Red Wine & Chocolate

During the Hudson Valley Wine Festival I had the opportunity to help my friends at Whitecliff Vineyard & Winery pour wine. Their booth just happen to be next to the Cote d'Or Chocolate. Cote d'Or was handing out samples of their Intense 70% Cacao Chocolate (bittersweet chocolate). I tasted the chocolate with the two red wines Whitecliff had brought to the festival and the chocolate paired best with the Malbac. It was quite amazing. Everyone that came up to taste the Malbac I sent to get a piece of chocolate first. It really does change the taste of the wine.

Here's how to taste red wine and chocolate

• Pour the red wine into the glass. smell, swirl and smell the bouquet When you swirl the wine it exposes more liquid to air, releasing the multitude of aromas.
• Taste..take a small amount of wine in your mouth, wash it across your tongue to cover your taste buds, revealing the flavors as well as weight, balance and texture,
• Spit or swallow...then observe the length of the flavors and the finish
• Take a piece of chocolate and place it on your tongue. Allow the chocolate to melt naturally. Swirl it across your tongue and watch the progression of flavors.
• Now start above at the Taste. As you taste note how the chocolate may have soften the tannins, changed the flavor of the wine. It might bring about flavors that weren't present during the first taste.

Different chocolates compliment different red wines. Milk Chocolate may compliment Merlot better than bittersweet. In this case the bittersweet complimented the Malbac. You have to experiment.