Wine and Chocolate

[WineMiles]

Pairing chocolates with desert wines is nothing new. And most restaurants bring the flavors of wine, blackberry, raspberry and coffee into their chocolate deserts as well. San Francisco Chocolate Factory has taken this one step further. Most people know that Zinfandel wines go great with Dark Chocolate. Now there is a chocolate formulated specifically for pairing with all the major California red wine varietals. San Francisco Chocolate Factory has six dark chocolate products that can be paired with Pinot Noir, Syrah, Merlot, Zinfandel, Port and Cabernet Sauvignon. Recently, I had the good fortune to taste all the chocolates with their respective varietals. I wasn’t too thrilled with the Pinot Noir blend. The chocolate really overpowered the Alder Brook Pinot Noir I was having. The other varietals paired nicely with their chocolate counterpart, providing an excellent balance of flavors between the chocolate and the wine. So that your wine isn’t overpowered by the chocolate, I would recommend drinking wines that represent the most flavorful of their respective varietals.

San Francisco Chocolate Factory varies the % of Cocoa in their quest for the perfect pairing. 54% Cocoa for Port, 55% for Cabernet, 56% for Pinot Noir, 58% for Merlot, 61% for Syrah and a whopping 72% for Zinfandel.

The ZAP (Zinfandel, Advocates and Producers) festival in S.F. offers chocolates to the attendees along with bread and cheese. So I think the link between Zinfandel and chocolate is pretty strong.

Has anyone else had a positive chocolate and wine pairing experience?

What kinds of chocolate do you like with your wine?

[futronic]

Chocolate with LBV or a Tawny Port.

[tanabutler]

San Francisco Chocolate Factory Wine products

An out-of-this-world combo is Bonny Doon's Framboise (pant, pant, pant) with Scharffen Berger bittersweet chocolate. A one-ounce bar is just about right.

Not too long ago, I picked up a bottle of Framboise that had attached to it a small bar of Valhrona dark chocolate. That was a sublime combination.

Framboise and chocolate, mmmmmm.

</Homer Simpson gourmet mode>

[ludja]

Sonoma's J. Fritz Late Harvest Zinfandel with Scharffenburger or any good dark chocolate.

edited to add: Welcome to Egullet Winemiles!

Edited April 21, 2004 by ludja (log)

[Miguelito]

May be heresy, but I find shaved dark or bittersweet chocolate to be an appealing partner to big, highly tannic (i.e. young) cabs. The bitterness of the chocolate seems to cut the tannin, leaving more of the fruit on the palate.

[tanabutler]

May be heresy, but I find shaved dark or bittersweet chocolate to be an appealing partner to big, highly tannic (i.e. young) cabs. The bitterness of the chocolate seems to cut the tannin, leaving more of the fruit on the palate.

Why heresy?

[Brad Ballinger]

I may be in the minority, but I never "got" the wine with chocolate (any wine, any chocolate) thing. Not even with LBV Port or Banyuls. And the pairing of chocolate with Cabernet or Champagne is completely lost on me.

My beverage of choice with chocolate is coffee. I've yet to find a better match.

[tanabutler]

Brad, you can have all my coffee. Forever.

[WineMiles]

Did I forget to mention that the S.F. Chocolate Factory pairings are dark chocolate?

They are in small bite size drops.

[Chris Kissack]

I'm afraid that I've never been convinced by any of the matches suggested for chocolate based dishes. Banyuls is another frquent suggestion, as well as tawny Port, LBV Port, young tannic reds, etc.

Like Brad, for me chocolate goes with coffee, not with wine.

BWs

Chris Kissack

[Dan Ryan]

Pedro Ximenez sherries or montillas are great with chocolate. And vanilla. And skin.

[Steve Klc]

One of several previous threads:

http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showto...=0entry444063

[winemike]

Maury has to be my choice. Banyuls is sometimes too rich and sweet.

[jrufusj]

Generally have to agree with Brad that coffee is the best match, but I have occasionally had success with Amarone and chocolate.

Jim

[chbarg]

I agree with Dan Ryan, Pedro Ximenez sherries are great with chocolate... and also great by themselves...

And whenever I have leftover cabernet sauvignon from a meal (right after the meal) I get some chocolate to finish the wine.

Cheers