You love good wine. You love fine chocolate. Is it possible to love them together? You can if the wine is red and the chocolate is a semisweet or dark. Pairing wine and chocolate can be tricky because if the chocolate is too sweet it can bring out the astringency of the wine, especially one with deep tannins, like a Cabernet Sauvignon. Dark chocolates are a better match for most red wines, and with the Cabernet, the darker the better. A Merlot will stand up better to a chocolate with a slightly lower cocoa content, and Zinfandel is an excellent partner for fruit and chocolate desserts. Milk chocolates may pair well with a Pinot Noir, Riesling, or better yet, a Ruby Port; try these with a chocolate-drizzled cheesecake or a fluffy mousse. White chocolate, with its quiet butteriness, is an ideal pairing for a light, sparkling Moscato d’Asti or a Sherry. A nice fruity Muscat will compliment any fruit flavors in a white chocolate concoction. For simple decadence, try pairing chocolate covered strawberries with a Champagne or sparkling wine.

If, however, you prefer not to have to experiment to find the perfect wine and chocolate pairing, you may choose to let the winery do it for you. There are several wineries that produce a chocolate flavored or chocolate-infused wine. California’s Rosenblum Cellars uses fine chocolate from Wisconsin to create a rich dessert wine; Florida’s Naples Winery produces a chocolate wine fermented with orange juice; Oregon’s Shallon Winery has mastered the art of blending a fine orange wine with six different international chocolates for a superb quality wine. Arguably one of the best chocolate wines in the world comes out of Holland. Blended by one of the most noted Dutch cream manufacturers, the wine – called ChocoVine – is recognized worldwide for excellence and decadence. Made with rich, dark Holland chocolate and a fine Cabernet – both high in antioxidants – this wine not only tastes good, it’s good for you, too!

Maine, the northernmost of the contiguous United States, is cold much of the year. Not just cold, but bitter cold at times, and frozen. The winter climate is not especially conducive to growing grapes. Many of the varieties commonly grown and used in wine making throughout the world do not have the proper amount of time during the Maine growing season to adequately ripen before the frosts. There are, however, a few short-season varieties that do quite well there. Fredonia is among the most popular and productive of the short season vines in Maine. Delaware grapes also do well in the northern climes, as do seedless varieties.

Fredonia, a sweet red grape closely related to the Concord, is not widely used for wine in much of the country, but in Maine, where the growing season is abbreviated, it is a popular choice among local vineyards. The Delaware grape is often used to produce dry and sweet white wines. It also makes a good sparkling white wine. The sweetest of the short season grapes grown in Maine is the seedless. Seedless grapes have a slight advantage over the other Maine varieties when it comes to wine making, as they can be left on the skins somewhat longer than seeded grapes without risk of turning bitter.

Because so few grape varieties flourish in Maine, the state’s wineries all produce wines with other locally available fruits as well. Pear and strawberry are commonly used in Maine wines, as both a base fruit and a supplemental; even cranberries, in season, will make their way to the vats. Of course, Maine wine would not be complete without blueberries. Blueberries are one of the most versatile fruits for wine making and wines can be made sweet or dry. Additionally, because of the high antioxidant value, blueberry is also one of the most heart-healthy flavors of Maine wine.

Normally, when I think of a sparkling wine, what comes to mind are the golden-hued whites such as Cremant, Cava, Espumante, Asti, Sekt, and most notably, Champagne. Traditionally, the sparkle in sparkling wine comes from a secondary fermentation during the wine making process wherein yeast and sugar are added to the wine. This fermentation causes a build-up of carbon dioxide gas inside the wine bottle. Dead yeast cells are removed from the wine through the processes of riddling and disengorgement, but the dissolved carbon dioxide gas remains.

The rampant popularity of sparkling wine is not new; it was sparked in eighteenth century Paris when restaurants and high society recognized the affinity the Duke of Orleans had for Champagne, and attempted to be like him. There are many excellent sparkling white and rose wines, but the white sparkler most associated with grand celebration is Champagne. Primarily due to its dryness, Champagne is sometimes thought of as being different than and separate from wine, but it is a true white sparkling wine produced in the Champagne region of France. Other sparkling wines from France include Mousseux and Cremant. Some notable Italian sparkling whites are Asti, Franciacorta and Prosecco. Spain’s Cava and Germany’s Sekt are also superior European sparklers.

All wines that sparkle are not golden-hued whites, however. There are some wonderful sparkling red wines like Italy’s Lambrusco and Brachetto, and even a sparkling Shiraz from Australia. Brachetto is an aromatic red from Northern Italy, with a great balance of acidity, sweetness and fizz. Lambrusco is a rich red sparkler, slightly less sweet and more acidic than Brachetto, with a light, refreshing fizz. Lambrusco is best served chilled. Australian sparkling reds are most often made with a Shiraz base, or sometimes with Cabernet. No matter the color, sparkling wines are enjoyed the world over, and can be paired with nearly limitless cuisines.

On a hot June afternoon, I had the pleasure of meeting and speaking with Lori Mason, sommelier and co-owner of Klee Brasserie.  Located in the Chelsea area of Manhattan, it is a four year old, European-American restaurant with an emphasis on Austrian flavors.  The Austrian notes are courtesy of the other co-owner, Daniel Angerer, who also is the chef and Lori’s fiancé.

Lori brings a rich and diverse background to Klee.  With a master’s degree in philosophy, Lori contemplated pursuing a Ph.D. but switched to the world of law instead.  After earning her law degree, she practiced at a New York City firm for eight years, at which point she took a 2-week leave to help open Klee. With the restaurant’s opening, she pondered her future career and decided that while working at Klee may have been more stressful than the world of corporate litigation, the rewards were greater.

Initially, Lori was not sure of what her role would be at Klee.  She served as the maître d’ and got to know the clients.  Klee is a very personal restaurant, which is evidenced in the large amount of regulars.  As maître d’, customers would ask Lori about the food and wine.  In order to serve her patrons better, she studied wines and fell in love with that work.  She took more control of the wine list (which had been created by a consultant initially) and paired the wines with the chef’s principles of cooking.  Since the opening of Klee, Lori has worked on her sommelier certification.  She has held the certification of master sommelier since 2008.  She continues her studies in order to earn advanced sommelier certifications, which are based both on experience and learning.

Visiting the restaurant, I discovered that Klee Brasserie has an amazing wine list.  With so many wines, I decided to find out what the sommelier preferred.  For whites, Lori prefers Austrian Rieslings.  As she explained, so many people think of Rieslings as overly sweet wines, which is far from the truth.  Austrian Rieslings have very little sugar and are bone dry.  For reds, she prefers wines from the South of France, such as Grenache.

In addition to having any amazing list that includes European and American, organic and biodynamic wines, their wines are priced quite reasonably.  With some of the lowest markups on wine in New York City, it is quite reasonable to order a bottle of wine to accompany your meal.

Although the food menu looked absolutely divine, the purpose of my visit was to learn more about their wine program, and thus I scheduled my interview for a time at which the restaurant was closed.  What I did learn is that Klee Brasserie’s menu is the sort that I love, as the foods are made without an excess of butter or cream.  Rather the foods are allowed to display their own delicious flavors through the use of quality ingredients and technique.

With a chef who allows food to speak through its own flavors and a sommelier with a true passion for wine, Klee is a restaurant in which you know that your entire meal will be a pleasure to your senses.

If you said “Tasmanian” you would probably expect someone to follow with “devil”, but would you ever expect to hear “wine”? If you have any interest at all in exceptional wines, you should. This small island state off the southeast coast of Australia is home to more than 300 wineries that are producing vintages to rival the best of Europe’s best. Like the Pinot Noir of Burgundy, the Riesling of Germany, the Sauvignon Blanc of the Loir Valley, or the sparkling wines of Champagne, Tasmania produces exceptional quality wines in all varieties.

Unlike much of the rest of Australia, the climate in Tasmania is cooler – more like the vineyards in Europe – allowing for growth cool weather varietal grapes like Pinot Noir, which constitutes nearly half of all wine production in Tasmania. Next in production is Riesling, with nearly every Tasmanian winery producing at least one variety. When it comes to sparkling wines, nobody does it like Champagne – but Tasmania runs a close second. With a tip of their hats to Champagne’s long history of wine making and the development of skill and knowledge that comes only with time, vintners in Tasmania’s young wineries know that they are cultivating top quality fruit and producing world-class sparkling wines.

Perhaps a major contributor to the consistency of the high quality of Tasmanian wines stems from the appellation regulation that stipulates Tasmania may not use any fruit in their wines that was not grown locally. Tasmanians are very proud of the wines they produce, and local demands for them – either through retail distribution, restaurant wine programs, or cellar door sales direct from the wineries – are quite high. In fact, not much of the Tasmania’s wine gets distributed abroad because it sells out so quickly at home, making costly shipment outside the state not necessary.