For Valentine’s Day, I subject myself to the much-dreaded and (in my view not unfairly) oft-maligned dry-red-wine-with-chocolate food pairing, so that you don’t have to (you can thank me later).
Mentioned in this episode:
Brix Chocolate (specially formulated to complement wine) – Pretty tasty on its own, especially the medium dark variety
- 2009 V. Sattui Black Sears Vineyard Zinfandel (Howell Mountain) $42 – Damn sexy, with nice plummy fruit and enticing peppery, spicy notes.
Cheers!
I've seen the Brix chocolates before but haven't yet had a chance to try them…do you sense any wine notes in the chocolate?
Although many would swear by chocolate with dry reds, it's really a crapshoot. Typically, you find they don't marry perfectly but the complexity of the two flavors is was draws everyone to try it. I recently sampled Zweigelt with red velvet cake. Since the wine came across as slightly off dry, I found this to be one of the better reds with chocolate pairings.
Happy Valentine's Day Joe! BTW, some people might be jealous of your cock… *cringe*;)
Finally! Someone acknowledges my terrible humor!!! ;-)
We chose Ghana as the cacao source for our blends due its simplistic nature and red fruit tones. Too much complexity in a chocolate (although great on its own) will complete with the wine rather than enhance the experience… Ultimately, as you know, each palate is different, so we encourage you to give our chocolate a try!
Thanks, @brixchocolate – I want to reiterate the encouragement to try your product. It is very, VERY good chocolate and I can speak from experience here having worked for one of the biggest chocolate confections manufacturers on the entire planet! I would simply add that people are more likely to enjoy it with a sweeter red wine than with a dry one, but that should NOT discourage them from giving it a try themselves. Cheers!
Chocolate and tequila is pretty fine (and sexy) in case you don't want to waste those choco-calories.
Happy Valentines Day!
Julie – thanks; I like the way that you think. ;-)
Great attempt to educate wine drinkers on the challenges of pairing wine and food, specifically chocolate in this case, but you weren't even open to the idea when you sat down, making this a bit difficult to watch. I work at a winery and have tasted a LOT of chocolate with many different wines. I agree with you that you can't always create a good pairing (it's hard to pair wine even with cheese!), but I think Brix does a good job overall at offering consumers a chance to experiment at home with different wines since they offer the different types of chocolate. Many people love wine and chocolate, even if only for the indulgence factor, and sadly I think this video puts a bit of a damper on the idea of receiving chocolate and wine for Valentine's Day. :-(
Thanks, Stephanie – Freely admitted that I didn’t have high hopes for the match, but that is from a lot of experience of having BAD matches of dry red wine with chocolate. And I cannot emphasize this enough – the point is NOT that wine and chocolate don’t go together; it’s that dry red wine and chocolate VERY OFTEN do not go well together. Port an Recioto mentioned in the vid ARE good wine matches with chocolate. I would only put a damper on someone feeling as though they *have* to pair dry reds with chocolate; otherwise, they ought to be thrilled to receive them both for V-Day (just enjoy them separately! :).
I always thought the idea of matching chocolate and wine together on Valentine's or any other day to be something of a cop out. It's a clash of the concepts brought about by hillbilly marketing.
Well done dude.
(unfort. I had quite a bit more here but when I signed in with Twitter it lost a bunch on the return to the page)
@Bradinator – sorry about the technical difficulties! And thanks – I should add that my mother-in-law paired the Extra Dark Brix chocolate with a pretty big red Cab blend (Halter Ranch Ancestor) last night, and she enjoyed it (I found the match to favor the chocolate a LOT more than the wine, because the extra dark has a great cocoa powder finish that lasts *minutes*, during which the wine’s finish gets pushed out totally). Cheers!
I totally agree with your thoughts on wine and chocolate. I probably do not have the extensive wine experiences you have but I thought that maybe I was still just being a noob and it was something I would "grow" into. As of yet, I have not. The few wine and chocolate pairings I have tried were not that great, though both were outstanding on their own. I thought this was a great review, especially since you were willing to give it a try despite your previous experiences. To me, that's what its all about.
Thanks, Teresa!