Chocolate & Wine

Chocolate—Its Latin name is theobroma cocoa—”food of the gods”. Chocolate may be refined into many different styles, degrees of sweetness, and bitterness. Having the privilege to work with some great chocolatiers, I learned of an argument that white chocolate is not chocolate—It contains no cocoa solids. When pairing desserts and chocolate, I try to avoid overly sweet desserts, and use the rule of thumb that the wine should be sweeter than the dessert.


My favorite pairing with chocolate is Port wine. There is a magical symmetry of a sweet Port that compliments the bitterness of chocolate. If the chocolate has fruit elements like cherries or raspberries, I lean towards a Ruby or 10 Year Tawny Port. If the chocolate has a higher percent of cocoa, I lean towards a more complex Vintage Port. With caramel and nut elements with chocolate, I recommend a sweet Cream Sherry or sweet pedro ximenez from Montilla-Moriles in the south of Spain that have nutty and maple syrup qualities.

For a domestic option I like late harvest zinfandel. At the time of this writing I am pairing a late harvest zinfandel from Dashe Cellars (http://www.dashecellars.com/) from Sonoma’s Dry Creek Valley with a chocolate cake and toffee ice cream. It has jammy raisin qualities with subtle notes of baking spice that are perfect for chocolate.

Red Wine and chocolate? I prefer not to pair red wine with chocolate because the bitterness of the chocolate can throw off the complexity of the red wine--but, many palates prefer it. If red wine is preferred over sweet wine, a fruit forward full bodied jammy red will stand up to the chocolate. Reds that pair well with chocolate include fruit forward Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon and ripe jammy California Zinfandels. Red wines with massive tannin structure should be avoided.

Chocolate Theme Music—Click Below...

Fortified America

If a sommelier was in the Queen’s navy they would definitely sleep on the Port side. Oporto is a port city in Portugal and exports fortified wine called port to the English speaking world. Investigations into colonial trade routes explain the accidental invention of Madeira. Though port is similar in that it is fortified and from Portugal, Madeira is more American.

Every American knows Madeira, probably from high school history class. It’s what the Founding Fathers drank as they signed the Declaration of Independence. Madeira is actually a volcanic island situated off the coast of Portugal in the Mid-Atlantic.

It starts with the triangle of trade during colonial times. Merchant ships departed from various ports in Europe. They take a pit stop at Madeira for supplies and barrels of wine. It would be fortified with a neutral brandy to help the barrels not spoil for the long Atlantic voyage.

While in route to the West Indies or Africa, the barrels would constantly sway with the ship constantly mixing and agitating the wine. They are exposed to the heat and salty humid air of the West Indies and Africa. This gives Madeira its oxidized, salty, and nutty qualities. The ships would acquire sugar and other commodities to trade with the colonies.

Depending on what colonial port the ship sailed is what style of Madeira developed. A dry style would develop to a port like Charleston. A sweet nutty style developed in route to New York. A creamy complex style marinated its way to Boston. The ships would unload their cargo and head back to Europe.

Madeira was served with soups, stews, and hearty dishes. Colonists usually owned one cast iron pot, and hence, would only have one pot on the fire that was filled with a soup or stew and would enhance the flavor with the addition of Madeira.

Nowadays they don’t actually produce Madeira like it was done centuries back. It is aged in oak barrels in climatically controlled rooms that simulate the ocean voyage. Next—the favorite song from Jersey Boys—Sherry…