CHOCOLATE & WINE
Food and Drink of the Gods

By Sabrina S. Martin

It seems that nothing could be more decadent than combining two of the most exquisite flavors on earth: chocolate and wine. Some might say that the decadence borders on sensory overload. Chocolate and wine have been thought by many to be competing flavors, both too powerful and rich to be paired together. Oenophiles fear that the sweetness of chocolate would overwhelm the delicate balance of wine, while chocoholics satiate their cravings unadulterated by any complicated beverage. Two companies, Cocoa Vino and Cacao Artisan Chocolates, have bridged the culinary gap between chocolate and wine with truffles and bonbons inventively filled with wine-infused ganache and insightful events that pair these and other exceptional chocolates with palate pleasing wines.

In recent years, the palette of American chocolate lovers has grown more sophisticated. Deep dark chocolates with complex flavors have taken off; leaving previously favored sweeter milk chocolates behind. So-called super darks, made with 60 to 80 percent cocoa solids (as compared with milk chocolate's 10 to 15 percent), allow the cocoa's natural flavor profiles to shine through. These higher quality chocolates have complex flavor notes—fruity, nutty, acidic, floral—which are similar, if not identical to, the flavors descriptors used to describe many wines, particularly reds and fortified wines.

Just as there are different varieties of grapes, there are also different varieties of cocoa beans. They are categorized into three different tree types—Criollo, Forastero, and Trinitario, with beans that come from the Criollo trees of Central and South America considered to be the finest. Like grapes for wine making, chocolate is made from either a single variety of cocoa bean from a specific region, or a combination of beans to create a blend. Single origin chocolates such as Gran Saman, Apamate, Bucare, Mijao, and Caoba are gaining popularity and have borrowed the wine-making moniker Grand Cru, meaning "great vineyard" or "region."

Cocoa Vino, an aptly-named Brooklyn, New York-based boutique chocolate company, has taken full advantage of these fateful companions. Alisha Lumea and Avril Pendergast-Fischer (graduates of The FCI Pastry Arts and Fundamentals in Wine respectively, ‘04) bring their expertise together to create bonbons filled with fruity red malbecs, mellow Banyuls and silky sherries to name a few. Taking these flavor combinations even further, Cocoa Vino offers wine pairing suggestions for their confections and hosts private pairing parties, spreading their enthusiasm for fine wine and chocolates.

"The pairing parties are something that brings people together. People are deliberately taking the time to sit down and enjoy themselves—the wines and the chocolate—and to take a moment to really be aware of what they are consuming," Pendergast-Fischer says.

When pairing wines with their bonbons, the duo aims for balance.

"You want to find something that is on par with each other, not a really light wine with a really decadent chocolate, or vice versa, because one of them will be completely overwhelmed. It will just bring out the worst in both," explains Pendergast-Fischer.

Cocoa Vino's signature bonbon, the Bacchanal, is made with organic red malbec from Argentina. The plum and red fruit flavors of the malbec bring out the fruitiness of the organic Green & Black's and Scharffen Berger 62 percent chocolates used to make the bonbon. The wine further accentuates the berry flavors of the chocolate and the malbec-laced filling, while the finish leaves supple fudgey flavors.

While Lumea and Pendergast-Fischer find milk and white chocolates difficult to pair due to their exceedingly sweet nature, they find that dark chocolates—60 percent or above—pair well with red wines, ports, sherries, Madeiras, and dessert wines.

Lumea explains that a resurgence of dessert wines on restaurant menus has brought new awareness to the category. As they gain in popularity, diners may begin replacing their traditional after dinner coffee with a nice port or sherry, which will bring a new flavor dimension to that tried-and-true molten chocolate cake.

Some of their specific pairing suggestions include:

• Full-bodied fruity Shiraz; Grenache, with notes of blackberry and black currant; or velvety Banyuls vin doux naturel with subtle raspberry flavors; with a smooth dark chocolate.
• Nutty Oloroso sherry with buttery nut brittles or bonbons filled with caramels and pecans or almonds.
• Although not a wine, bright citrusy limoncello pairs well with their Baci al Limone bonbon—white chocolate ganache flavored with the lemon liquor and rosemary, enveloped in a dark chocolate shell.

Chocolate and wine tasting parties are not just a trendy New York occurrence. A similar phenomenon is happening on the West Coast at Cacao Artisan Chocolates, co-owned by Casey Wendeborn (The FCI, Pastry Arts '04) and her mother Kay Wendeborn, on upscale Naples Island in Long Beach, California. They began hosting tasting events in April of this year in partnership with a local wine shop, Morry's of Naples.

chocolate covered figs filled with vintage port and creamy ganache

"We have sold out of all of our tastings and I have people asking when the next ones will be," Wendeborn says. She attributes the popularity to people's natural curiosity and prior experience—a majority of her tasting customers have been to wine-only tastings before—as well as recent reports that dark chocolate is good for you. "Ninety percent of the people who come into my store say they prefer dark chocolate. They really want to learn more about chocolate, how it is made, where it is grown; and they learn to appreciate the subtleties in really good chocolate. They learn that there is a difference between a $10 dollar bar of chocolate and one you pick up at the checkout line."

While Cacao Artisan Chocolates creates a variety of flavored truffles, Wendeborn prefers to use solid bar chocolates from El Rey, Valrhona, Prelus, Domori, and Amedei, which she also sells in the shop, for the tasting events. She offers several single origin chocolates from São Tomé, Jamaica, and Venezuela and single varietals including beans from the Porcelana, Chuao, and Apurimac varieties of trees. She also offers some blends, and all of the tasting chocolate is made from 60 to 70 percent cocoa. Wendeborn pairs these distinctly flavored super darks with red wines including spicy French Syrah, Spanish Toro with distinct blackberry and cherry notes, and Tuscan reds such as fruity Chianti. As a pallet cleanser, Wendeborn offers her lavender truffle, a creamy infused white chocolate ganache, covered in dark chocolate, with crisp Sauvignon Blanc.

"I am particularly fond of reds. I tend to grab a Syrah but there are so many good choices," Wendeborn says.

Both Cacao Artisan Chocolates and Cocoa Vino's tastings are set up in much the same way. Like a traditional wine tasting, the movement is from lightest to heaviest. First the wine is swirled, sniffed, and viewed in the glass; then tasted alone, noting the subtle flavor characteristics and aftertastes; and finally the chocolate and wine are tasted together, allowing the chocolate to naturally melt in the mouth as it dissolves with the wine. Customers observe their own reactions to the combinations, and learn what to expect from that particular combination and how the chocolate and wine are affecting one another.

"Some people like to pair for similars, while others like to pair from contrasts," Pendergast-Fischer maintains. "Above everything else, the bottom line is to try whatever combination you enjoy."