It’s tricky but not impossible and well worth the effort for Valentine’s Day so here are a few tips.

Aim for similarity of flavours. For sweeter, more delicate chocolate with a low cocoa percentage, you need a sweeter wine. Dark chocolate can be matched with a fuller bodied wine so that the bitterness and intense flavours are adequately matched.

A tawny port, a light sweet Riesling or a sparkling wine all work very well with a white chocolate or milk chocolate.

For dark, bittersweet chocolates try a cabernet sauvignon as long as it isn’t oaky or perhaps a spicy shiraz.

Definitely Chocolate specialise in luxury, hand made chocolate gifts. I’m a dark chocolate fan so this is my choice:

It’s the romance collection of 40 premium dark chocolates.

If you’re stuck for gift ideas for Valentines Day, we’ve put together some great gift ideas all with a wine theme.

Other great online merchants for Valentine’s Day Wine Gifts include Edible Blooms for something a bit different and Little Luxury for beautifully presented gifts.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

6 Pack of Premium Red Wine

This is a great 6 pack of premium red wines from 5 STAR Halliday Wineries including Grant Burge, Bleasdale, Langmeil & Penfolds. The pack contains a 96 Halliday pointer Coonawarra Cab Sauv 2004 plus other high scoring wines. It makes a fantastic present for Father’s Day. The pack contains:

Penfolds Bin 128 Coonawarra Cab Sauv 2009 x 1 bottle
Bleasdale Frank Potts Cabernet Malbec 2008 x 1 bottle
Grant Burge Holy Trinity Grenache Shiraz Mourvedre 2008 x 1 bottle
Sorby Adams The Canon Shiraz Viognier 2006 x 1 bottle
Langmeil Orphan Bank Barossa Shiraz 2008 x 1 bottle
Murdock Coonawarra Reserve Cab Sauv 2004 x 1 bottle

Red Wine Twin Pack With Sherry

This is an ideal Father’s Day gift for a Dad who appreciates premium red wine. It’s a twin pack of quality reds with the added bonus of a bottle of Seppeltsfield Fino Sherry which is perfect as a chilled aperitif. The wines are a Grant Burge Holy Trinity GSM 2005 which is a premium old-vine Barossa red, and a Stalking Horse McLaren Vale Shiraz 2008 rated 4 STARS by Winestate magazine.

Flowers is the most popular choice as a Mother’s Day gift and buying flowers online works really well. There are a number of excellent online florists so we’ve put together a sister site for this one to help you compare choices if you want to send flowers online for Mother’s Day.

If you opt for Chocolates for Mum on Mother’s Day then our favourite choice is Definitely Chocolate. They make handmade chocolates using Belgian chocolate and combine absolute indulgence with beautiful presentation.

Gift Hampers are always a treat and A Little Luxury make great gift hampers for Mother’s Day with yummy combinations of wine, gourmet food, chocolates and pampering products.

May is a beautiful time of the year in Australia and a lunch in the backyard or a park is a lovely way to celebrate Mother’s Day and make Mum feel special. So the other thing we’ve been contemplating as Mother’s Day approaches is wine choices for a barbeque or picnic lunch.

Champagne or sparkling wine is always a good choice for a special occasion and goes well with seafood, appetisers and cheese, all of which may feature at a Mother’s Day picnic lunch. As a change from white sparkling, we really like sparkling red. This works well with cold meats and it’s a great celebratory drink.

Another good choice for lunch is pinot noir. It pairs very well with a wide range of food and is light, smooth and easy to drink.

Whatever you decide to know and whatever gift you decide on we hope that you thoroughly enjoy Mothers Day.

Our favourites are from A Little Luxury. They specialise in gourmet gift hampers and have a fantastic selection of chocolate hampers just in time for Easter. All the hampers are beautifully presented and you have the flexibility of exchanging any of the items for something else of your choice or adding a favourite bottle of wine.

It can be hard to match wine with chocolate. We offered a few tips for Valentine’s Day that could be useful.

Finally there are plenty of wine bargains around just in time for the Easter holidays. Check out our pick of half price wines.

Wine and wine accessories are very popular gifts for Father’s Day. We’ve picked out the best wine gifts that can be ordered online and delivered anywhere in Australia or New Zealand, the UK and the USA.

2 bottles of White Wine, Red Wine or One of Each

Winemakers Choice have selected premium bottles of white and red wine and presented them beautifully in your choice of a satin lined cardboard box or a wooden box. Our favourite is the two bottles of red. The selection is a Palandri Cabernet Merlot 2003 and a Zilzie S23 Shiraz 2006. The Cabernet Merlot is from the Margaret River. It’s an excellent vintage and great drinking now or for cellaring for a few years. The Shiraz is from a Victorian family winery.

Glenlivet Gift

This is a great Father’s Day present for the scotch whiskey connoisseur and is really nicely presented in a mahogany stained timber box to make it a bit more special.

The gift box contains a bottle of Glenlivet, the world’s most celebrated single malt whisky. Also included are two scotch glasses.

It’s good value at $99.95 and the price includes GST, freight, insurance and a complimentary gift card.

Red Wine Royale

Father’s Day calls for a celebration and what better way to celebrate than with two multi award winning red wines, St Hugo Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon 2004 and Palandri Vita Novus Shiraz 2004.

The wines are presented in a black Carlo Rossini Buffalo Leather twin wine carrier.

The price includes GST, freight, insurance and a complimentary gift card.

Wine and Bar Accessories, Cellaring Equipment

Winemaker’s Choice have a great selection of accessories so you can probably find the perfect Father’s Day gift amongst them.

Choose from bottle stoppers, wine barrels, bottle openers, wine travel sets, wine chillers – the list goes on. There is also a great range of cellaring equipment.

Intervino Gifts

Intervino have a selection of absolutely beautiful wine gifts so if you’re looking for something special for Father’s Day take a look at their range of wines, liqueurs and spirits.

The combination of bag and ice bucket is a clever idea. It makes for a great, inexpensive gift, a handy item to take to the beach or a party, or a trendy look for the boardroom.

There are some introductory specials with 2 or more purchases and at less than $10 per bag if you purchase 3 or more it’s not going to break the bank.

iSubscribe are the specialists in online magazine subscriptions and not only do they have a great list of wine magazines but they’re also offering some special deals and competitions leading up to Christmas.

Check out the full list of food and wine magazines.