Chocolate & Wine – A match made in Italy.
Author: David Berry Green
For all those intrigued by the chocolate & wine debate, a recent tasting trip of mine to Tuscany threw some more light on the subject.
We were approaching the end of a wonderful lunch, held by Dr. Thomas Bär of Chianti Classico producer Gagliole, when he produced a bowl brimming with the finest Lindt chocolates.
Bitter black with the silkiest of textures, the chocolates perfectly complimented their 2005 Chianti Classico, a fine match for the bright raspberry-esque fruit flavours & fine tannins.
Now who would have thought..?
Couldn’t agree more – my friends and I decided to escape the Christmas mania this weekend by staying in with a bottle (or two) of wine and some dark chocolate – both two of our favourite things.
Despite the outrage this culinary sin seems to provoke amongst wine aficionados, we all felt it was a great decision – an open fire, a full-bodied plumy red and some smooth, dark chocolate.
As long as you put a bit of thought into the quality and type of both the wine & chocolate, I would heartilly recommend it to anyone. Yum!
Absolutely! The first time I was introduced to this match made in heaven was at the Waterford Estate in Stellenbosch, South Africa. It was raining cats and dogs and we (University friends and I) decided that what we were in need of was a huge crackling log fire and some of the best red around. What awaited us at Waterford was something really special! A tasting room with massive, gaping fireplaces, oversize old leather couches, world-class quality Shiraz and, the best part, a whole selection of different types of chocolate made specifically to match the wine! And it did most definately!
Chocolates made locally to match their Cabernet Sauvignon and delightful Shiraz was a suprise, but added to the experience and matched the wine better than most normal contemporary dishes would. It was a superb cellar-door experience and I definately recommend it to anyone ever visiting the beautiful vineyards of the Cape!
With all the chocolate going around at this time of year, I think it’s inevitable that they have a rendezvous – are there any varieties you would recommend? (Both of chocolate & wine) – as I would like to have a little tasting session on Christmas Eve with some friends!
When planning a wine tasting dinner I included a very very rich chocolate mousse for pud. My ex-professional chef friend and I decided we wanted what he described as an “in yer face big ozzie red fruit thing”. The wine recommended by BBR was Elderton’s Cabernet Sauvignon – Shiraz – Merlot 1994. It was indeed a very big in yer face explosion of raspberry and red currant, and complemented and cut through the rich mousse very well. Subsequently I had the 1995 with a stodgier bread based chocolate pud and it was less successful – too stodgy a pud, the wine that vintage not quite able to cut through it all. Nothing daunted, experiments continue apace – essentially, I find anything with a strong clean raspberry and red fruit character works better than black fruit or anything too far too far to the smokey / earthy / leathery end of the spectrum. Also better to avoid dessert wines as too sweet a wine with a sweet or even rather bitter chocolate is too much, for me at least.
I’m crazy about chocolate, but this combination would never have occurred to me. I’m very intrigued now.
Any suggestions for a wine that would go well with chocolate truffles? Those are definitely my favorite, but I can’t imagine what would work. Like Cynthia (above) I think a sweet dessert wine would be a bit much.