When it comes to pairing wine with Easter treats, one needs to consider the type of chocolate and the other food items to be served. For lighter, fruitier wines with citrus or nutty flavours, sweet amber wines like tawny port or Passito di Pantelleria are an excellent match. This is due to the sweet, honeyed flavours of these wines, which complement the richness of milk chocolate and other desserts. Tawny port, for example, is a great choice for dark chocolate due to its rich, spiced fruit flavours.
“Port is a great match with chocolate in general, but Dow’s conceived this one specifically to pair with chocolate, with ripe tannins and heady floral notes of violets and roses — and it comes in a gift-friendly presentation box to boot.”
Wines like Smith Woodhouse LBV (O’Briens, €36.95) offer great value with their robust richness and spiced fruit. For lighter milk chocolate flavours, sweet amber wines like Passito di Pantelleria are a great call. This wine, made with fresh and sun-dried Zibbibo grapes (moscato) from 100-year-old bushvines on the volcanic island of Pantelleria, is intensely aromatic with notes of honeyed apricot, candied kumquat, golden sultanas and fig biscuits.
- Albarino fans are well served in Dunnes Stores with offers on the vibrant Laurent Miquel Lagrasse Albarino (€8.50) and the excellent night-harvested Laurent Miquel Côte 238 Pech Gentille (€12.50) and the popular Paco & Lola Albariño (€12).
- O’Briens Wine has reductions on its reliable Brocard Chablis (€20, from €32) and Puglia’s Rinforzo Primitivo 2022 (€18.95 from €23.95), another chocolate-friendly ripasso-style red wine.
- Lidl has two limited-edition spumantes (fully sparkling) proseccos for some fun bubbles, alongside the lamb-friendly Graves and Médoc recommended last week.
| Wine | Origin | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Smith Woodhouse LBV | AOC of Banyuls, France | €36.95 |
| Piétri-Géraud, Banyuls Rimage Mademoiselle O | Roussillon, France | €27.95 |
| Dow’s Nirvana Port | Douro Valley, Portugal | €22-€24 |
| Sampietrana Trefilari Primitivo 2022 | Salento IGP, Puglia, Italy | €22.95 |
| Donnafugata, Ben Ryé Passito di Pantelleria 2022 | Sicily, Italy | €55 |
For those looking for a dry and spumante (fully sparkling) prosecco, Lidl has an option with relatively low alcohol. Prosecco Spumante DOC Brut 2023, available in Lidl’s Easter Cellar, is a great choice for those who prefer a lighter, more citrusy flavour profile. Both of Lidl’s proseccos are balanced with citrus sherbet and peach notes, but the Flaureo (€14.99) brings some fresh herbal complexity to play. A great match for Easter treats is the Dow’s Nirvana Port, a great choice for chocolate pairing due to its ripe tannins and heady floral notes of violets and roses. Searsons, Pinto Wines, Jus de Vine, McHugh’s, SuperValu Blackrock, Avoca (Ballsbridge & Rathcoole) are some of the retailers that have this wine in stock. Aldi’s Rosorange Rosé is another great option for those looking for a dry rosé. This pale orange rosé Cinsault and Grenache-led blend with tutti frutti flavours of melon and citrus is a reminder that there’s more to rosé than pale pink Provençal styles. Aldi’s Rosorange Rosé is available for €9.99, from €11.99.
A dry rosé is one that is not as sweet or fruity as a sweet rosé, and has a drier taste profile. A dry rosé is not necessarily less acidic or tannic than a sweet rosé, but the general consensus is that it has a drier taste profile overall.
A sweet rosé is one that is sweeter and fruitier than a dry rosé, and has a sweeter taste profile. A sweet rosé is not necessarily less acidic or tannic than a dry rosé, but the general consensus is that it has a sweeter taste profile overall.
A chocolate-friendly wine is one that pairs well with chocolate. A chocolate-friendly wine is not necessarily sweet, but it is often richer in tannins and has a more complex flavour profile than a wine that is not chocolate-friendly. This is because chocolate and wine can complement each other well when both are rich and complex.