Pinot Gris, or Pinot Grigio wine is light, crisp, and dry. I make a point these days to pair chocolate with any wine I happen to be drinking. Since I have never put any chocolate together with a Pinot Grigio before, I had to dig into my chocolate stash and pull out things I had on hand.
My first choice was a mid-range dark, 60% cacao solids, sourced from Ghana. I knew that the Pinot Grigio was on the dry side and I was curious to see if the fruity notes in the chocolate would complement the wine.
Oops. Wrong!
To start, the chocolate actually had more coffee notes than fruity notes. It was also too bitter for the wine. At first, the flavor was tolerable but I could not distinguish any specific flavor notes, just a clashing of “stuff.” At the end, the aftertaste was terrible (that, too, was indescribable which is probably ok since I didn’t want anymore anyway!).
Thank goodness my next choice was much better. I chose a milk chocolate with an Ecuador cacao content of 42% – which really made it a “dark milk” chocolate. I love that term; it isn’t very fancy but it is descriptive! Many typical milk chocolates will have between 10% (the minimum according to U.S. FDA standards) and 20% chocolate.
This time the flavors of the wine, predominately floral and fruity, matched up very well with the slightly floral and elevated fruity notes in the Ecuadorian without overpowering the wine. The creamy and caramel notes tempered the bitterness of the chocolate so I avoided the previous disastrous aftertaste.
Now you know what to have with a Pinot Grigio, if you’re so inclined. Enjoy!
I live in Wisconsin and, believe it or not, we have wineries and vineyards here! We are not as well known as California or Virginia but we do all right. If you haven’t had a Wisconsin wine recently, try a selection from Parallel 44 in Kewaunee, WI.
I have fallen in love with their Malbec/Cabernet Sauvignon blend called “44”. It is dry, bold, and intensely fruity up front. I am a fan of Malbec for many reasons, but the main reason is that it pairs so well with chocolate.
Malbec is a medium-bodied wine, with flavors of cherry, plum, raspberry, and most of the time, a hint of chocolate. If the Malbec is aged in oak, you’ll also taste vanilla.
This great combination of flavors naturally matches up with dark chocolates that carry similar flavors. Choose a mid to high range cocoa content dark chocolate, say 60% to 70%, that presents flavors of red berries or dried fruit (raisin) mixed with pronounced cocoa notes.
I enjoy the “44” with a 70% Lindt Excellence bar. The Valrhona Manjari 64% is also an excellent choice with Malbec.
Because of the robust tannins, Malbec wine also goes good with grilled steak. (OK, that’s not chocolate, but I do have to eat other things from time to time.)
This is making me hungry. I think I know what I’ll make for supper!
My mom came for dinner last week and she (as any properly trained mother should do) brought with her a bottle of wine. We enjoyed a remarkably delicious Green Truck Organic Sauvignon Blanc.
After dinner, I (as any properly trained daughter should do) brought out chocolate for dessert. I was in the mood for a Lindt Excellence Intense Orange Dark Chocolate bar. As I took a bite, I noticed I had a swallow of wine left in my glass and drank it. The chocolate was still in my mouth, and the result of this accidental pairing was, well, it was meant to be!
Green Truck Organic Sauvignon Blanc had crisp flavors of lemon peel, grapefruit and orange blossom. The citrus flavors from the wine brought out the delicate orange notes from the chocolate as well as the bitter, dark cocoa flavors.
The combination was out of this world good.
The Sauvignon Blanc grapes are organically grown by the Bartolucci Family of Mendocino, California for Red Truck Winery. Their organic line of wines are under the Green Truck label.
My mom is coming for dinner again tonight. I wonder what after-dinner discoveries are waiting for us!
North Star Fine Coffees is introducing a new coffee that is designed for students of Chocolate University Online and chocolate lovers with a keen sense of taste.
“Simply Decadent” is not a chocolate flavored coffee, but rather is a coffee designed to pair well with chocolates and chocolate desserts.
I have tried Simply Decadent with dark chocolate and it’s amazing. I have also had it with a variety of chocolate desserts (the chocolate cheesecake was amazing) and breakfast items (like pancakes with chocolate chips) and it’s been fantastic!
Here’s the good news… Chocolate University Online has negotiated a deal to give you a sneak peak of this coffee, for no cost, with special arrangement from North Star Fine Coffees.
To get your free sample (enough to make 10 cups) of this premium grade 1 coffee, click the link above. Then look for the “tell us your coffee story” button on the right side. Click it. Provide your shipping information and a story about coffee.
Important: So that you get a sample of the right coffee, type in “P.S. send me Simply Decadent.”
You’ll get great coffee even if you miss this step, but if you want to be among the first to try a great new premium coffee at no cost, make sure you put in the P.S. That’s how they will know to deliver the right coffee to you.
And there is truly no cost, not even a shipping charge. We want you to be able to try this coffee because once you do, you’ll be hooked! (Sorry, this offer is only valid for U.S. delivery.)
If you’re already a Chocolate University Online student go ahead and pair your favorite chocolate from lesson 10 with Simply Decadent. I’d be curious about your experience.
If you are not a Chocolate University Online student then consider joining us. You’ll develop your own chocolate tasting profile and learn how to pair chocolate with food and wine, and coffee too.
In the opening post of this series I mentioned that there are three categories of beer that pair well with chocolates.
The third group of beers include pale, bitter beers, such as India Pale Ales. These also tend to do well when paired with chocolate…
India Pale Ale was created in the 1820’s for the voyages between England and India. The three month voyage would have to cross the equator twice. So not only was the journey long, but it was also quite warm. Since time and high temperatures are bad for beer preservation, typical beers sent to India arrived in very poor condition.
The Pale Ales however were brewed to last up to a couple years. First, the beers are higher in alcohol, a natural preservative. The higher the alcohol content, the longer beer will survive. So the beer is made with a lot of barley malt so the increased starches become sugars and then ferment into alcohol.
Second, more hops are used. Hops, the flowering cone on the hop plant, are also a natural preservative. They make the beer bitter and impart a floral aroma. The more hops you use, the longer the beer will survive, but it will also become more bitter.
With these two factors combined, the beer could better survive the long, warm voyages. Strong, malty, alcoholic and bitter are ways to describe this style. Such beers tend to pair well with malt-flavor truffles, gourmet malt balls, and even a variety of chocolate and nut combinations. The malty flavors pair well together even though the bitterness of the beer and sweetness of the malt are opposites. This creates a contrast that works quite nice.
Pairing chocolate and beer is easier than pairing chocolate and wine, and the outcomes of the pairings are more predictable with beer than they are with wine. Try it for yourself!
Sue Langstaff, a member of the Primal Chocolate Club, has contributed this series about chocolate and beer pairing. Her company Applied Sensory, LLC offers analytical sensory services for the wine, brewing, and food industries.
In the opening post of this series I mentioned that there are three categories of beer that pair well with chocolates.
A second group of beers are the Belgian-style ales…
These beers are typically amber to brown in color, with high alcohol content (often greater than 8%) and are usually quite fruity in their aroma. Candy sugar (like a hard rock candy) may be added to the barley malt to increase the alcohol level without darkening the color or making it too malty.
The beer style is flavorful, yet smooth. The yeast used in these Belgian-style ales has a lot of underlying fruit tones, especially among the Trappist-style dubbels (doubles). As a result you might notice caramel, layers of banana, apple, apricot and peach, with cinnamon, nutmeg, or clove spices.
Fruit-flavored Belgian Lambic beers pair well with 60%+ cacao dark chocolate. The tartness of these fruity beers pairs nicely with the not-too-bitter dark chocolate. For an extra wow factor, combine any berry-flavored truffle or chocolate bar with dried berries and amber ale.
Amber ales are made from barley malt that, in some cases, is called “caramel malt.” This malt doesn’t really taste like caramel, but it does have an inherent sweetness and can give a nutty flavor.
Sue Langstaff, a member of the Primal Chocolate Club, has contributed this series about chocolate and beer pairing. Her company Applied Sensory, LLC offers analytical sensory services for the wine, brewing, and food industries.
In the opening post of this series I mentioned that there are three categories of beer that pair well with chocolates.
The first group for pairing includes dark beers such as porters and stouts…
These beers are made using a good deal of roasted or burnt barley malt. In fact, one of the burnt barley malts is even called “chocolate malt.” It doesn’t really have any chocolate in it, but rather the malt has been roasted or kilned until it acquires more of a chocolaty color.
“Chocolate stout” is a name brewers will sometimes give to certain stouts that have a noticeable dark chocolate flavor through the use of chocolate malt. In some cases, to give a real chocolate flavor, the beers are brewed with a small amount of actual chocolate; this can impart a powdered cocoa flavor or a creamy, dark, bittersweet chocolate flavor.
Brewers will also use a good deal of pale malt and some caramel malt in making porters and stouts. These beers provide roasted, toasted, caramel and coffee-like flavors that match well with any chocolate, especially a caramel truffle, a chocolate turtle with caramel and nuts, or a caramel-infused dark milk chocolate bar.
Strong stouts, especially Imperial stouts, can provide perfect matches to chocolate desserts. Classic dry Irish stouts such as Guinness are not a good match because they don’t have the proper intensity. Another stout that doesn’t work well is a Cream Stout. It’s simply too sweet due to the addition of lactose, causing a conflict with the sweetness of the dessert. Instead, you should find a beer that offers a little break from the sweetness of the dessert.
Sue Langstaff, a member of the Primal Chocolate Club, has contributed this series about chocolate and beer pairing. Her company Applied Sensory, LLC offers analytical sensory services for the wine, brewing, and food industries.
When most people think about pairing chocolate with an alcoholic beverage the product they usually consider is wine. However, there are components in wine which can make these pairings difficult and often unpredictable.
Tannins in red wine can make dark chocolates seem more bitter, and the acidity in wines often does not balance well with the chocolate. Because of the variation in wine styles, even within varietals, it’s often difficult to generalize about ideal wine and chocolate pairings.
This is not the case for beer!
Beer is every bit as complex as wine, perhaps more so. There are more than 60 recognized styles of beer. Styles of beer include stout, porter, India pale ale, bock, Oktoberfest, amber ale, lager, and many more.
While each style is unique, most brewers create beers within the style guidelines for that beer type. Beers within a style are recognizable cousins of each other, unlike wines within a wine varietal.
One of the things that makes a chocolate and beer tasting great is the fact that it is unusual, yet it works! Even people who say they don’t like beer, often do like chocolate so everyone can enjoy the event. Serious beer aficionados can find toasty, caramel, toffee, roasted, chocolate, coffee and fruity notes in beer. All these same notes can be found in chocolate.
Through years of experimentation, beer drinkers have discovered that a number of different beer styles can pair well with the unique flavors in, and sweetness of, chocolate.
Three general categories of beers usually do well when paired with a range of chocolate selections. We’ll take a look at each of these categories in upcoming posts.
Sue Langstaff, a member of the Primal Chocolate Club, has contributed this series about chocolate and beer pairing. Her company Applied Sensory, LLC offers analytical sensory services for the wine, brewing, and food industries.
I was recently introduced to of Seattle Reign a coffee from North Star Fine Coffees. This morning I sipped a delicious brew of the coffee and quietly ate my chocolate donut, trying to get some work done.
At one point I was rolling the two around my mouth at the same time, coffee and chocolate, chocolate and coffee… Then I experienced a new flavor emerge as I swallowed.
This got me thinking about chocolate and coffee pairings!
I grabbed the first chocolate I could find in my drawer (we all have a secret stash of chocolate nearby, right?) and pulled out a mostly Ecuadorian blend of 73% cacao dark chocolate. I let my coffee cool down just a bit so that I could better taste its subtle flavors.
First, I enjoyed the aroma of the chocolate, identified some familiar flavors and then took a bite. I allowed the chocolate to coat my mouth and took in the smooth texture.
As the chocolate melted, the flavors really exploded. Ecuadorian chocolate has one of my favorite flavor profiles. It is fruity, with a hint of nut, and the finish is intensely chocolate and astringent on the tongue.
Next, I smelled the coffee and identified as many flavors as I could just before taking a sip. Seattle Reign is a gem of a coffee with rich flavors of roasted chocolate, mixed with mild earthy and nutty notes.
The chocolate and coffee blended very well and introduced me to a new level of flavor complexity. I really enjoyed this pairing.
Since I am not as familiar with the flavor profiles of coffees as I am with chocolates, I will need to do some more research and some more pairings. That means spending more mornings drinking coffee and eating chocolate.
The 2010 Winter Olympic Games begin February 12, 2010 in Vancouver, Canada. But what, you may ask, does this have to do with cheesecake?
Well, thanks for asking. Cheesecake is believed to have originated in ancient Greece and was served to the athletes during the first Olympic Games held in 776 B.C.
In 1872, America dairyman William Lawrence, is credited with inventing modern day cream cheese. He accidentally created it when he tried to reproduce a French cheese called Neufchatel.
William Lawrence started selling his new invention and called it PHILADELPHIA Brand Cream Cheese. Today, cream cheese is by far the most popular cheese used to make cheesecakes.
I recently enjoyed eating one of my favorite cheesecakes; brownie marble cheesecake. During this most enjoyable experience, I “accidentally” stumbled upon something spectacular. I had a sip of a Pinot Grigio as I took a bite of my cheesecake slice and Bam! The cheesecake/Pinot Grigio pairing was amazingly delicious.
I recommend you celebrate the Winter Olympics with a cheesecake and a Pinot Grigio. Raise a toast to ancient Greece and accidental inventions!
(as any properly trained mother should do) brought with her a bottle of wine. We enjoyed a remarkably delicious 
Green Truck Organic Sauvignon Blanc had crisp flavors of lemon peel, grapefruit and orange blossom. The citrus flavors from the wine brought out the delicate orange notes from the chocolate as well as the bitter, dark cocoa flavors.
The third group of beers include pale, bitter beers, such as India Pale Ales. These also tend to do well when paired with chocolate…
A second group of beers are the Belgian-style ales… 
The first group for pairing includes dark beers such as porters and stouts…
This is not the case for beer!
I was recently introduced to of 
William Lawrence started selling his new invention and called it PHILADELPHIA Brand Cream Cheese. Today, cream cheese is by far the most popular cheese used to make cheesecakes.
