusion of raspberries,” made to go with chocolate. Try Marsala or Vintage Port with citrus centers. Orange Muscat. A fruity Pinot Noir accents both the fruit and the fruitiness inherent in some fine couverture chocolate. A wine with milder tannins, it also is matches well with subtle creme fillings. See the fruit liqueurs in the box above.
LIQUEUR	LIQUEURS Liqueur-flavored chocolates can pair well with their corresponding liqueurs.
MINT	CABERNET SAUVIGON ZINFANDEL Cabernets and Zinfandels are a great match for chocolate mint cremes, mint thins, mint bars, and other variations of mint and chocolate—especially mint and dark chocolate. Some California Cabs and Zins have pronounced minty nuances of their own. Your wine merchant should be able to direct you to those particular producers. For an even more interesting pairing, try some wines that are “minty” and some that aren’t. Chocolate mint liqueur such as Bailey’s Mint or Vandermint
NUTS Hazelnuts, almonds, and other nuts and praliné	BRACHETTO D’ACQUI CABERNET SAUVIGON MAS AMIEL ROUGE & VINTAGE BLANC SHERRY TAWNY PORT    Brachetto d'Acqui (DOCG), a unique red sparkling dessert wine from Piedmont that’s a great match with almonds and other nuts. Cabernet Sauvignon can bring out nutty accents, and also grapey flavors. Jurançon, with its lime and clove aromas, harmonizes with pralines. Mas Amiel’s sweetness complements the chocolate and brings out the sweet qualities of the nuts. Sherry that is not too sweet is a good companion to almond-based chocolate— ideally a Pedro Ximinez with its almond aromas, or a well-rounded Fino. Cream Sherry matches well with hazelnuts. Nutty Tawny Port is the perfect match for a box of chocolate-covered nuts. Lighter nuts like pistachio can be served with Sauternes. Nut-flavored liqueurs to pair with the chocolate, e.g. Amaretto (almond) and Frangelico (hazelnut), Crème de Noix, Nocello, Nocino and Charbay (walnut).
SPICED CHOCOLATE Bar or ganache	Jurançon, with its lime and clove aromas, matches nicely with spice-flavored ganaches.
TROPICAL FRUIT	VIN SANTO

 

Content Provided by:  KAREN HOCHMAN is Editorial Director of THE NIBBLE.
The Nibble, The Magazine About Specialty Foods