Celebrate with legal beverages: Valentine’s Day was yesterday, but you don’t need to empty your wallet to make this weekend or a future date night special. Dave Kuiawa, Pittsburgh-based wine specialist for Fine Wine & Good Spirits, has wine and chocolate pairings perfect for a romantic night in with a loved one or a care-free Galentine’s with girlfriends.

“On a superficial level, we always want to pair a wine that is slightly sweeter than the chocolate we are featuring,” said Wine Specialist Dave Kuiawa. “Sweetness in chocolate and sweetness in wine vary widely and we need to make sure we don’t mis-match the two.”

Wine & Chocolate Pairings:

Milk Chocolate & Secoli Amarone della Valpolicella

Milk Chocolate Dipped Strawberries & Heidseck Monopole Champagne

Dark Chocolate (Medium Cacao) & Dow’s Late Bottle Vintage Port 2011

Dark Chocolate (High Cacao) & Terlato & Chapoutier Shiraz

White Chocolate & Cascinetta Vietti Moscato d’ Asti

For further consideration, Kuiawa has this to say:

“Simply try to match sweet with sweet and dry with dry. There are a lot of reasons why we love both chocolate and wine and a lot of it — because they have more in common than we give them credit for. Experiment, enjoy the experience, and fall in love with both this Valentine’s Day!”

Fine Wine & Good Spirits also has deliciously decadent cocktail ideas sure to make the night special.

Love Bites

1 ½ oz Belvedere Vodka

¾ oz Aperol Liqueur

½ oz Keep It Simple Syrup

1 oz egg white

½ oz fresh lemon juice

3 Luxardo Maraschino Cherries

Combine first five ingredients in a shaker; shake vigorously. Add ice and shake again. Strain into a coupe glass. Garnish with skewered cherries.

Southern Belle

2 oz Southern Comfort Whiskey

5 oz cranberry juice

1 dash fresh lime juice

1 lime wheel

Rainbow nonpareils

Rim a highball glass with nonpareils; set aside. Combine first three ingredients in a shaker filled with ice. Shake and pour into prepared glass. Garnish with lime wheel.

Hot Doctorate

1 oz Dr. McGillicuddy’s Mentholmint Liqueur

4 oz hot chocolate

1 chocolate mint cookie

Whipped cream

Combine first two ingredients in a mug; stir. Garnish with whipped cream and cookie.