Last Sunday afternoon I went to a wine tasting home event at a friend. I thought this was a nice low-profile opportunity to smuggle in some origin chocolate and engage in my first ever wine & cacao pairing. I emailed him to ask what wine types he would be offering, and he said his first home tasting would be for wines from Argentinian domaines with a lot of body, mainly Malbec and Cabernet Sauvignon vintages. He was very open to my pairing suggestion and I was lucky enough to get some sample packs from my new friends and chose 4 origin varieties that should match with Argentinian wines according to their experience: so I had selected a range of Venezuela, Ghana, Arriba and an African Blend.
Of course I was very curious to see how things would go and as usual would just let things come as they are. There were some twenty-some people over the place, and I found myself a spot behind the counter in the kitchen where I could stealthy place my sample bars. Attracted by noticing these different anonymous chocolate samples next to the wine flights, folks asked my about my story. I had really nice chats with various friends and visitors about this idea of pairing and they were pleasantly intrigued by discovering these various cacao flavours, and the wine experience of course perfectly topped it all of…
The top match eventually was a premium priced Vinas del Adagio, “Estiba Reservada Malbec 2003″ paired with the Ghana sample. At first it needed some exploration, but soon this pairing was definitely the best match today, by public vote. Both the tasting profiles went very well together and they certainly harmonized each other to excel in both individual character as in their mixed combination of strong aromas. This “Estiba Reservada Malbec 2003″ is 100% Malbec and has a distinguished touch with a lot of oak, and has won an international Silver Medal. The Ghana gives a well performing and paced balance to the strong and bodyfull Adagio, countering it with expressive tones of nuts, black cherry liquor, and a character rich of alcohol and pepper.
Given the price of the Adagio, I opted to buy from the more affordable Fantelli (Mendoza, Argentina): a Gran Riserva – Serie Magno 2005 and Merlot 2006, one of which went rather well too with the mild and sweet fruity Arriba.
With this first low profile experiment, I discovered that the wine & chocolate pairing is a very particular tasting experience, that stands out from traditional wine matches like meat and cheese plates, by the fact that it seems to work best if you concentrate and mix both foods simultaneously in your mouth, rather than having a sip with a bite one after the other. This way the aromas released by the slowly melting chocolate can blend with the tones released by the wine, creating a intriguing palate experience…
Secondly I was very pleased by the fact that wine and chocolate profiles both really accelerated in a good pairing. The wine surprisingly injected a new dimension in the overall tasting experience of an origin chocolate, and pronounced the difference amongst the 4 diverse origins I brought in even more. As well as some pairings were disastrous and impossible to enjoy, other mix ‘n match experiments revealed nice balances and uplifted the chocolate and wine characters in a luscious harmony of aromas.
It was very pleasant to see people were eager to learn about this new kind of chocolate taste and were certainly impressed by the audacious food pairing idea. This first wine & chocolate pairing experience eventually was a tasty success, very insightful and definitely begs for more in the near future…
hi.. where did you find these wines?
Tony,
I got them from http://www.vinculo.be. They don’t have a site yet, but feel free to contact me further if you’re looking for fresh Argentinian wines