Pairing Chocolate Summer Desserts with Wine

By Ann Martin

There’s no better way to enjoy a summer evening than with a chocolate summer dessert and a glass a wine that perfectly compliments that dessert. Many delicious summer desserts are just longing to be paired up with that ideal wine that accentuates and furthers flavor of the dessert. Here are some delicious chocolate summer dessert ideas and wines that would beautifully compliment them.

Desserts Using Berries

With the summer season, comes the abundance of fresh produce, which includes an assortment of berries. Blueberries, raspberries, and strawberries make for a accent to any dessert, or can even stand alone. Here are some delicious berry dessert ideas:

• Chocolate Berry Napoleons - Use your berries of choice and you can even opt for dark chocolate or even a white as an alternative. Because of the tartness and sweetness of the berries and the use of chocolate a red dessert wine would beautifully accent this dessert. Ports and spiced wines in particular would be ideal.
• Chocolate Cake with Decadent Raspberries - Oh, how chocolate and raspberries just seem to go so well together. But what pulls the entire dessert together is either a light or medium red dessert wine. Try the Ramos Pinto Porto Ruby, as it has hints berries, but in particular raspberry.

Classic Chocolate Summer Time Treats

Remember those old fashioned desserts growing up? Desserts like waffles and ice cream sandwiches or home made ice cream sandwiches? Well, they are making a complete comeback and are more adult friendly, thanks to the small gourmet updates.

• Waffles with Ice Cream - Try making your own homemade waffles and flavor them by adding a lemon or raspberry extract, then co ahead and choose your favorite ice cream. You could even opt to make it all chocolate – from the waffles to the ice cream choice. Ports and a medium bodies red dessert wine would go well with an all chocolate theme. However, if you wanted to lighten up the dessert and opt for lemon waffles topped with a sorbet or vanilla ice cream, a lighter wine would be more appropriate. A Riesling or Muscat would both be ideal for the lighter version of waffles and ice cream. The subtle sweetness of these wines would accent the lemon and vanilla deliciously.
• Ice Cream Sandwiches - Grab your favorite chocolate chip cookies, or make a batch of your own. Place a few scoops of your favorite ice cream on one of the cookies, then place the other cookie on top. Go the old fashioned route and opt for mint chocolate chip ice cream! You won’t regret it. Freeze for a few hours and your dessert will be ready! A red zinfandel would be a wine to try with this dessert. Or if you are looking to try something completely different, try a Nigori sake, which would compliment the minty flavor from the ice cream.

Ann Martin is a contributing writer for Dinnerware Center, which offers an exquisite assortment of dinnerware styles and flatware sets. To visit DinnerwareCenter click here.

Photo credit: Food & Spirit Magazine

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