Wine Loves Chocolate: Wine Pairing with The Champlain Wine Company
By Brittany Galbraith
I have a friend, Oliver, who once told me it was a sin to chew dark chocolate. A sin. Instead, if you consider yourself to be a serious, chocolate-loving hedonist, you let that delicious morsel melt in your mouth. This is to be a sensual experience. He seemed very serious about this at times; and, now that I work with wine, I have never agreed with his sentiment more.
When it comes to marrying wine and chocolate I think about Oliver’s idea of taking it slow, and experiencing all the aromas, flavors, and textures that flood your senses with a piece of good chocolate, and how those sensations evolve as you introduce wine. Sometimes something magical happens: the flavors of the chocolate and wine blend beautifully, and a new tasting experience is created; other times, it can be a mouthful of disaster. But, hey, this is one risk chocolate-loving hedonists do not mind to take.
At The Champlain Wine Company (TCWC) we love trying and savoring new flavor pairing combinations with our locally made wines; so we naturally fall into the chewing-dark-chocolate-is-a-sin fan club. We love to explore how new food flavor combinations can enhance the wine drinking experience. Over the past couple of weeks, we have been testing pairings with one of our favorite local chocolate producers, Barkeater Chocolates. We’ve also experimented with sweet treats from the co-op’s bulk section for our upcoming Wine Loves Chocolate specialty tastings for the month of February (Feb 9th -28th). With the purchase of a wine tasting or a glass of wine, guests will receive a complimentary suggested chocolate or sweet pairing for each wine. Yum.
During our testing trials, we found some great pairing suggestions for TCWC wine drinkers and North Country Food Co-Op shoppers:
Chocolate-covered espresso beans work well with our Full Sail Red, our popular semi-sweet red wine. The chocolate finish of the wine complements the sweet earthiness of the espresso, and the dark chocolate pairs with the dark blackberry and cherry flavors of the wine; or, sample Lake Champlain Chocolate’s dark chocolate bar with rich coffee ganache.
A yogurt-covered almond has a melt-in-your-mouth quality when paired with our North Star Riesling or White Table Wine (Cayuga and Riesling wine blend). The sweet yogurt complements the slightly acidic, apple notes of the wine.
If you are thinking of a spicy treat, like Lake Champlain Chocolates’ Chilies & Cherries Dark Chocolate bar, choose a wine that is sweet. The residual sugar in the wine will caramelize the spice of the chocolate. If you choose a wine that is too dry, the mouthfeel will be unpleasant. We think our semi-sweet red wine, Full Sail Red, showcases this.
If the wine is acidic, try a candy, or chocolate that is sweeter, rather than bitter or a dark chocolate. The sugar will balance the tart acidity of the wine and increase the level of perceived sweetness of the wine. We love dried apricot or candied mango with our un-oaked, dry Chardonnay.
If you have a sweet, fruity wine, try a less sweet candy or light chocolate with nuts. A less sugary treat will not be competitive with the already sweet wine. The nuttiness rounds out the sweetness of the wine, adds a savory element, and tends to highlight the tropical or fresh fruit notes of the wine. We like white chocolate macadamia nuts with our sweet white wine, Cayuga White.
Try chocolate and wine pairings at home with this exercise:
First, pour a few ounces of wine into your glass. The idea is to pour a sample of wine, not a full glass.
Sniff your glass of wine. Give it a good swirl, do not be afraid to create a little tornado funnel in the center of your glass- you really want the wine to move around. Now, stop the swirling and get your nose in there, and smell again. This swirling technique is forcing oxygen to interact with the wine, making the overall aroma, or bouquet, of the wine pop. This now bigger bouquet makes it easier to catch all the different aromas of the wine. What notes jump out at you? Do the aromas remind you of a certain flower, fruit, spice or even memory?
Now, take a sip. What flavors do you recognize? Was the aroma different from the taste? Is the wine sweet, dry, acidic or tannic (that tingling feeling on your tongue)? Once the wine has coated your tongue, and you’ve swallowed it, take a bite of chocolate. Of course, letting it melt and coat your tongue! Evaluate the different flavors happening here. Do the flavor notes of the chocolate blend with the flavors of the wine; do they fight; are they separate from one another?
Keep alternating between chocolate and wine as you continue your tastings, and notice how flavors evolve. Be sure drink water in between different wine and chocolate pairings to prevent unintentional blending of tastings.
Cheers!
Wine Events at TCWC for February:
Feb. 4 (Weds.) @ 530-7PM: A Sensory Experience: Exploring Wine Through Aroma & Taste, a workshop with Style & Substance by Brittany Galbraith
Feb. 6 (Friday) @ 5-8PM: Meet the Artist Reception: Jen DeMattio. Wine and cheese party to welcome the new exhibition.
Feb. 9 – 28th: Wine Loves Chocolate wine pairings. Check our FB page for business hours and more information.
Feb. 14 (Sat.) @ 6-8PM: Live acoustic music by Matt King and specialty Valentine’s Day treat and wine pairing at the shop. Noon – 2PM: Partner yoga with Kim LeClaire at Empower Yoga studio. The first five couples to arrive receive a complementary chocolate and wine tasting certificate!
The Champlain Wine Company
30 City Hall Pl.