Can wine and chocolate really be a sweet couple?

A recent issue of Wine Spectator told us what we already know: That as a couple, wine and chocolate are destine to clash. Not always, of course. As with other strangely mismatched relationships, some pairings do work. But for the most part, “Chocolate is a monster,” writes the magazine's Owen Dugan. “It pastes itself onto your palate, and dark versions are usually tannic, full-bodied and loaded with deep flavors. Milk chocolate is even more persistent in texture, though the flavors are usually milder and considerably sweeter.”

Dugan goes on to say that the couple with staying power usually has sweetness in common. As for the wine to survive, it will need to have a lot of acidity and/or alcohol. Sound like someone you know?

Those are the relationship facts. But against the odds, the hopeless romantic wine-and-chocolate lovers root for a hookup, especially in February for Valentine’s Day and in March, when the Oregon Chocolate Festival opens its loving arms to Southern Oregon winemakers.

So clue the Joni Mitchell song:

Oh you're in my blood like holy wine

You taste so bitter and so sweet

Oh I could drink a case of you darling

And I would still be on my feet

The coco-vino-romantics are coming to the Ashland Springs Hotel this weekend to bring these two lovelies together. There will be a Chocolate Maker’s Dinner (read more here) Friday night with cocoa nib-cinnamon roasted beets, organic chocolate mole, rubbed game hen with bittersweet chocolate pan jus followed by chocolate-Amaretto flan.

And Saturday and Sunday, from 11 a.m.-4 p.m, winery staffers from Devitt Winery, EdenVale Winery, HV Cellars Winery, Quady North and Slagle Creek Vineyards will be pouring sweetness and wine to chocolate day trippers (day tickets are $15).

Herb Quady’s packing Quady North’s Syrah, Cab Francs and Viogniers, as well as his family’s famous sherry and Muscat from Madera (more here).

What does Jim Devitt of Devitt Winery have up his sleeve? He will be pouring only his best, all Estate bottles of Precipice (an even blend of Merlot and Zinfandel), a 2007 Syrah and a 2005 Merlot. “As to why chocolate and red wine go together so well, I can't really comment,” Devitt says, shyly. “They just do! Maybe it’s the tannins?”

Bob Denman of Slagle Creek Vineyards is driving in from the Applegate Valley with what sounds like a fruit truck full of special wines: his 2006 Syrah (which he describes as having blueberry and raspberry up front on the pallet with notes of black pepper and coco), the 2006 Claret (a blend of 45% Merlot, 35% Cabernet Sauvignon and 20% Cabernet Franc that has "a gentle floral bouquet with deep, dark cherry notes with current, blackberry, and sweet chocolate and spice") and the 2007 Merlot (which has "bright cherry fruit wrapped in spicy dark chocolate"). 

Denman confesses that the best parts of the Oregon Chocolate Festival are spending time at the Ashland Springs Hotel, reuniting with friends and sampling chocolate creations. “Who doesn't love that,” he asks.

He says he likes drinking his Merlot with enchiladas with mole. But like someone who’s learned not to kiss and tell, he won’t compare one wine to another. “It's up in the air which one is the best with chocolate," he says. "Each wine has been a favorite.”

Oh, Joni, would love you for that.

For more info: Ashland Springs Hotel, 212 East Main Street, Ashland, Oregon 97520, (888) 795-4545, www.ashlandspringshotel.com. Tickets to main events are $15 per day.