Posts Tagged ‘chocolate’

Have a friend or family member who enjoys wine? Then wine gifts are always an excellent choice. But what do you do when you aren’t sure of the type of wine gift to get for them? There are several out there, and it will be up to you to make the final decision.

Consider first how much the person drinks wine. A glass a day? A bottle a month? Or A bottle or two in a handful of months? This will give you a better feel for which wine gift ideas you can toss out. If they don’t drink wine often enough, then you may want to avoid a wine of the month club. After a while, they may find themselves with too many bottles of wine and not enough time or desire to drink all of them.

Does the person enjoy food with their wine? Wine gift baskets are always an excellent choice even when you aren’t sure how often the person drinks wine. Wine gift baskets often include delightful treats like crackers, cheese, chocolates, cookies, and more. And who doesn’t love the gift of delicious wine and food?

Make sure you know which type of wine they prefer before making a final purchase. If they never touch red, then quite obviously you need to deliver white wine, and vice versa. If they like all types, then there’s a good chance you’ll be safe no matter which color you choose.

Wine gift baskets are a great way to tell someone how much you appreciate them as well as showing them that you know what they like. But just what do wine gift baskets come with? This can be almost more difficult than the wine sometimes because baskets can vary in what they offer.

Some baskets are impressive in their selection. You may find a basket filled with nothing but a fine bottle of wine and surrounded by chocolate. Themed baskets like these can be just as great as varied baskets. When you take a look at some of the wine gifts available, you may see all sorts of delights such as: summer sausage, mustards, cheeses or cheese spreads, cookies, pretzels, almonds, and different types of crackers. You may also find various candies and sweet treats mixed in such items as toffees, licorice, lollipops, fruit mixes, caramels, chocolates, truffles, and more.

Wine baskets will occasionally come with a few utensils as well. Cheese spreading knives and wine stoppers are the most popular. Some larger baskets will even include glasses for the receiver to enjoy. Wine gift baskets can be a great idea. Just choose the right one for your friend or family member!

There are so many great things you can do with wine. Of course, the most favorite one is pairing up wine with various foods. From chocolate to a main dish of beef stew, the flavors of wine can be matched with almost anything. Cheese is still one of the primary delights that is paired with wine, but how do you know which cheese should be enjoyed with your wine?

If you don’t know anything about wine and cheese pairings, you can always look for lists in books and online. Generally, though, you need to make sure that the cheese you pick doesn’t overpower the wine with its flavors or scents. If you have a strong cheese, you need a strong wine to match it. Here are just a handful of pairings you might enjoy.

Pair soft cheeses like blue Castello from Denmark with Sauvignon Blanc, Boursin from France with Gewürztraminer, cream cheese from the United States (the most common one) with White Zinfandel, and feta from Greece with Beaujolais.

Pairing chocolate with wine can sometimes be as tricky as pairing cheese with wine; you don’t want one to overpower the other.  The goal is to find wines and chocolates that compliment one another.

Bittersweet Chocolate – Intense dark chocolate with a cacao content ranging from 70% and up works great with strong red wines such as Bordeaux or Ruby Port that include concentrated fruit flavors.

Semisweet Chocolate – Cacao contents of 50% – 69% can be paired with an interesting array of wines, from Orange Muscat to Tawny Port to Zinfandel.  They often bring out the nutty and spicy sides of the chocolate.

Milk Chocolate – Sweeter wines are needed here in order to keep the wine from tasting tart due to the milk chocolate.  Hungarian Tokaji, Muscat, and Tawny Ports are all good choices for their fruity or nutty overtones.

White Chocolate – Because this is not a true chocolate (no chocolate liqueur involved), it is very creamy with vanillas, milks, and caramel tones.  Champagne, Gewurztraminer, and Muscat are a few wines that bring out all the right flavors with no worry about tartness.

Some wonderful chocolate to go with your wine can be found at http://www.barparts.com/Wine-Lovers-Gourmet-Chocolates-Individual-P372.aspx