Check the price of Champagne. Even the lowest-level brands are

Now look at our three recommendations for rose sparkling wine (once called “pink Champagne):

The first is $13.99; the latter are in the $18.99 range. Why is this a bargain?

These are sweeter styles, perfect to enjoy as an aperitif, with chocolates or desserts, and even at breakfast. Some of our favorite pairings:

 
Perpetual crowd pleasers, these wines should be served chilled (as with all bubblies).
 
 
MARTINI: SPARKLING ROSÉ

Martini Sparkling Rosé (photo #1—the brand was formerly called Martini & Rossi) is an Italian sparkler made from a blend of brachetto, malvasia, and moscato bianco grapes from Northern Italy.

The nose is delightful, a blend strawberry, rose, and tropical fruit aromas.

The wine is medium-dry, and the palate is slightly sweet with ripe berry and peach flavors. The alcohol level is 9.5%.

This wine also pairs well with seafood, cold meats, and creamy cheeses (although we love it with fresh goat cheese, too).

And of course, serve it with fruit—especially with stone fruits like apricots and peaches, or a stone fruit salad with a dab of crème fraîche or mascarpone.

You can serve it with light lunches and take it on picnics.
 
 
BANFI: ROSA REGALE BRACHETTO D’ACQUI

This delightfully spritzy, full-bodied sparkling wine (photo #2) is cranberry-red in color. The aroma (bouquet, nose) has hints of raspberries and strawberries plus rose petals. What could be more perfect for Valentine’s Day?

On the palate, you’ll taste fresh raspberries. The crisp acidity enables it to pair with the richest desserts, and the elegance makes it a good date for a plate of fine cheeses.

It also pairs well with seafood and spicy fare.

Rosa Regale Brachetto d’Acqui gets its name because it’s 100% brachetto, a red wine grape; and the grapes are grown in a vineyard located outside the town of Acqui in the Piedmont region of Italy.

It has the lowest alcohol of the three, at 7.3%: You can drink more without losing the passion.

Speaking of which, Brachetto has a legend: that both Julius Caesar and Marc Antony sent Brachetto wine as gifts to Cleopatra. Some suggest that Cleopatra fell in love with Caesar over her first sip of Brachetto (the still wine, since sparkling wine had not yet been invented).

[2] Rosa Regale Brachetto d’Acqui, the color of red roses.

[3] Santa Margherita Sparkling Rosé, another fine pink-hued sparkler. All three bubblies are from northern Italy.

You can shop around for the best price. In our area, we can find a 750ml bottle for around $18.99. But don’t worry about spending a few dollars more: It’s worth it.
 
 
SANTA MARGHERITA SPARKLING ROSÉ

This Prosecco (photo #3) is from the Santa Margherita Winery in Trentino-Alto Adige, a hilly area in the province of Treviso, bordering Switzerland and Austria to the north.

It’s a blend of glera (the process grape), chardonnay, and malbec, which provides some of the pink hues.

The aroma is floral, with what wine insiders call white fruits, plus delicate hints of red berry fruits (strawberries, raspberries).

The flavor is delicate but vibrant, remaining on the palate (a.k.a. long finish). The alcohol level is 12%.

For food pairings beyond sweets, look to Italian appetizers, seafood dishes, spicy foods, and the exotic seasonings of Asian cuisines.

You may find it for $18.99, but we had no complaints about paying $21.99 for our bottle.
 
 
NOTE: These wines are meant to be drunk fresh.

Don’t lay them down, and don’t look for older vintages. Drink ‘em if you got ‘em.
 
 

CHECK OUT WHAT’S HAPPENING ON OUR HOME PAGE, THENIBBLE.COM.

[1] Enter the emporium: coffee to the right, chocolate to the left (photo courtesy 2 Beans). [2] The first chocolate made with camel’s milk, from Dubai (photo courtesy Al Nassma). [3] Another winner: the matcha white chocolate bar from Marie Belle (photo courtesy Marie Belle).

2Beans is the go-to store in New York City. A gallery of the world’s great chocolates, it’s a dizzying experience for the novice and connoisseur alike.

There’s fine coffee, too; the second of the “two beans.”

You can buy all you want to bring back to your lair, or sit down and enjoy your chocolate with a coffee or wine pairing.

The whole is greater than the sum of the parts: beyond a chocolate store, beyond a coffee bar, the whole is much greater than the sum of its parts.

There are also high-end soft drinks (like Fentiman’s) and small bites for those who want food with their chocolate.

The flagship store is a modern, two-story glass rectangle a block from Grand Central Terminal, at 100 Park Avenue (212-937-8914). While there may be larger concepts in other cities, right now 2Beans is where the action is in our town.

There are currently three locations, with two more to open this year (you can find the other two are in the Turnstile Shops at Columbus Circle, and at Amsterdam Avenue and 82nd Street on the Upper West Side.

ENTER THE EMPORIUM

A wall of chocolate bars, a large glass case for bonbons, a stand-up coffee bar and pleasant upstairs seating for some chocolate with coffee or wine.

2Beans is a chocolate store and coffee parlor located in New York committed in providing best confectionery items and coffee beans.

There’s a chocolate for everyone: more than 50 brands from over 18 countries: famous, not-yet-famous, bean-to-bar, kosher, Fair Trade, organic, and raw chocolates, even sugar-free (mostly 100 cacao choices, as opposed to artificially sweetened).

You start with the A’s (Akesson’s, Amano, Amedei…) and work your way through the alphabet of the world’s great artisan chocolate bars—including our own local and national producers.

There are also boxed chocolates, fill-your-own chocolate boxes, seasonal chocolates and fun chocolates. There are pastries, if you’d rather have some with your coffee.

There are even camel’s milk chocolate bars (photo #2), made by Al Nassma in Dubai (and the only camel’s milk chocolate made in the United Arab Emirates). The name means drifting breeze in Arabic, a welcome and gentle wind bringing cool respite from the heat of the desert.

One friend, a chocolate bar aficionado, stops by weekly for a pick-me up (and take-me-home). For happy hour, the store is open weekly.

Our favorite discover on this week’s visit were the bars from a Swiss bean-to-bar producer, Milk Boy.

Made in Switzerland with cacao from sustainable farms in West Africa, the company offers

 
We purchased the Milk, Milk with lemon and ginger and White Chocolate…and can’t wait to return for the rest of the line.

The wrapper depicts the cow parade from villages to the Alps for grazing season. Each spring, the cows parade up the mountains to fanfare from the villagers. At the end of grazing season, they come back in for the winter.

For art enthusiasts: the design was created by famous Swiss paper-cutting artist Esther Gerber. It’s just icing on the cake (wrapping on the bar?) of this exquisite chocolate.
 
ANOTHER WINNER

The Matcha White Chocolate Bar from Marie Belle.

But in truth, how many winners are on the shelves at 2 Beans?

We can’t even begin to count!

[4] Milk Boy, an outstanding brand from Switzerland. [5] Try the entire line (photos courtesy Milk Boy).

[2] Fancier (photo © Marcolini Chocolate).

[3] Elegant presentation from Republic Of Tea, and…

[4] …Woodhouse Chocolate.

[5] White chocolate pairs with black, green, and herbal teas (photo © Lindt).

If you’re a tea lover, here’s an idea for just the two of you, or for a larger party of friends: Pair chocolate with tea.

Tea and chocolate are excellent pairing companions. There is so much variety of flavor in each, it seems that there are endless possibilities.

If you have an educated chocolate palate, go further in your exploration. As you would with wine pairings, see what works with what.

We’ve provided some guidelines, but before you start, the rules are:

 
 
TEA WITH DARK CHOCOLATE

Dark chocolate also calls for a hearty black tea. The aforementioned Assam, English Breakfast, and Masala Chai work here.

But for adventure, try:

 
Here’s more information on single origin chocolate flavors.
 
 
TEA WITH MILK CHOCOLATE

Milk chocolate should be paired with a hearty black tea that takes milk.

 
 
TEA WITH WHITE CHOCOLATE

White chocolate is milky, often with caramel notes. These teas both compare and contrast:

Bonbons and chocolate bars and bark can be flavored with particular seasonings, but single-origin chocolate bars carry the flavors of their particular origins.

When we say a chocolate bar has, say, a profile of “red fruits,” it doesn’t mean that raspberries have been added to it. Rather, the beans are produced in that particular area. Here’s more about single origin chocolate flavors.

But whether the red fruits—or citrus, or coffee, or other flavors—is inherent to the bean or an added flavor, the pairing strategy is the same.

 
 
SUPPORTING INFORMATION

________________

*For food geeks: Most of the tea grown is the original Chinese tea plant, Camellia sinensis var. sinensis, known for thousands of years. The only other known variety, the larger-leaf Assam plant (C. sinensis var. assamica), was observed by a Scottish explorer. It was sent to Calcutta There, for classification and the plant was finally identified as a variety of Camellia sinensis, but different from the Chinese plant. While most of the tea grown in the world is Camellia sinensis, Assam is the largest tea-growing region in the world. The region is extremely hot and humid, which contributes to Assam’s unique malty taste. Darjeeling, also an Indian-grown tea, grows in the highlands and is the original Camellia sinensis varietal.

†Oolong is semi-fermented or semi-oxidized (semi-green) tea that falls between green and black tea on the fermentation continuum (black tea ferments for two to four hours; for oolong, the fermentation process is interrupted in the middle).

‡Pu-erh is a special category of tea from Yunnan province of China. The tea is fermented and aged so that the flavors and aromas are very earthy. Pu-erh teas are available in black, brick green, oolong, and white. Here’s more about it.
 
 
 

CHECK OUT WHAT’S HAPPENING ON OUR HOME PAGE, THENIBBLE.COM.

Since childhood, our favorite part of a birthday cake has been the buttercream roses.

No matter whose cake it was, we had to have a slice with a rose.

You too?

Then Valentine’s Day is your opportunity to practice piping frosting roses.

Do we have to mention, you get to eat all the “learning mistakes?”

(We don’t want to demotivate you, but tutorials often recommend that beginners work with Crisco until ready to take on frosting. Rationale: You can put the Crisco flowers back into the can and re-use it. Bah!)

There are numerous tutorials on YouTube. We’ve included two below:

 
If you don’t have a piping set and don’t want to buy one until you’re sure you want to pursue the craft, see if you can borrow one.

People often have a set they rarely use (we have two sets!).
 

HAVE A PIPING PARTY

You can turn piping flowers into a friends-and-family event.

 
If you’d like to make the chocolate cupcakes with pink roses (top photo), here’s the recipe.

There’s chardonnay in the frosting!
 
WHAT NEXT?

If you really get into it, pick up a copy of The Contemporary Buttercream Bible.

After you master roses, there’s an entire garden of frosting flowers to pursue—from anemones, sweet peas and ranunculus to billy balls (like pom moms), succulents and sunflowers.

We found the chart below on Pinterest, attributed to the Instagram account of My Sister Bakes.

(Attention social media gods: We need a reliable system for attribution so the originators can get credited.)
 
NEED INSPIRATION?

Here it is: Envision a cupcake party you created, with these different buttercream flowers.

Yes you can! Start practicing, and if you need an incentive, have a cupcake piping party.[1] Photo courtesy Kendall-Jackson. [2] Photo courtesy My Cake School. [3] Photo courtesy The Sugar Fairy | Pinterest. [4] Photo courtesy Taste Made. [5] Get serious with a copy of The Contemporary Buttercream Bible (photo courtesy David & Charles).

It’s even easier to frost a cupcake:

[1] [2] [3] The Valentine gift box from VineBox, with artisan chocolate bars from Ritual Chocolate.

There’s no need leave home to get them. Just click below to order these online.
1. FOR THE WINE DRINKER: A WINE & CHOCOLATE PAIRING

VineBox is a monthly wine-by-the-glass subscription service; but for Valentine’s Day, it has teamed up with artisan chocolatier Ritual Chocolates to offer gift box that anyone can order.

Three red wines have been paired with two different 75% cacao origin chocolate bars, from Belize and Madagascar.

The wines include a Chianti from Tuscany, a Crozes-Hermitage from the Rhone Valley of France, and a Don Paolo from the Pompeii area of southern Italy.

Beautifully packaged—you’ll want to repurpose the empty box or wine vials—the gift includes two separate boxes, with a total of

 
Both boxes are $69 at VineBox.com; shipping is included.
 
 
For More Wine & Chocolate Pairings

Check out THE NIBBLE’s favorite pairings, and our master pairing chart.

Here’s a guide to pairing sparkling wines with chocolate.

Here’s how to pair wine with chocolate desserts and other desserts.

This herbal blend from one of our favorite artisan blenders combines red rooibos, baby rose buds and petals, marigold petals, almonds and saffron (a well known aphrodisiac).

Whether hot or iced, we guarantee the recipient will love it. A four-ounce tin is $16 at Tay Tea.

The company has another rooibos blend we love, with bits of Belgian dark chocolate and peppermint, called Better Than Sex.
 

3. ORGANIC TRUFFLE HONEY

Many truffle-flavored products are flavored with a chemical approximation of truffle flavor and aroma.

But this jar of Acacia honey, certified USDA organic, is flavored with real white truffle pieces.

We love dipping it by the spoon from the jar; but more genteel uses include:

 
Truffle honey turns something simple into something joyous.

Get yours from Murray’s Cheese, $26.99 for a 4.25-ounce jar of heaven.

[4] Lovers’ Tea from Tay Tea is an elegant herbal blend. [5] Honey in a perfect marriage with truffles, from Da Rosario.