Ah, Durham – the crown jewel of North Carolina’s culinary scene. As a self-proclaimed connoisseur of all things epicurean, I’ve made it my mission to uncover the ultimate food and cocktail pairings that will tantalize your taste buds and transport you to a world of flavor.
Diving into the Delectable World of Chocolate and Wine
We love chocolate not just for its taste, but also for its sensual texture. It melts close to body temperature, so sliding a piece into your mouth and feeling it seep out to coat your tongue can almost be orgasmic. But what about pairing different types of chocolate with wine? Many of us don’t even try to combine the two, feeling that the rich sweetness of chocolate is too much for any wine. But I usually buck conventional wisdom, and I like to layer my vices, so I’m determined to find some good pairings, especially for Valentine’s Day.
Darker is better when it comes to chocolate and wine. The best partners for dark chocolate are fortified wines such as the vin doux naturels, Banyuls and Maury, both from southern France. These wines are made from late-picked red Grenache grapes that grow on steep terraced hillsides. They’re aged up to thirty months in oak to create rich, dark fruit flavors. Banyuls is a bit sweeter and more acidic than Maury, and therefore a better match for chocolate. One of the most famous Banyuls is Domaine du Mas Blanc, while Maury is best-known for Mas Amiel.
Semi-sweet to sweet sherries also have a nutty character that goes well with chocolate. Sadly, though, dry Madeira from the Portuguese island is a disappointment, even though it’s often grouped with sherry in the dishes it complements. The sweet versions of this wine, such as Bual, Verdelho, and Malmsey, are a better match for chocolate.
My favorite match for chocolate, though, is port. Vintage port pairs well enough with its plummy, grapey notes, but young ruby port is better, with its aromas of blackberries and raspberries. Best of all is tawny port, since its aromas have a natural affinity with chocolate, caramel, coffee, nuts, dried figs, cinnamon, and vanilla. These ports are divine with pralines, a decadent mixture of sugar and ground hazelnuts.
Mastering the Art of Milk Chocolate Pairings
Pairing milk chocolate is a tougher challenge because of its high dairy content, just as milky desserts such as ice cream and cheesecake also clash. Some people pair milk chocolate mousse or pudding with sparkling wine on the theory that effervescence cuts through the fat, but that doesn’t work for me, even with sweet bubbly like Asti or Moscato d’Asti. I find their texture too light for the chocolate, and the wine just tastes like acidic metal.
The best match for milk chocolate, in my opinion, is Hungarian Tokaji. With its aromas of butter, honey, apricot, and citrus, Tokaji is a botrytised wine, where the grapes on the vine are infected by a benevolent fungus called botrytis cinerea, also known as noble rot. This dehydrates the grapes, concentrating their sugars, acidity, and flavors. Other wines made this way include Sauternes from Bordeaux in France and Beerenauslesen and Trockenbeerenauslesen from Germany. These wines also work well with ganache and buttery, velvety truffles.
Embracing the Enigma of White Chocolate
When it comes to this sweetest of all chocolates, I admit utter defeat. It’s just too much for any wine. Perhaps that’s because white chocolate has just 20% cocoa, as compared to the 75% in bitter chocolate. Purists don’t even consider the former to be real chocolate because it lacks all cocoa solids except cocoa butter. Its vanilla flavors pair best with cream liqueurs from Baileys or Starbucks.
Striking a Balance with Lighter Chocolate Desserts
An excellent partner with lighter desserts that have only a touch of chocolate, such as dipped biscotti or nut-flavored dacquoise, is Amarone’s sweet cousin, Recioto della Valpolicella. The grapes for both wines are dried for several months before being fermented, but those for Recioto are dried a month longer than Amarone, which gives the wine a deep, sweet taste of raisins and cooked black fruit.
Canadian and German icewine, made from shriveled grapes that lose their moisture because they’re left on the vine well past the fall harvest and picked in the chill of January, isn’t quite rich enough for pure chocolate, but it’s great with chocolate-dipped fruit or a fruit flan.
Balancing Chocolate in Savory Dishes
I’ve heard that some people pair dark chocolate with such robust dark wines, but after several sips, the wine tastes dull to me because the chocolate overpowers it. And the natural tannins in the chocolate accentuate the wine tannins, making these wines taste bitter.
Lovers of both full-bodied red wines and chocolate needn’t despair, however. With dishes featuring just a touch of bittersweet chocolate in the sauce, such as beef daube, venison stew, or Mexican mole, the jammy flavors in a Zinfandel, Amarone, or even a Californian Cabernet or Australian Shiraz work well.
Embarking on a Journey of Culinary Exploration
To gain the dark knowledge of which wines pair best with chocolate, I locked myself in my office for several long days, filled with sugar, cocoa, and alcohol. Thinking only of my trusting readers, I am exceedingly thorough with all of my research. The result was a sugar-fueled high, tempered by alcohol. I had also spent earlier days surrounded by mounds of lettuce, bottles of spices, grease-stained take-out cartons, and curling cheese rinds. However, nothing feels better than coming up with your own discoveries of what gives you the most pleasure. Try it.
To help you with your own journey through the world of flavor, I’ve added an easy-to-use online matching tool on my website, TheUpAndUnderPub.com. You can search either by wine if you’re looking for inspiration for a meal, or by food to find great wine suggestions. There are also recipes from professional cooks. I’ve tried to make the choices as comprehensive as possible, so I’ve included everything from Cajun catfish and beef Wellington to spaghetti Bolognese and potato chips. It’s still a work in progress, and I keep adding to it as readers ask me questions or send their favorite pairings. Of course, the best way to find good matches is to experiment, which happily means lots of eating and drinking.
So, my fellow epicureans, let’s embark on a culinary adventure through the streets of Durham, uncovering the ultimate food and cocktail pairings that will have your taste buds dancing with delight. The journey awaits!
