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This tasting couldn’t have come at a better time. I’d had a vile day with chin-droppingly ridiculous behaviour from my ex. I was feeling very flat and washed out, and really didn’t fancy a tasting of ten sweetish wines.
You won’t be surprised to hear that the combination was wonderfully mood-altering and I would advise you all to make up a special parcel of my recommendations, to be kept with the first aid kit, for times of low joy. We looked into technique and I think it’s best to take a small nibble of chocolate, let it melt in your mouth, and then take a sip of wine. It worked for me!
Most of us don’t naturally pair chocolate with wine. Certainly anything highly acidic and dry is quite a nasty pairing with chocolate, and makes both taste significantly worse. We were looking for a combination that was better than the sum of the parts. Quite a challenge and one which the panel sacrificed an evening for. They’re real professionals and, on this occasion, all women!!
I chose Cadbury’s Dairy Milk (CDM) and Green & Black’s 70% (G&B).
The best wine for chocolate, which will not surprise the wine lovers amongst you, was Domaine Pouderoux, Maury 2001, which is £9.99 from Waitrose for 50cl. Maury is the appellation next to Banyuls, which is renowned for being good with chocolate. The wine tastes of prunes and raisins by itself and made a great match with both chocolates, particularly bringing out additional flavours in the G&B.
Sichel Sauternes 2003, which is £8.99 from Morrisons for 50cl was vile with the CDM, but surprisingly good with the G&B. The wine by itself isn’t much more than a sweet wine with noble rot. It’s certainly not a great wine, but combined with the dark, savoury flavours of the plain chocolate, something happened.
Ramos Pinto 10 year old Tawny Port, which is £13.99 for 50cl from Philglas & Swiggot or Lay & Wheeler tasted of raisins soaked in liqueur. Adding CDM to that flavour, as you can imagine, was delicious. However, the plain dryness of G&B was all wrong.
Oddbins submitted a Cotes du Rhone Villages, Clos Petite Bellane, which is an odd choice, but was quite good with the CDM.
If you like something spirity, Warre’s Late Bottled Vintage Port 1995, which is £15.78 from Tesco was delicious with the CDM.
Some mixtures really didn’t work. Banrock Station Sparkling Shiraz with CDM was nasty, really nasty, but with G&B it wasn’t bad. Houdamond Pinotage from M&S was probably our favourite wine of the evening, with a beautiful, haunting smell. However, it was vile with plain chocolate. To be fair to M&S, this wine was my choice, and I was wrong. Sainsbury’s Asti Dolce (sparkling moscato) was too, too much sweet on sweet with the CDM.
This is a great way to spend an evening. Several of the wines were high in alcohol, so it’s no good if you’re driving, but a great idea for a girls sleepover party. I also served crusty French bread and a lot of chilled water, but if you were planning it for a whole evening, I think lettuce and fresh oranges would be needed.