How to pair your wine and chocolate

Red wine and chocolate are a darling pair these days. With all those deep, dark chocolate notes right in a glass of Cabernet Sauvignon, this wine seems like a natural match for an intensely-flavored, dark chocolate dessert.

Warm chocolate soufflé cake with raspberry sauce is heavenly Valentine Day treat.

 But are the two perfect together? Maybe not, according to Sara Schneider, Sunset wine editor.

"Along with those sweet-seeming chocolate flavors and dark berries and plums, good (young) Cabernet Sauvignon has a backbone of tannin that can suddenly taste harsh and astringent when you put it with chocolate, especially if the chocolate is quite sweet," she says.

"Merlot, on the other hand, tends to have softer, rounder tannins under its cocoa and mocha layers; it's often a more seamless partner for chocolate," says Schneider.