Want to try something fun this Valentine's Day? How about creating a tasting of wine and chocolate for your sweetheart?

Although pairing these two staples seems to be all the rage now, it was never very common, until recently."Traditionally, wine is not served with chocolate," says wine expert Bart Springer of Jim Thorpe, who has been teaching wine appreciation at Northampton Community College since 1983."Usually, when you are having food with wine, the wine is sweeter than the food."Springer suggests that when pairing wine with chocolate, you can compare or contrast the flavors."For example, chocolate with a very high cocoa content will contrast nicely with a very rich, dry red zinfandel."If you're pairing a sweet wine with your chocolate, then you would be comparing their flavors.Kathleen Matson, tasting room manager at Galen Glen Winery in Andreas, has several great pairing ideas.The winery is currently offering a pairing of handcrafted dark chocolate truffles with its raspberry wine.Matson says the dark chocolate would also work well with a dark, dry red, such as a Chambourcin, while the raspberry wine would also pair nicely with a solid piece of milk chocolate, or milk chocolate with a caramel center.She cautions against buttercreams and wine, however."That's too much sweet," she says. "It wouldn't balance well."Generally speaking, a dry red wine will go well with a dark chocolate with less sugar. Dark reds go well with dark chocolate, while sweet reds play nicely with milk chocolate.A notable pairing Galen Glen offered in the past was a chocolate, peanut butter and crumbled pretzel candy with its Winter Mountain Red."It's like peanut butter and jelly for grownups," says Mattson, adding that the raspberry wine is also a good choice for peanut butter and chocolate.Her personal favorite is the raspberry wine paired with a cannoli, sprinkled with mini chocolate chips.If you prefer white wine instead of red, that's OK too.Mattson recommends a Riesling, which is semi-dry, which would go nicely with a dark chocolate covered orange peel, or anything with citrus; while a Cayuga, which is semi-sweet, pairs well with milk chocolate or dark chocolate and any fruit combination.Springer says if you want to drink champagne with your chocolate, make sure it's a sweeter version, such as a Mumm, and not a dry champagne.Even if you follow the rules, such as they are, Springer says it boils down to what you like or don't like."One can drink any wine that they want with chocolate," he says."If you don't like it, you can quit. Wine is not made to have with chocolate, but there are a number of wines that are spectacular with chocolate. You want to experiment."Ready for your taste test?"The thing to remember is to taste the wine first," says Matson. "Then take a little of the chocolate. Let it melt in your mouth a little bit, and then taste more wine. That's when you'll see the wine will enhance the chocolate, and the chocolate will make the flavors of the wine more prominent too."If you're ready to host your own wine and chocolate pairing this weekend, Mattson has a word of advice."When preparing your Valentine's Day offering, go for the quality chocolate, definitely," she says."You can certainly have fun with any chocolate, but if you're thinking romance and gift giving, it's important to look at the package and the quality."