The pairing of chocolate and wine does not seem like an easy task. On more than most occasions, the choice will be made to serve a sweet dessert wine. An obvious choice since the high levels of alcohol and sugar go hand in hand with the sweetness of the chocolate. Yet it is possible to serve different styles of not only dessert wines, but also dry red!
We must realize that chocolate, like wine, is a very terroir sensitive product. Meaning chocolate made from cacao beans from Colombia, will be very different than chocolate made from beans from Madagascar. Even within a certain country the cacao bean will differ in taste, leading to a variety in tasting profiles. This ensures that we do not always have to match a piece of chocolate with a sweet style of wine.
A while ago I visited Perfri Chocolate and Pastry, run by chocaltier Bart de Gans in Meerkerk, The Netherlands. The level of passion that goes along with the view of the product that is chocolate, matches up completely with my passion of the product that is wine! Never in a million years had I thought how complex that the phenomenon of making chocolate really is and not at all that the cacao beans would reflect the soil on which they grow! So, when looking at which wine goes best with which type of chocolate, we much first look at the the level of cacao present. The higher the level of cacao, the more bitter the taste will be, and of course that reflects on our choice of wine. When pairing, we must be mindful of not only in common flavours, but also complementing flavours.
The first chocolate was a very dark type which contained up to 70 % of cacao. This high level of cacao leads to an intense, yet bitter flavour. Not everyone’s favourite luckily, I love it! Because when you taste through the bitter dimension, you do get some beautiful roasted aromas, which balances out the bitterness. This type of chocolate does not contain as much sugar, but the small amount does complete the tasting profile very beautifully. Very tricky task to match a wine with this one. Your typical dessert wine will be much to sweet and only focus more on the bitterness in the chocolate. A crisp white won’t do us any favours either and a young red, filled with tannin will clash with the bitterness of the chocolate. Yet a red wine can still do the trick, but it should be one with character. A wine that does provide tannin yet has more focus on its fruitiness. A somewhat older Zinfandel from California will surprise you in its combination! This grape produces firm, yet beautiful fruit driven wines that does not contain sharp tannin but emphasizes on sweet baking spices such as cinnamon. Choose a Zinfandel of age, so that the tannin and acidity has been tempered over time.
Tasting the second chocolate, beautiful aromas of red fruit surfaced, even before the bitterness. The chocolate does contain a level of 64% cacao, but the bitterness gets masked by the red fruit characters. For wine pairing, we do not have to search far. We are looking for a very fruit driven red, that is less intense in body than the Zinfandel. A Spanish Garnacha with aromas of baked strawberry, raspberry and pink grapefruit will accentuate the fruit characters from the chocolate and form a beautiful pairing.
With every type of chocolate I got taste, the level of cacao decreased. Getting up to the third piece, we do find us more in the realm of milk chocolate styles. A type with 40 % of cacao. The aromas of vanilla and the buttery texture brings us to one of my favourite wine countries: Greece! Mavrodaphne is a grape variety that is frequently used for the production of dessert wines. A small dose of residual sugar, ensures the semi-sweet style of the wine and will complement the aromas of dried red fruit, raisins and cinnamon found in the chocolate. The residual sugar will also lead to a creamy mouthfeel of the wine, going hand in hand with the creamy texture of the chocolate.
Last but not least, we tasted a delicious piece of white chocolate, containing a high level of sugar. This will underline the notes of vanilla and the milky cream texture. This chocolate goes perfectly with an all-time favourite, Sauternes!
The Sauternes has notes of quince marmalade and honey that will complement the mouthfeel. Due to the high level of sugar from the chocolate, the wine will not overpower and stay well-balanced within the pairing. With a vanilla driven dessert, Sauternes will always be a perfect choice. The simpler the dessert is, the more the Sauternes can shine!
As you have noticed, the difference in many styles of chocolate, leads to its own tasting profile. That said there is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ answer when it comes to wine pairing. Every type of chocolate needs to be separately tasted and paired, but it will always lead to very surprising and interesting combinations!
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