Chocolate

How to pair your chocolate and wine

23 June 2011

Pairing chocolate and wine is a difficult challenge, that requires a deep knowledge and some creativity, too. All the old school sommelier have a rigid rule: never pair wine with chocolate! Cognac, rhum, a good Spanish brandy or even an excellent aged whisky are a go, but in the last few years chocolate started to be used more often in savoury recipes, and the necessity to find the appropriate wine to drink with is now much more important.

For example, with some tagliatelle with rabbit and chocolate it's mandatory a full bodied wine with a strung structure, high level of alcohol (but this is not a problem here in Australia, since red wines have al least 2% more alcohol that the average in Europe) but also a very low acidity to match with the bitterness of chocolate.

If the chocolate is used as a dessert, though, wine is to be avoided, unless is a dessert wine. The best match is probably a Barolo Chinato, a liqueur produced with a Barolo red wine aged for an extra period with an infusion of quinine and any number of spices and herbs. But in the last few years the French Banyuls has obtained a good popularity.

The Gastronaut love a Vin Santo del Chianti DOC with a very dark chocolate, or even a good Grappa, but if you dare to explore you can try a Botrytis or even a Champagne, but - please! - leave the Shiraz to the main course...

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