How sweet it is
Rich, red wines pair perfectly with deep, dark chocolates. But sweeter chocolates call for sweeter wines.
By CHRIS SHERMAN
Published May 31, 2006
It can be the greatest accidental pleasure: After dinner you have a half glass of great cabernet sauvignon left, so ripe and rich you can't give it up. Out comes a chocolate-chocolate cake or deep dark truffle.
Wow. What a perfect pair, and when you stop to think about it, why not? Connoisseurs fuss over the depth, the fragrance, fruitiness, nuttiness, even the grand cru origins of fine chocolate just as wine lovers do.
How can these two luxuries not go together?
Simple, try the same wine with a piece of white chocolate.
Ouch, that cab is instantly bitter.
That will show you that all talk of wine and food pairing isn't hooey. Maybe no one believes in firm wine and food rules but there are still bad combinations that sour any palate and they often include sweets, especially chocolate.
"It's a tough match,'' confessed Graham Thompson, who picked wines for a four-course chocolate lunch in Sarasota last month. "In some instances it can be really great.''
For him the biggest successes were a rich California port called Starboard from Quady Winery and a dark rosé sparkler from Italy, served with dark chocolate desserts.
But Andrew Quady, the creator of Starboard and other dessert wine including black muscat Elysium, another great chocolate wine, was impressed with other matches, too. Duck confit with a gamey molé was paired with a rich 1999 cabernet from Truchard Vineyard in Napa.
Matching wines and chocolates is easy in some ways because the overriding principle is sweetness. In other wine-food matches, chefs and drinkers worry over acidity, fruitiness or oak. With chocolate and wine, sweetness rules. And only one element can win; if food is the sweeter, the wine loses.
"That's a good rule,'' Quady says. "You can spoil the flavor of the wine. If the dessert is sweeter, the wine is sour.''
Over the years a few wines, usually fortified, sweet and sparkling, have proven successful. Ports, muscats, rosé Champagnes and the sweet Banyuls of Provence manage to trump most chocolates.
But not all. The secret is in knowing that chocolates have different levels of sweetness.
Chocolate and wine can be a grand gourmet indulgence or fool's gold for gourmands who want too much of two good things and spoil both.
Consider it from the chocolate's point of view and look for a wine that's sweeter:
White chocolate: The less real chocolate, cocoa powder, butter and liquor, in a candy, the more sugar, so white chocolate is barely a chocolate at all and calls for the sweetest wines. Look for late harvest white wines, tawny port, Sauternes, muscats and moscatos, the richest sherries and other wines with high residual sugar.
Milk chocolate: America's favorite chocolate is creamy and heavier on sugar than cocoa. Rieslings, muscats, lighter merlots and pinot noirs.
Dark and bittersweet chocolate (over 50 percent cocoa): These chocolates have minimal sugar, very earthy roasted tones and a concentrated fruit. Marsala, port and dark muscats work, but you can experiment with dry reds, especially cabernet sauvignon and zinfandel. This is one place where you should welcome the trend to overripe reds, picked with higher sugar that makes higher alcohol wines (more than 14 percent).
Ultimately, they should work, because there's always been a hint of chocolate and cocoa in some of the best reds, a richness that develops from the earthiness of the grapes, and aging in barrels and bottles.
"Boy, when I taste chocolate . . . '' St. Petersburg wine merchant Lee Neal rhapsodizes, he knows it's wine to buy. (Neal's other rule: "When I taste vegetal . . . I spit it out.")
Most often we want chocolate and wine. Matching them up is a delightful exercise that make a great excuse for a party. Set out three or four wines and three or four grades of chocolate and let your guests experiment.
If they don't succeed, follow up with a sure winner: espresso.
Chris Sherman can be reached at (727) 893-8585 or sherman@sptimes.com.
CHOCOLATE AND . . .
Bubbly: "Many wines are not enhanced by chocolate. Heavy reds and fortified wines seem to be the best. Champagne actually does better than other wines, with rosé being the best match." - Former vintner John S. Anderson, Woodhouse Chocolate, St. Helena, Calif.
Pinot noir: "Pinots go great with deep dark chocolates. Oregon pinots really bring out the berries." - Robert Wainman, manager, Cafe Ponte, Clearwater
Zinfandel: "I'm not an expert on marrying wine, but some of the red wines I drink go with very dark chocolate, like zinfandel." - Pierre Vivier, chocolatier and proprietor of Mon Pere et Moi, Tallahassee
Cabernet sauvignon: I tried it a "long time ago at the first or second wine dinner I went to. They had a deep cab with chocolate, but by gosh it worked." - Lee Neal, owner, Pic Pac Liquors, St. Petersburg
Port: "Starboard California port and brachetto (sparkling Italian rose) were the big hits. The sweetness matched the roasted flavors in the chocolate." - Graham Thompson, sommelier for Florida Winefest's chocolate pairing, J.D. Ford's and Fred's, Sarasota.
Cocoa spice rub
Mario Martinez, chef at Fred's in Sarasota, uses this rub to add the earthy spice of cocoa to meats and seafood, especially on the grill. Try it with a big, rich cabernet sauvignon, syrah or zin.
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
1 tablespoon light brown sugar
1 teaspoon chili powder
2 teaspoons granulated onion
1 teaspoon ground allspice
1 teaspoon ground thyme
1 tablespoon kosher salt
2 teaspoons black pepper, freshly ground
2 teaspoons garlic, granulated
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon Spanish paprika
1 teaspoon ground coriander
Mix all ingredients. Spread lightly on meat or fish before cooking. Makes 1/2 cup.