Pairings

After-dinner quartet
«Gastronom» №10(32) October 2004

If you serve chocolate with cognac or wine, no one will accuse you of the lack of taste.

If you offer it with beer, people will take it as bad manners. But don’t be too harsh: it’s all the matter of right chocolate and right beer.

Fine chocolates and wine have many things in common. They are both produced only from natural quality ingredients, possess fine flavours and, finally, are the highlight of any celebration. By the way, premium chocolate, like wine, improves with age acquiring more complex character. The most important thing in the duet is to choose equally strong partners.

We will start with lighter types of chocolate — white and milk, and finish with powerful dark and bitter, not forgetting about various fillings and chocolate desserts. Easy-going companions for white chocolate are white aromatic Muscat wines. They underline the creamy taste of chocolate which in turn places new accents on the fruity flavours of wine. The range of Muscats is rather wide — from sparkling, mood-improving Italian Moscato d’Asti to concentrated fortified French Muscat de Beaumes-de-Venise.

An interesting alternative to wine is… fruit beer. Premium Belgian Lambic is an excellent match to white chocolate that is often combined with fruit or berries. Then it is served with sweet white wines with caramel flavours, such as fortified Muscat or Hungarian Tokaj.

Milk and cream chocolate — European favourites — are usually not as sweet as white chocolate, yet they have more pronounced taste thanks to cocoa beans. They can be offered with dessert wines featuring dried fruit, spices or creamy vanilla, like French Sauternes, German Auslese, Italian Vin Santo. Creamy chocolate truffles make ideal matches with cream and chocolate liqueurs and certain aged Caribbean rum.

These types of chocolate often have additional fillings. In this case drinks to match the fillings are chosen. Thus, almonds are superb with aged Porto Tawny that underlines nutty taste and is in harmony with chocolate–caramel taste. Strawberry and raspberry fillings benefit from the presence of red Pinot Noir. Chocolate with cappuccino has hints of caramel, cream, coffee and smoke. Serve it with red spicy-peppery French Syrah or its New World equivalent Shiraz.

Desserts based on milk chocolate have their own favourites. Chocolate cheesecake can be served with soft red Merlot while chocolate mousse — with lighter Pinot Noir.

Dark and bitter chocolate enjoy the title of being the most ‘noble’. They demand fine wines and liquors. The French consider it to be an ideal marriage between elite dark chocolate and complex red Bordeaux Grand Cru. Dark chocolate with mint will be highlighted by Cabernet Sauvignon. The wine also benefits from the pairing as it brings forward own chocolatey-minty flavours. Respectable fortified dessert wines such as tawny and vintage Port from Portugal, Madera from Spain, Banyuls from France and Marsala from Sicily are classic partners of these types of chocolate.

Dark and bitter chocolate create striking combinations with spirits as well as some chocolate, coffee and almond liqueurs like Amaretto. Interesting matches are achieved by pairing chocolate with aged rum and single malt whisky with dominating fruit flavours and smoky overtones. The most aristocratic and elegant marriage is bitter chocolate and cognac (or armagnac). Remember the classic way of serving the drink known as four “C’s” (Fr.: chocolat, cognac, cigare, cafe): chocolate, cognac, cigar and coffee. Complex flavours of fine cognacs show oak, vanilla, leather, dried fruit and flowers. They are most expressive in the company of fine bitter chocolate.