Wine with Chocolate Event at Subzero Showroom
Thursday, February 11, 2010 - 06:30 PM
This Event has been read: 358 times.
"I owe it all to little chocolate donuts." - John Belushi
Wine with Chocolate Event at the Subzero Showroom
Thursday, February 11th 2010
6:30pm
[FIRSTNAME], the most popular wine to be paired with this delectable aphrodisiac is Cabernet Sauvignon and normally I don’t like big heavy reds like Cabernet Sauvignon with chocolate dishes as they inevitably are too sweet for the wine and the first rule of pairing sweet food with wine is that the wine should be at least as sweet, if not a touch sweeter than the food. Inevitably most chocolate dishes that are paired with a big Cabernet Sauvignon's that I have experienced seem to make the wine appear drier and not as enjoyable but for many this is a match made in heaven. My research has left me with a bounty of choices for all different types of chocolates and I am very eager to try these out on you- my food and wine guinea pigs. Tonight’s tasting will feature several different wines that go with different types of chocolate.
The presentation will be made classroom style and along with the various chocolate dishes served there will also be a variety of appetizers and cheese served to accompany the wines we will be sampling this evening. The fee for this tasting is $30 + tax, for reservations call 954-523-9463.
The Westye Group showroom is located at 2 Oakwood Blvd., Suite 120, Hollywood, FL 33020 (954) 927-8477 or (866) 628-6817. There are several kitchen showrooms here displaying some of the highest quality Sub-Zero wine cabinets, refrigerators, Wolf stoves and other kitchen accessories. If you love to cook this place is a candy store for the culinarily inclined.
Tasting Wines
2008 La Spinetta Moscato D’Asti (white chocolate)
List $17.75 Sale $15.62 Case $181
Fresh aromas of peach fruit with highlights of white flowers a forward and seductive bouquet. Soda pop like bubbles on the tongue with sweet ripe peach and tangerine citrus fruit on the tongue, fruity but has nice fresh acidity bringing up the rear leaving the tongue refreshed on the finish. Finish 35+ Very Good +
2006 Row Eleven Pinot Noir Santa Maria Valley (milk chocolate)
List $27 Sale $23.76 Case $276
More red cherry pie like fruit on the nose with excellent concentration and a good hand of floral notes with some earth notes but the focus is on the cherry pie like fruit. Thick red cherry pie like fruit on the palate with silky velvety texture on the tongue and fresh flowers and again well balanced fresh acidity. Long finish 45+ Excellent +
2005 Swanson Merlot Napa (Milk chocolate)
Price: $28.00 Sale $24.64 Case $286
Dark plum and black cherry berry fruit on the nose dark chocolate very complex and concentrated bouquet black earth espresso, wow. Plush and velvety on the tongue with layers of toasty oak spice dark coco and ripe smooth tannins, very complex and long finish. Finish 45+ Most Excellent
2004 Marquis Philips Cabernet Sauvignon #S2 McLaren Vale (dark chocolate)
List $36.75 Sale $32.34 Case $32.34
(91 points) "Ruby-red color. Fresh, high-pitched aromas of redcurrant, cassis and blackberry, with complicating notes of fresh tobacco and exotic chocolate. Fat and velvety, with a sweet blackberry liqueur flavor supported by silky tannins. Finishes round and gentle, with lovely clarity of dark berry fruit and impressive length." Josh Raynolds International Wine Cellar
2005 Tommaso Bussola Recioto 500ml (White Chocolate)
Price: $45.00 Sale $39.60
(90 Points) The 2005 Recioto della Valpolicella Classico is an easy going but superbly elegant wine that reveals expressive aromatics, jammy dark fruit, chocolate, licorice and spices, with an attractive plumminess and outstanding depth. Anticipated maturity: 2008-2018. Tommaso Bussola’s wines have received a good deal of critical acclaim over the last few years, and with good reason. These are remarkable wines of the highest level. The estate produces two lines of wines. In theory the BG wines are more traditional in spirit while the TB wines are meant to be more modern. In reality the main difference comes down to vineyard selection, as the estate’s best fruit is reserved for the TB range. eRobertparker.com # 173 Oct 2007
2005 Chateau Doisy Vedrines Sauternes 375ml (Milk chocolate)
List $28.50 Sale $25.08 Case $290
(92-94 Points) "Dried pineapples with honey and flowers. Full-bodied and medium-sweet, with fresh acidity and a spicy finish." Wine Spectator -James Suckling, June 30, 2006.
Silver Fox Beer Barrel Tawny (dark chocolate)
List $45 Sale $39.60
List $27 Sale $23.76 (375ml)
Tawny ports are my favorite kind with their blend of sweet dried fruits dates and figs intermixed with subtle caramel, toffee and hazelnut/walnut flavors play particularly well with dark chocolate.
Some general info about paring different types of Chocolate with wine.
Rule #1- The wine should be at least as sweet, if not a touch sweeter, than the chocolate you are serving it with. If you break this golden rule the taste on your buds could quickly take a turn towards bitter or sour.
White chocolate tends to be more mellow and buttery in flavor, making it an ideal candidate for a sweet Sherry or a Moscato D’Asti from Italy’s Piedmont region. The Sherry and Moscato d’Asti will pick up the creaminess of the chocolates. Another route, for pairing wine with white chocolate is going for the contrast pairing approach, this is a little riskier, but when you find a match it can be exceptional. For example, taking a wine like a Zinfandel which tends to have a heavier tannic content and often a higher alcohol level and partnering it with a creamy, buttered white chocolate can have an unusual "melding" affect. It's like the tannins get softened out by the fat content and make for a remarkable potential for pairing.
Milk Chocolate Wine to me suggests Pinot Noir or a lighter bodied red like a Merlot with a bar of milk chocolate, a creamy chocolate mousse or chocolate accented cheesecake. Also a classic paring with milk chocolate is a Sauternes which has a high amount of residual sugar but still excellent acidity to match, Rieslings, Muscats and Gewurztraminers can also be interesting to pair with milk chocolate. And lastly you may want to experiment with milk chocolate dipped strawberries and a demi sec champagne. Last, but not least a classic milk chocolate pairing to consider is a nice Ruby Port - a very safe bet when looking for a perfect wine to accent milk chocolate.
Dark or bittersweet chocolates need a wine that offers a roasted, slightly robust flavor itself, with perhaps a hint of its own chocolate notes. A very ripe style of Cabernet Sauvignon with lots of toasty oak is a perfect complement to the dark chocolate for some resulting in an unparalleled tasting combination. One could also consider a robust Pinot Noir or a concentrated style of Merlot like that made in Pomerol or St. Emilion to handle dark chocolate around the 55% cocoa mark. Finally, give a Tawny or Vintage Port a go to offer a very well balanced pairing approach to a dark chocolate dessert or truffle.
A bit of history about Chocolate:
Native to lowland, tropical South America, cacao has been cultivated for at least three millennia in Central America and Mexico, with its earliest documented use around 1100 BC. The majority of the Mesoamerican peoples made chocolate beverages, including the Maya and Aztecs.
Chocolate has been used as a drink for nearly all of its history. The earliest record of using chocolate dates back before the Olmec. In November 2007, archaeologists reported finding evidence of the oldest known cultivation and use of cacao at a site in Puerto Escondido, Honduras, dating from about 1100 to 1400 BC. The residues found and the kind of vessel they were found in indicate that the initial use of cacao was not simply as a beverage, but the white pulp around the cacao beans was likely used as a source of fermentable sugars for an alcoholic drink. The Maya civilization grew cacao trees in their backyard, and used the cacao seeds it produced to make a frothy, bitter drink. Documents in Maya hieroglyphs stated that chocolate was used for ceremonial purposes, in addition to everyday life. The chocolate residue found in an early ancient Maya pot in Río Azul, Guatemala, suggests that Maya were drinking chocolate around 400 AD. In the New World, chocolate was consumed in a bitter, spicy drink called xocoatl, and was often flavored with vanilla, chile pepper, and achiote (known today as annatto). Xocoatl was believed to fight fatigue, a belief that is probably attributable to the theobromine content. Chocolate was also an important luxury good throughout pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, and cacao beans were often used as currency. For example, the Aztecs used a system in which one turkey cost one hundred cacao beans and one fresh avocado was worth three beans. South American and European cultures have used cocoa to treat diarrhea for hundreds of years. All of the areas that were conquered by the Azetcs that grew cacao beans were ordered to pay them as a tax, or as the Aztecs called it, a "tribute".
Until the 16th century, no European had ever heard of the popular drink from the Central and South American peoples. It was not until the Spanish conquest of the Aztecs that chocolate could be imported to Europe, where it quickly became a court favorite. To keep up with the high demand for this new drink, Spanish armies began enslaving Mesoamericans to produce cacao. Even with cacao harvesting becoming a regular business, only royalty and the well-connected could afford to drink this expensive import. Before long, the Spanish began growing cacao beans on plantations, and using an African workforce to help manage them. The situation was different in England. Put simply, anyone with money could buy it. The first chocolate house opened in London in 1657. In 1689, noted physician and collector Hans Sloane developed a milk chocolate drink in Jamaica which was initially used by apothecaries, but later sold to the Cadbury brothers.
For hundreds of years, the chocolate making process remained unchanged. When the people saw the Industrial Revolution arrive, many changes occurred that brought about the food today in its modern form. In the 1700s, mechanical mills were created that squeezed out cocoa butter, which in turn helped to create hard, durable chocolate. But, it was not until the arrival of the Industrial Revolution that these mills were put to bigger use. Not long after the revolution cooled down, companies began advertising this new invention to sell many of the chocolate treats we see today. When new machines were produced, people began experiencing and consuming chocolate worldwide.
Several types of chocolate can be distinguished. Pure, unsweetened chocolate contains primarily cocoa solids and cocoa butter in varying proportions. Much of the chocolate consumed today is in the form of sweet chocolate, combining chocolate with sugar. Milk chocolate is sweet chocolate that additionally contains milk powder or condensed milk. "White chocolate" contains cocoa butter, sugar, and milk but no cocoa solids. Chocolate contains alkaloids such as theobromine and phenethylamine, which have some physiological effects in humans, but the presence of theobromine renders it toxic to some animals, such as dogs and cats. It has been linked to serotonin levels in the brain. Dark chocolate has recently been promoted for its health benefits, as it seems to possess substantial amount of antioxidants that reduce the formation of free radicals.
Alongside milk chocolate, white chocolate and dark chocolate are also common chocolate varieties.
White chocolate is formed from a mixture of sugar, cocoa butter, and milk solids. Although its texture is similar to milk and dark chocolate, it does not contain any cocoa solids. Because of this, many countries do not consider white chocolate as chocolate at all. Although first introduced by Hebert Candies in 1955, Mars, Incorporated was the first to produce white chocolate within the United States. Because it does not contain any cocoa solids, white chocolate does not contain any theobromine, meaning it can be consumed by animals.
Dark chocolate is produced by adding fat and sugar to the cacao mixture. The U.S. Government calls this "sweet chocolate", and requires a 15% concentration of chocolate liquor. European rules specify a minimum of 35% cocoa solids. Dark chocolate, with its high cocoa content, is a rich source of the flavonoids epicatechin and gallic acid, which are thought to possess cardioprotective properties. Dark chocolate has also been said to reduce the possibility of a heart attack when consumed regularly in small amounts. Semisweet chocolate is a dark chocolate with a low sugar content. Bittersweet chocolate is chocolate liquor to which some sugar (typically a third), more cocoa butter, vanilla and sometimes lecithin have been added. It has less sugar and more liquor than semisweet chocolate, but the two are interchangeable in baking.
Unsweetened chocolate is pure chocolate liquor, also known as bitter or baking chocolate. It is unadulterated chocolate: the pure, ground, roasted chocolate beans impart a strong, deep chocolate flav