Valentine's Day Gift Ideas for Chocolate & Wine Guide from Dealio

Dealio employees spent a grueling afternoon tasting Valentine's Day chocolates from brands that ranged in quality, taste and price. We conducted this very delicious and fun taste test to help you decide which chocolates gifts to give to your special someone.

Taste Texture Smell Packaging Value Good Gift? Yes What we tried: American Truffles (20oz), $39.95 Valentine Fancy Meltaways (8oz), $19.95 Since 1963, Betsy Ann Chocolates has created handmade American chocolates. Our testers described the American Truffles as rich, buttery and creamy. The Valentine Fancy Meltaways were super sweet and indeed "melty". Either would make great Valentine's Day chocolate gifts. Interestingly, Betsy Ann Chocolates makes chocolate rosaries as well.	Taste Texture Smell Packaging Value Good Gift? Yes What we tried: Single Origin Tasting Kit (30 pieces), $12.00 "Chocolate with Moxie" is how Target describes their premium chocolate line. Will eating some make you more courageous or spirited? We are not sure, but our testers loved the fact that the taste of the dark chocolates was on par with its trendy, informative and functional packaging. Choxie is a refreshing alternative to the typical Valentine’s Day chocolate box and would go well with wine pairings.
Taste Texture Smell Packaging Value Good Gift? Yes What we tried: Truffle Collection (6 pieces) $15.00. (12 pieces), $30.00 Milk Chocolate Truffle Heart Box (17 pieces), $95.00 The beautifully designed truffles from DeBrand Fine Chocolates were almost too pretty to eat. Don't let their petite size fool you - each delectable piece is rich and silky enough to be a chocolate dessert. Our tasters loved the beautiful, meticulous packaging and were blown away by the delicacy of the heart shaped box that was actually made from milk chocolate. The latter, especially, makes an impressive and elegant Valentine's Day gift.	Taste Texture Smell Packaging Value Good Gift? No What we tried: Dark &Milk Chocolate Assortment (4.7oz), $3.99 Since 1912 Ritter Sport, a German chocolate company has been making their 18 types of distinct chocolate bars from high-quality ingredients while maintaining a great value. We tried the Fine Extra Dark 71% Cocoa, Milk Chocolate Butter Biscuit and the Dark Chocolate with Mousee. The chocolates were smooth and our tasters especially enjoyed the dark chocolate with mousse. Though not the best Valentine's Day chocolate gift, this newly packaged assortment makes a great standby.
Taste Texture Smell Packaging Value Good Gift? Yes What we tried: Chocolate Bar Assortment (6 bars), $37.50 Elegantly packaged subtle, but beautiful Japanese paper, the handmade chocolate bars from Richard Donnelly came in many creative flavors. Our tasters raved about how good the bars smelled and noted that your can definitely taste the infused flavors. We especially like the orange and five spices. Flavors (mentioned here because they are not published on the website): Dark - Bittersweet, Cardamom, Chinese Five Spice, Dark Almond, Ginger, Orange. Milk - Almond, Coconut, Hazelnut, Toffee. They also feature seasonal and limited edition flavors.	Taste Texture Smell Packaging Value Good Gift? No What we tried: 12 Pack Dark Chocolate Squares (5g), $7.00 Extremely popular, yet retaining its original artisan quality, Scharffen Berger is a chocolate maker that creates their chocolates from the raw product using restored vintage European machinery. The 12 pack dark chocolate sampler from Scharffen Berger comes in 3 varieties. Conveniently pocket-sized for the on-the-go chocolate lover, this sampler also makes a great afternoon pick me up. Our tasters liked the rich, caramel flavor of the 41% Cacao Milk Chocolate.
Taste Texture Smell Packaging Value Good Gift? Yes What we tried: Dark Chocolate Bar (2.3oz), $7.35 Caramelized Cocoa Nib Clusters (40g), $4.75 Nib Giants (40g), $4.75 Steve DeVries of DeVries Chocolates is a chocolate enthusiast and gave me a useful lesson in discerning between a chocolatier that makes chocolate confections out of pre-made chocolate and a chocolate-maker who takes cacao beans and turns them into chocolate. He is proud to be the latter and makes his chocolate from bean to bar using vintage equipment and sources cacao directly from the grower. Our tasters loved its bitter taste and thought that the bars (2 per package) were a great deal. And while the packaging could be spruced up, for the dark chocolate aficionado, this makes a great Valentine's Day chocolate gift.	Taste Texture Smell Packaging Value Good Gift? No What we tried: Dark Chocolate Assortment (22 Mints), $3.99 Probably one of the best chocolate buys in its class, Lindt Excellence, is a not-so-secret treasure amongst chocoholics. The Dark Chocolate Assortment we tried contained 22 mini dark chocolates in the flavors orange intense, mint intense, 70% cocoa and 85% cocoa. Our tasters loved the mint and 85% cocoa but felt the packaging was a little hard to open.
Taste Texture Smell Packaging Value Good Gift? No What we tried: Whitman Sampler (12oz), $8.99 Since 1842, the Whitman Sampler has been an American chocolate classic. It includes 16 types of chocolate confections ranging from truffles to nut clusters and is a great value. The packaging is whimsical and unlike other samplers, includes a chocolate guide which takes the guesswork out finding the truffles and nut clusters which were favored by our tasters.	Taste Texture Smell Packaging Value Good Gift? Yes What we tried: Dark Chocolate with Cranberries & Almonds 70% Cacao (4.55oz), $2.50 Do something good for the planet while eating chocolates? Yes it’s possible with Endangered Species Chocolates because they donate 10% of their net profits to support species, habitat and humanity. These would make a great Valentine’s Day gift for the animal or nature-lover. Our tasters loved the concept, packaging and value, but thought the texture of the actual chocolates were just okay.
Taste Texture Smell Packaging Value Good Gift? Yes What we tried: Traditional Milk Chocolate Heart (1lb), $18.75 One of the best selling Valentine's Day chocolate boxes is made by See's Candy. For less than $20, you can get a pound of almost every milk chocolate that's made by See's. There was no consensus amongst our tasters on their favorites, but maybe that is why this sampler is so popular. There is one for each person (you just have to cautiously figure it out as there is no guide). You can't go wrong with this chocolate heart sampler for a Valentine's Day chocolate gift.	Taste Texture Smell Packaging Value Good Gift? Yes What we tried: 9 Piece Mini Chocolate Bars (.5oz), $25.00 With the slogan, "peace, love and chocolate" and packaging that is trendy and upscale, Vosges Haute Chocolate is an interesting blend of hippie virtues and haute couture taste. Their chocolate bars come in an array of interesting flavors and hard to pronounce names like Gianduja. The favorite was the "Red Fire" bar which contains chipotle chili and cinnamon. The only complaint was that many of the exotic flavors did not come through as well as our tasters had hoped.

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Wine and chocolate go well together. They make wonderfully decadent Valentine's Day gifts that can be enjoyed by everyone alike. As a general rule, the wine should match the chocolate in both flavor and body.

Milk Chocolate goes well with the following wines:

• Pinot Noir
• Riesling (Muscat)
• Tawny Port

Dark Chocolate goes well with the following wine:

• Cabernet Sauvignon
• Zinfandel
• Merlot