By Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg
Wednesday, February 6, 2008

Forget the scientific debates about aphrodisiacs. Valentine's Day is right around the corner, and you and your date will want to eat something with your wine. Given their centuries-long associations with heightened sensuality, you might as well take advantage of the placebo effect, if nothing more, of ingredients such as shellfish, strawberries and chocolate.

But any possible aphrodisiac could be rendered not just impotent, but downright unappetizing as a result of the wrong wine pairing. We pity any poor reader in need of menu advice who turned to the December issue of Men's Health magazine, where an article titled "Have Sex for Dessert" recommended a glass of resveratrol-rich red wine followed by an appetizer of shrimp cocktail. Gulp. There's nothing sexy about the clashing flavors of red wine and shellfish.

Don't risk a turnoff. With the right pairing strategy, you'll find pleasure throughout the meal.

It's fine to start with a shrimp cocktail, but serve it with a dry white wine, such as a Muscadet or New Zealand sauvignon blanc. Horseradish is a classic aphrodisiac, and for a horseradish-dominant cocktail sauce we found two excellent pairings: the lighter-bodied, crisp 2007 Saint Clair Vicar's Choice Sauvignon Blanc ($18), from New Zealand's famed Marlborough region, and the more powerfully grapefruit-driven 2007 Seifried Sauvignon Blanc ($18), from the sunnier Nelson region.

Or, better yet, pair that shrimp starter with the most romantic wine around: a classic glass of champagne. Year after year, the N.V. Champagne Bollinger Special Cuvee Brut ($55) is consistently impressive. The bottle we enjoyed the other night was characteristically rich and full in body, yet dry and crisp with peachlike fruitiness. (We feel about Bollinger, actually, the way Lily Bollinger felt about champagne in general. As she famously said in 1961: "I drink it when I'm happy and when I'm sad. Sometimes I drink it when I'm alone. When I have company, I consider it obligatory. I trifle with it if I'm not hungry and drink it when I am. Otherwise I never touch it, unless I'm thirsty.")

If the occasion calls for saying it with flowers in a big way, pour the crisp, delicately fruity yet toasty 1999 Perrier-Jouët Fleur de Champagne Brut (a true splurge at $140). A bottle of this lighter-bodied, chardonnay-dominant cuvee, launched in 1969, was one of our wedding presents. It was a gift we found all the more apt after we learned that Perrier-Jouët was founded nearly two centuries ago by Nicolas Perrier and Adèle Jouët, who had fallen in love with the Champagne region of France -- and with each other. In their honor, artisans hand-paint the distinctive white anemone flowers that decorate each bottle. If you're planning to pop the question and want an equally momentous champagne, consider an even bigger splurge: the superb, apricot-and-pear-noted 2000 Perrier-Jouët Fleur de Champagne Blanc de Blancs ($350).

For a main course, serve a few perfect slices of rosy red meat -- whether rare filet mignon or lamb T-bone, with its own tender filet on one side and strip loin on the other -- accompanied by glasses of lush, velvety red wine.

Take your pick of one of three recommended red blends, listed from lightest to heaviest in body: The N.V. Sokol Blosser Meditrina ($18), named in honor of the little-known Roman goddess of wine and health, is a brightly fruity blend of predominantly pinot noir (contributing cherry flavors) with syrah and zinfandel (adding spice notes). With an herbal pesto sauce, we preferred the 2004 Hall Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon ($40), featuring a cinnamon and chocolate aroma and a kiss of merlot (5 percent), or the eucalyptus-noted 2005 Penfolds Bin 389 Cabernet Shiraz ($27), which proved a delicious coupling of the two grapes.

Looking to linger over a cheese course? Put out some ripe fresh figs with creamy mascarpone, accompanied by a sweet wine. A honeyed peach elixir, the 2006 Peller Estates Riesling Icewine ($58), pairs as nicely with this combination as it does with blue cheese.

In fact, with the latter you can pour our longtime favorite 2006 Quady Elysium California Black Muscat Dessert Wine ($17 for a half-bottle), a heavenly, sweet wine with dark cherry and blueberry flavors that can do double duty with the chocolate dessert you'll inevitably want to serve.

We know that chocolate releases endorphins and that endorphins make people happy. So a warm dark chocolate fondue into which you dip whole strawberries or, say, bite-size chunks of frozen cheesecake should make you very happy. Paired with a glass of Elysium, which is Greek for "heaven," the combination will have your head in the clouds. No need to find the perfect Valentine's Day card, either; just write your beloved's name in the heart on the label, and present the bottle as a keepsake.

If you don't have a Valentine's Day reservation at your favorite restaurant by now, let's face it: You probably can't get one. So pretend you'd intended all along to surprise your Valentine by creating a meal with some of these wine pairings in the comfort of home. What could be more romantic than that?

Raw oysters, another classic aphrodisiac, are even more luscious with a few drops of flavor-heightening Noilly Prat Original French Dry Vermouth ($10) sprinkled on top.

For more ideas, visit the Web site of Cordon Bleu Master of Gastronomy Amy Reiley, who maintains an entire aphrodisiac library at http://www.eatsomethingsexy.com.

Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page, award-winning authors of "What to Drink With What You Eat," can be reached through their Web site,http://www.becomingachef.com, or atfood@washpost.com.