Wine Grapes and Cocoa
The pairing of wine and chocolate is an age-old tradition
complied by MICHAEL PERRY
To most, pairing wine and chocolate seems like a natural match. You really can’t go wrong when tasting good wine and chocolate together. Just keep the basics in mind—lighter wine with lighter-style chocolate,and heavier, full-bodied wine with heavier, more intense chocolate.
White Chocolate
Made without chocolate liquor and thus not a true chocolate, white chocolate is a rich product made with cocoa butter, sugar, and milk solids. It has sweet flavor notes including cream, milk, honey, vanilla, caramel, and fruit.
Muscat
Peirano Estate 2006 Muscat Canelli
Muscat is sweet enough to match the sweetness of the chocolate, allowing the fruit to shine. The lower acidity of the Muscat allows the rich, buttery chocolate to show. ($14) www.peirano.com
Chardonnay
Van Ruiten Vineyards 2007 Chardonnay
If you want to try white chocolate with Chardonnay, make sure it’s a rich, buttery California style to compliment the same qualities in the chocolate. ($14) www.vrwinery.com
Milk Chocolate
This is higher in sugar, and lower in chocolate liquor. Milk chocolate, along with its milk content, yields a milder, sweeter product with fewer flavors and aromas. Prominent flavors include brown sugar, cocoa, vanilla, honey, caramel, milk, cream, nutty, and malt.
Muscat
Peirano Estate 2006 Muscat Canelli
The sweet fruit flavors of the Muscat work well with the sweetness of the chocolate. ($14) www.peirano.com
Merlot
Vicarmont Vineyards 2007 Merlot
With milk chocolate, try a lighter style Merlot that has lots of fruit and soft tannins. ($16) www.vmvineyards.com
Port
NV d’Art Wines Port
A fortified wine, Port is the strongest match with milk chocolate. Its nutty nuances highlight the milk chocolate’s nutty and caramel notes and enhance the overall chocolate flavor. ($22) www.dartwines.com
Semisweet & Bittersweet Chocolate
Dark chocolate with 50 to 69 percent cacao has strong, complex flavors that are nutty, spicy, floral, earthy, fruity, and caramely with a hint of sweetness. Bittersweet chocolate can have bitter, roasted, fruity, earthy, woodsy, and nutty flavors. The most intense, richly flavored dark chocolate is 70 to 100 percent cacao.
Cabernet Sauvignon
Onus 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon
Cabernet Sauvignon will bring out the fruity, peppery, spicy, and smoky notes in the chocolate. ($26) www.onuswines.com
Zinfandel
Harney Lane 2007 “Lizzy James”
Old Vine Zinfandel
One of the more natural pairings, Zinfandel’s bright fruit, spiciness, moderate tannins, and oak flavors bring out the same qualities in the chocolate. ($26) www.harneylane.com
Port
NV d’Art Wines Port As with Zinfandel, Port’s flavors highlight the chocolate’s nutty, smoky, leathery notes as well as its mature fruit flavors. ($22) www.dartwines.com
Note: Because of the intensity of flavors, semisweet and bittersweet chocolates need to be paired with stronger red wines with concentrated fruit flavors. While this selection of wines may appear too tannic, the cacao butter decreases the astringency and dryness of the tannins and the higher cacao content makes for a great pairing.
For more information: Visit the Lodi Wine and Visitor Center, and taste from a selection of over two hundred award-winning Lodi wines. 2545 W. Turner Rd., Lodi, (209) 367-4727, www.lodiwine.com
