V-day is coming. Don't screw up!

Some wines are perfect and.... some are not.

If soon-to-arrive Valentine’s Day is a moment to love the one you’re with, it’s also a moment to love the wine you’re with. By which I mean, celebrate!

Celebrate romance, the approach of spring, the pleasures of the table and the company you choose to keep on this most intimate and special holiday.

Let’s face it, choosing the right bottle (along with the card, the gift, the meal, etc.) is a little more important on February 14th than on, say, ANY OTHER DAY OF THE YEAR.

To put this holiday in perspective, it may be helpful to know that it was first celebrated in Roman times as the Feast of Lupercalia, customarily held on February 15th. This was a fertility-related event that involved young men dressed as goats, roaming the busy streets of Rome and whacking innocent bystanders with strips of goat skin. (There’s more, but I digress.) For modern day lovers, best to set the goat skin aside and reach for that special bottle instead.

One more thing to avoid – the ubiquitous calls for dry red wines with chocolate. Talk about a buzz kill. There’s little to be gained by enumerating all the reasons dry red wines and most chocolates don’t mix well. Basically, the tannins in the wine get amped up, and the wine can turn bitter. But if you are bound and determined to have your red wine and chocolate fix this year, go out and get the darkest, most unsweetened chocolate you can find. A bar with 70 percent cacao is a minimum, but 80 or 85 percent is better. Some are mixed with nibs – crunchy and textural. That works well, even with dry reds, whatever you want – Cabernet, Merlot, Malbec, Sangiovese, Syrah.

Another idea is to keep the chocolate dark and swap out the red wine for bubbly. Champagne is the traditional choice, but drinkers these days are more likely to turn to Spanish Cavas, French crémants or sparkling wines from Italy. Proseccos are especially great, because they often have some sweetness that can complement lighter, sweeter chocolate candies.

Beyond still wines and bubblies, there are many other good options. Fortified wines, which often have a bit of sweetness, are a great mid-winter treat, and quite chocolate-friendly. Look for ready-to-drink Ports such as Graham’s popular Six Grapes Reserve, affordable Madeiras such as Blandy’s 5 Years Alvada, and vintage dated delights such as those from Kopke. Then there are dessert-style Muscats. Muscat de Rivesaults are sweet and delicious, with flavors of candied orange and caramel. Another advantage to all of these wines is that a little goes a long way. A standard 750 ml bottle will easily serve eight people, and unfinished bottles will continue to drink well for several weeks after being opened with no need for any sort of preservative.

My personal all-time favorite match for chocolate is Amaro. It means “bitter" in Italian, and is a category of herbal liqueur made throughout Italy and generally drunk as a digestif. Most amari (the plural of amaro) originated in the mid-1800s, developed in monasteries and herbal pharmacies. Note:  amaro is not the same as amaretto, an almond-flavored liqueur; and has nothing to do with Amarone, a type of wine from the Veneto.

Though it may be an acquired taste – if you do not like a mix of flavors both bitter and sweet, with a medicinal kick, it’s not for you – once you develop a liking for amaro it is heavenly.

Individual versions are produced by macerating a proprietary mix of herbs, spices, flowers, and citrus peels in alcohol, either neutral spirits or wine, blending with sugar syrup, aging in casks, and bottling at between 16 and 35 percent alcohol. It’s not uncommon for a popular brand to include dozens of ingredients in a closely-guarded, proprietary formula.

I like to drink amaro straight up, sipping it very slowly, so as to enjoy the concentrated and lingering flavors. I would not recommend it before a meal during which you plan to open wine, but at meal’s end, it is a perfect nightcap. Especially with chocolate!

I went on an amaro binge some years ago and tried as many as I could find in the Seattle area. My favorites to go with dessert (note that prices vary and may have climbed a bit):

Ramazzotti ($22) – a crowd-pleaser, inexpensive, sweet but less syrupy than Averna.

Averna ($34) – a traditional Sicilian amaro, sweet and syrupy.

Nonino ($45) – Expensive for amaro, fruity and floral, with lovely orange scents and flavors.

PS: If you’re able to grab a table at Waitsburg’s Bar Bacetto on any night be sure to check out their outstanding amaro collection

!