Raise your hand if you’re a fan of wine and chocolate. Hold them up so I can get a count. Let’s see, one, two…ah, from where I’m sitting it’s too hard to tell how many hands are up, but I know that both of my hands are down and, in fact, are shoved into my pockets. What’s this, a wine drinker who doesn’t like wine and chocolate? How heretical!
Not really. I’ve been down this pothole-filled road many times before, but my position remains the same: I love chocolate and I love wine, but not together at the same time. Why screw up a piece of good dark chocolate (sorry, milk chocolate lovers but there is really only one kind of chocolate and don’t get me started on “white chocolate”) or a glass of good red wine. Why just red wine? Well, I can’t imagine any chocoholic drinking a white wine while eating a piece of chocolate. But wait! Maybe white wine and white chocolate….
All this back and forth about chocolate and wine came up again recently while reading a release from Rosenblum Cellars, written by Katy Sweet (I know, that’s just too cute!) titled “What’s Better Than Chocolate? Chocolate With Wine.” Well Katy, there are a few things better than chocolate but pairing it with wine ain’t one of them. The release, though, was about Rosenblum Late-Harvest Zinfandel: “The team of super tasters at Rosenblum Cellars noticed that drinking some of their late-harvest Zinfandel put them in the mood for chocolate.” Or, were the tasters already in a chocolate state of mind and the Zin just heightened the mood?
Whatever; Late Harvest Zin is an intriguing choice, especially since the big pitch from the chocolate and wine crowd is more for a dry red wine, like Cabernet Sauvignon or Pinot Noir. More than one Zinfandel has been described as having flavors that lean toward mocha or chocolate, so when you couple that with the berry jam fruit of a Late Harvest Zin and throw in a little sweet spice, the pairing with chocolate becomes more interesting. Late Harvest Zinfandel often is overflowing with the kind of overt fruitiness you might get from a chocolate-coated strawberry. Cabernet Sauvignon, on the other hand, is tighter, less overtly fruity and most importantly, has the tannic structure that kills even moderately sweet dark chocolate.
There’s another thing to consider about chocolate and wine. The use of descriptors such as “dark chocolate” and “mocha” when describing a wine’s flavor can mean different things to different tasters. As already mentioned, red wines like Zinfandel often show an aromatic and flavor characteristic that impresses some tasters as being like chocolate. Perhaps, but to me the impression is more tactile than gustatory. A piece of chocolate melting in your mouth provides a specific tactile sensation that is sensual and unforgettable. Sipping a Late Harvest Zinfandel, especially if it evokes chocolate or mocha, reminds me of the tactile sensation of tasting chocolate more than the flavor of chocolate. That may sound a little too cerebral, but think about it the next time you find chocolate in your red wine or Ruby Port.
At Rosenblum’s wine and chocolate tasting weekend, held recently at the winery in Alameda, California an array of tasty chocolate confections, including Rosenblum’s Zin-based Desiree Chocolate Dessert Wine were offered to the faithful and the curious. It all sounded tempting and chocolicious, but I’ll keep my chocolate and wine indulgences separate, thank you very much. But if you think there’s more to pairing chocolate and wine, especially dry red wine, e-mail me at [email protected]
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