BIN ENDS WINE-TASTING GROUP
Wines with Chocolate
Tuesday, 25th January 2011
At St. Augustine’s Church Hall

Although a wonderful gastronomic pleasure, in many ways chocolate is an enemy of wine. The vast majority simply cannot cope with chocolate’s overpowering flavour, and it’s just not the sweetness, but the rich cloying and smothering texture.

In terms of experimentation, we decided to match several different wine styles with an array of chocolate, brownies and muffins, to see if anything did work, and would be worth trying for future reference.

THE WINES

1. Bleasdale Sparkling Shiraz Langhorne Creek South Australia (£14.95 Wine Society)
The byline for this is “a rich-tasting sparkling Shiraz that would stand up to a serious chocolate cake”. Well, this deep, dark and brooding sparkler had intense blackberry and chocolate fruit. Medium dry, it was lively and incredibly rich. I could barely get through the second mouthful, but with chocolate – not a great success. The richness strips out the fruit and neutralises the wine.
(CHP 15, Bin Ends 8 votes).

2. Cline Zinfandel 2008 California (£9.50 Wine Society)
Full bodied New World reds are also offered up as the ideal solution. Zinfandel, or Rhone blends with Shiraz are often suggested, and I was seduced by the tasting note “creamy Zinfandel bursting with raspberry fruit and chocolatey flavours”.

I found this quite oaky and smooth, with vanilla, briar fruit and spice. Not hugely complex, merely pleasant, it lacked any oomph to stand up and be counted. (CHP 14+, Bin Ends 0 votes)

3. Muscat de St. Jean de Minervois Clos du Gravillas 2008 Languedoc (£9.50 per 50cl bt, Underwoods of Warwick)
The Muscat grape, in its sweet form, has quite a reputation for coping with sticky sweet puddings, so I thought we’d give this, and two other versions, a go. This one was incredibly fresh, with the focus on primary tropical fruit. It was very sweet, clean and refreshing, showing very well on its own. Unfortunately, it was overpowered by the chocolate (apart from milk chocolate).
(CHP 17, Bin Ends 10 votes - joint best match of the night!)

4. Samos Anthemis 2004 Greece (£11.95 Wine Society)
Luscious deep gold, this Greek wine is made very much in the tradition of the French vin doux naturel (VDNs) as featured above, but then allowed to mature and develop. On the palate, there was marmalade, honey, burnt caramel and tangerine. Unctious with real complexity, dimension and length. As for a match with chocolate, well, it wasn’t perfect, but it copes.
(CHP 18 Bin Ends 4 votes)

5. Mas Amiel Maury 2008 Roussillon (c£15 CPH Calais)
The black grape version of a VDN using Grenache Noir. Deep dark purple, it was very sweet and intense, with black cherry and dark chocolate flavours. I liked the structure and balance, and for me the best match of the night, which is a relief, as the French claim it’s perfect with chocolate.
(CHP 18, Bin Ends 4 votes – voted best chocolate match with 5 votes)

6. Fonseca Crusted Port (bottled 2006) (Majestic £15.99)
One of my favourite styles of Ruby Port, that actually resembles Vintage port without acquiring the price-tag. The wine generally forms a thick crust or sediment, so invariably requires decanting.

Though still drinkable, this was cork-tainted. Fiery and spirity, it was flat and pinched in terms of fruit. Surprisingly, it proved an excellent match with a chocolate brownie. (CHP 14 (on present form), Bin Ends 1 votes (3 votes for matching)

7. Moscatel de Setubal 2004 Portugal (£8.20 Tanners)
Returning once again to the Muscat family, this had some age and was around 17.5% alcohol. It was very complex, with flavours of orange marmalade , nuts, raising plus a hint of mocha, developing subtle rancio characters. Fantastic value, and I felt this coped well with chocolate.
(CHP 17+, Bin Ends 10 votes – joint top match of the night!

8. The Society’s Exhibition 10 year old Tawny
The alternative to Port is aged Tawny, whereby the colour is lost in the barrel, and the wine attains more complex secondary characters during maturation. Often cited by critics as a excellent with chocolate, this was certainly sweet and fiery, with characters of walnuts, coffee and a hint of orange peel. Well-knit, but somehow didn’t overly excite and, as for matching, it didn’t really work.
CHP 16, Bin Ends 2 votes – 1 vote for matching)

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I think the exercise proved just how difficult it is to match wine and chocolate. All too often, the rich, sweet and cloying texture strips out the guts of the wine, leaving something rather hollow and tinny. Those which worked best had the weight and sweetness to cope, and the best matches were a fruit focussed red VDN or Ruby Port.

A fun event, and such was the richness of the combination, it did prove the point that one can have too much of a good thing! I was quite queasy by the end of the evening!

Many thanks to those members who so kindly brought
along some chocolate offerings!

UPCOMING DATES FOR YOUR DIARY ...

Tuesday, 22nd February 2011
“Rhone Rangers”
Big Syrah/Grenache blockbusters are just the thing for
a cold bleak winter’s night, and we’ll be trying a few
From Chateauneuf du Pape, Priorat and the Barossa Valley among others

Tuesday, 29th March 2011
“Three of a Kind”
Postponed from last November, we’ll be comparing three
Different styles with three sets of wines (all blind, of course!)
There’ll be “homework” and a prize for the winner!