Chocolate & Wine Festival News
In the News:
Chocolate & Wine - A Festival Experience
 Wine and chocolate —ahhhh, the perfect combination—two beautiful flavors blended to create a blissful experience. The right chocolate harmonizing with the perfect wine is an orgasmic taste experience. However, the wrong wine opposite a too sweet chocolate is absolute horror turning an otherwise fabulous dessert to tree bark and a rare vintage battery acid.
So how do you choose the right wine when you’re standing in your local Pennsylvania winery looking for something to pair with truffles, milk chocolate, dark chocolate or the best match for the a decadent chocolate dessert?
According to Tom Follert and Leopold Schreiber of The Sweet Spot featuring Chocolates by Leopold of Montrose, PA, told us, “Your best bet is to pair like to like. Both chocolate and wine are complex flavors so pairing them together is tricky if you don’t know what you’re doing. A simple rule to remember is to try to match a wine’s sweetness with the sweetness of the chocolate. That’s what we did when we started using local PA wines in our unique wine truffles. We went to the wineries with our different truffle candies and matched flavors that would bring out the best in the chocolate recipes and make the wine shine so that biting into each one was like biting into a little bit of heaven. We found the perfect combinations that brought out the best in the wines and gave the wine owner’s a different way of tasting the fruits of their labor.”
Sweet white wines paired with sweet light chocolates is a good choice. For something bolder, try a Cabernet with a bitter-chocolate molten cake.
Dessert wines and chocolates are a natural match. Late harvests, ice wines and botrytis-infected wines can all pair well with chocolate desserts. Port and chocolate is a classic combination.
Beware—older, earthier ports tend to be less sweet, and can turn sour if a sweet chocolate sucks the fruit aromas from the wine.
Tom & Leo also told us, “Avoid the dry wines that don’t have any residual sugars. There’s no chocolate that pairs well with Chardonnay, Pinot Grigio or a Chenin Blanc.”
A great place to learn to pair wine with chocolate is at the Chocolate & Wine Festival, an annual festival held in Montrose, PA. You’ll be able to talk with chocolatiers, chefs and wineries from NEPA. Winemakers are bringing their best chocolate-friendly vintages and you’ll be able to participate in a home wine making demonstration as well as learn how to use wine properly in decadent desserts and savory cooking. For your enjoyment, you’ll hear the music of local musicians, browse our local artisan’s exhibits, stroll among our gourmet food vendors sampling their delicious wares and admire the handiwork of extremely talented crafts people.
Each adult attendee is giving a wine glass upon entering the festival so they can make their own choice as to what wines work best with which chocolates and gourmet foods. Be cautious…the rules of pairing wine with different foods has become more lenient in recent years—reds served with fish and whites with beef—chocolate desserts is not a place to go crazy. Choose the wrong combination and you’ll loose the delicate fruit from the wine and taste nothing but harsh acid. It’s safer to stay with the classics for the best wine and chocolate experience.
Be sure and visit the Chocolate & Wine Festival, May 17th from 3 to 7 PM in Montrose, PA. Proceeds benefit the new hospital and library.
For more information: visit the Chocolate & Wine Festival web site at www.chocolatewinefestival.com or contact Committee Member Tom Follert at 570-278-1230 for more information on being a sponsor, vendor or just attending.
|
