When Grape Meets Bean
Would it be possible to mix a fine wine which complete a romantic meal and chocolate which is the official foodstuff of Valentine’s Day?
Though not every pairing is a love connection, this match can be something attracting if done correctly. This idea makes all of the vintners and chocolatiers in the world contented.
Pillitteri Estates has matched their 2005 Chambourcin special Select Late harvest with dark chocolate blackcurrant, crevasse estate winery paired a 2006 merlot with dark chocolate pecan and coyote’s run selected to pit their 2007 red paw vineyard pinot noir with dark chocolate nearly clusters. This type of pairing wine and chocolate happened weekly this Feb as they called it Days of Wine and Chocolate at the Niagara region.
Would it be possible as well for matches that instead of bringing love, it would bring regret? This daring match happened in 2007 between Andrew Peller signature Series Chardonnay Sur Lie with milk chocolate hazelnut and maaleta Winery’s pairing of their Grape Brain Rose with milk chocolate orange. It only suggests that the pairings aren’t all dark chocolate with reds or sweeties though.
There is the so-called conching a formula turning gritty chocolate paste into smooth melt in your mouth bliss and this is a well guarded secret. For this to be perfectly done, the chocolate has to be good quality for the match to work. I found out this when I did my very own playing with wine and chocolate pairing with Anne Czaja, master chocolatier for Lindt and Sprungli of Switzerland.
First you start with looking at the chocolate’s appearance which ought to have a glinting shine. Then touch it cocoa butter liquifies at body temperature, so if it liquifies on your fingers it’ll do so luxuriously on your tongue. Listen for a crack noise when you break the bar. That’s an indicator of good texture. Smell it next to respire in fragrances of perhaps fruit, caramel, spice or cocoa of course. Top quality chocolate will have intense smells. Eventually taste it by letting the chocolate melt on your tongue. It should not stick to the palate or be grained. The flavours should be rich, sensuous and satisfying. Look for notes of vanilla, fruit, liquorice, spices, even tobacco as well as cocoa in the taste. Good chocolate has many dimensions as fine wine. These is the lesson I learned from Czaja which made me think of my personal wine-tasting lectures in that it covered all five senses.
One thing I discovered which I had no idea before is dry white would marry so well with a confection. Both brought out the tastes of butterscotch and caramel in one another with the wine’s apple notes leaving the palate refreshed. This was the initiation in pairing oak-aged chardonnay with Lindth milk chocolate.
The pairing which really reminded of liqueur-filled dark chocolate that I used to get at Christmas for a treat is the matching of Canadian cabernet franc icewine with the ninety percent chocolate. Before that, we sipped merlot with seventy pc dark chocolate.
In the time the Brix is developed, a brand of chocolate made specifically to pair with wine. Doctor. Nick Proia, a pulmonologist from Ohio took this entire wine and chocolate affair to pinnade. Bruce Barber, a partner in the establishment even strung out that Brix accents wine much like the Riedel glass does.
Brix Milk Chocolate is made for the lighter reds and pudding wines. Winerytohome.com is offering home delivery in Ontario of these chocolates paired with a selection of wines. Brix Dark Chocolate ( 60 percent ) is also the most flexible with a fairly high cocoa content yet mellow enough to improve the fruit forward wines it was engineered to go with. Brix Additional Dark ( seventy pc ) is composed to pair with the deepest red wines. It’s totally high cocoa content can stand up to considerable tannins found in such wines as Barolo and Bordeaux and well as the heavier.
Dr. Jordan Lebel, a leading figure on the physiological aftermath of chocolate emphasised the the more pleasure at the 1st bite, the less you are going to it. To paraphrase, buy high quality chocolate and slow down and savour it like a fine wine. Lastly, all gurus have one major piece of guidance : Buy the best quality you are able to afford. You can eat less and enjoy it more.
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