Save room for dessert

Taster's choice: Townsend's flight of dessert wines and chocolates. (ERIK JACOBS FOR THE BOSTON GLOBE)

When it comes to after-dinner drinks, most of us need some guidance. Just when you think you've figured out what varietal to pair with dinner, along come ports to complicate matters. But if you let the experts do the heavy lifting for you, you may be pleasantly surprised. At Townsend's in Hyde Park, owners Michael and Rosalee Talon have selected a flight of ports and dessert wines ($20) paired with a rotating selection of Rosalee's homemade truffles. It's quite literally a crash course on how to taste.

The ruby-colored fruits of the Désirée-chocolate-infused zinfandel port were matched with a bittersweet chocolate infused with Guinness. The dark, cloudy cream of the stout made the bitter truffle's flavor leap forward. Likewise with the white chocolate and lime truffle paired with an Italian muscat. You don't taste the citrus until you sip the muscat, and then it's right there. Woah. Magic. The middle course here works as a sort of palate cleanser. Too many flavors in a row, explained the couple, and you lose some of the flavor.

The final step of the flight pairs a Broadbent 7-year tawny and a bittersweet chocolate infused with earl grey and dipped in milk chocolate. The complex bergamot aromas of the tea presented themselves with the introduction of the Tawny's spice.

"Try to coordinate the two in your mouth," instructed Michael. "Taste the experience of both simultaneously. You don't want to wash it down." Good advice. These flavors, with a beginning, middle, and end, are meant to be savored.

Townsend's, 81 Fairmount Ave., Hyde Park. 617-333-0306. townsendsrestaurant.com

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