Most wine books avoid the subject of wine with chocolate. One guide on harmonizing wine with food, states under the category chocolate mousse – match with water. Yet it’s so wonderfully soothing to end a day with a little libation and a melt in the mouth bonbon. Hotels know this. They place a chocolate on the pillow and give a key to the mini-bar to weary travellers.
Women know this too (some use it to tame the dreaded PMS). And while kids don’t necessarily know about beverages, they do understand chocolate. Many mothers will undoubtedly be presented with a box of confections for Mother’s Day. Given with love to evoke love.
Why do we feel this way about chocolate, a product of the cocoa tree? Even in its early usage by the Aztecs, it was considered a gift from their white-bearded god of wisdom and knowledge, suitable only for rulers and soldiers. Spanish explorer Hernán Cortés found a society of chocolate worshippers in Montezuma’s court. When he in turn introduced it to Spain in the 16th century, he started a European chocolate addiction, which continues to this day. Just think of Swiss or Belgian chocolates, Viennese Sacher torte, French chocolate mousse, or that wonderful tradition of taking hot chocolate in the afternoon at the Plaza Athénée in Paris (fluffy pooch in tow with his own bowl).
Chocolate is such a feel good food that scientists have studied its chemistry in their own attempts to explain the phenomenon. They found that it contains phenyl-ethylamine (PEA) which gives us a natural high similar to the feeling of falling in love. However a standard size serving of salami or cheddar cheese contains more. And there’s questions of whether PEA in food reaches the brain. Dr. Michael Liebowitz in his book The Chemistry of Love, cited a study in which researchers ate pounds of chocolate without a measurable rise in PEA. Other scientists say that chocolate as a carbohydrate gives us a serotonin boost (like the mood enhancing drug Paxil). But pasta and potatoes are also carbs. Do we care? Most of us would rather have a forkful of Death by Chocolate than a slice of bologna or boiled spud.
So back to the tricky question of what to sip with it? In search of the answer I headed to Café Brussels in downtown Toronto. Chef-owner Roger Wils, the son of a Belgian chocolate maker makes a wickedly delicious rich, silky, chocolate mousse. He also has an extensive selection of bourbons, cognacs, eau-de-vie and Belgian beers. All of which I felt could match with chocolate.
The beer idea came from Roel Bramer, a dashing Dutchman who owns Amsterdam micro-brewery in the heart of the city. This divorced father, who has custody of his two boys, told me when he entertains at home he serves his Framboise (raspberry) beer in champagne glasses with a chocolate dessert. I showed up at Café Brussels with a bottle of Bramer’s fruity brew tucked under my arm. We waited until the last customer left and then began a private tasting with Wils’ lady love, sommelier Shawn Dore, joining us. We spooned in the mousse with one hand and sipped away at varying beverages with the other. Can’t let those scientists have the monopoly on research.
The unanimous top choice was bourbon. This sweet American corn based Kentucky whiskey married beautifully with chocolate. It’s such a natural that The Book of Bourbon has recipes such as Blasted Brownies, Kentucky Bourbon Balls and Snockered Fudge Sauce which put the two together in desserts with a kick. A selection of bourbons are available in Canada. Maker’s Mark a wheated corn whiskey ($30) is made in small quantities in Loretto. It has lots of sweet, mellow, vanilla and butterscotch flavours. Knob Creek ($48), a first rate small batch, hand-bottled nine year old bourbon has a full, distinctively spiced, charred wood and prune flavour. Woodford Reserve Distiller’s Select ($40), from the oldest and smallest working distillery in Kentucky, spends six years in barrel and has a peppery spicy taste with vanilla in the finish. Booker’s Straight Bourbon ($80) is bottled unfiltered at barrel proof at between the ages of six and eight years. The one I tried was 7 years and ten months and 63.5% alcohol had a very powerful sweet vanilla, honeyed character with a punch of oak. Jim Beam Black Label ($25) is an eight year old, with spicy, sweet vanilla tastes and some richness.
My next choice with chocolate is aged rum, another classic with which to douse desserts. Say chocolate rum parfait, rum chocolate mousse, rum chocolate fondue, rum cake and chocolate rum fudge or pie, recipes found in the Rum Cookbook by Alex Hawkes. Rum made from sugar cane juice or molasses, was born in the Caribbean, where each island has its own brands and styles. Snifter rums, dark and mellow with barrel age, are experiencing a revival as the ne plus ultra after dinner companion in chic Parisian bars. They’re also the best to sip with chocolate. From Jamaica, Appleton 21 ($50) year old is a smooth, rich blend of powerful vanilla and wood flavoured fullness, and the Extra 12 year old is sweetly smooth, nutty and in dramatic harmony ($30). Bacardi Eight Year Old ($30), originally reserved for the family, is a very pretty rum, refined, delicate, mellow and without bite. . El Dorado Demerara Special Reserve ($47), from Guyana, spends 15 years in oak and is molasses sweet, full flavoured, yet elegant. Ron Matusalem Gran Reserva ($40), is from a company that originated in Cuba but now blends and ages its rum in Florida. It spends much aging time in an extensive Solera system and is sweet and rich like a rummy vanilla candy.
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Eau-de-vie which are crystal clear, dry spirits, from raspberries, cherries, pears and other tree fruits are another tasty match. Black Forest Cake, the scrumptious German confection of chocolate cake, cherries and whipped cream, is properly soaked with kirsch. The Swiss company Fassbind collects mountain grown cherries grown high above the shores of the lakes of four Cantons to make Vieux Kirsch de Righi ($35/350mL). Other flavours such as their Framboise Sauvage (wild raspberry) and Williams du Valais (pear) are equally good. Austria’s Schloss Kirsch (cherry, $20/375mL) is a nice, less expensive alternative.
However our night of chocolate sin at Café Brussels was not all heavy booze. Finally we tried the mousse with the fruit beers. While I found Amsterdam’s crisp light Framboise to be better on its own, the Belgian sweet/tart brews actually went quite well. Liefman’s Frambozenbeer ($5.55/375mL) had deep, complex malt and raspberry tastes with a sweet finish. Liefman’s Kriekbeer, medium full in body, had lovely tangy sweet/tart cherry tastes.
That was enough for one night, but I did pursue the quest later with wines in mind. First recommendation is to have a fruit dessert wine, such as the sweet blackcurrant Canadian Cassis ($15./375mL) from Ontario’s Southbrook Farm or their Framboise. Archibald Orchard’s Spiced Winter Apple ($15.375mL) from Bowmanville is also excellent. In fact, all across Canada, I’ve found great tasting wines made from fruits of our orchards, farms or picked wild from our vast untamed lands.
For a more traditional wine, try a sweet muscat based one. California’s Quady winery makes Essencia from orange muscat and Elysium from black muscat, both recommended with chocolate. Samos Muscat made on a Greek Island and Passito Di Pantelleria made on an Italian Island also work well. France has several appellation muscat dessert wines (vins doux naturel). There’s muscat de Beaumes-de-Venise, muscat de St.-Jean-de-Minervois, muscat de Frontignan and muscat de Rivesaltes for example. For a different grape experience try Banyuls, a sweet red wine made from grenache noir blended with other varietals.
Finally, though I’ve tried it not entirely to my satisfaction, red wine with chocolate has something of a cult following. The wine should be a ripe, rich red from hot climate grown cabernet sauvignon, zinfandel, syrah or even sparkling shiraz (made in Australia). Look for reds with flavours of dark chocolate, mocha, nuts, vanilla and berry fruits. Fetzer Vineyards in California hosts an annual red wine with chocolate festivity to demonstrate how to do the match-up. They say the more premium grades of chocolate with higher cocoa fat and less sugar need heavier, denser reds. Light red are better with lighter milk chocolate and so forth.
My girl friend has the best idea. She’s told her two teenagers she wants a rosebush for Mother’s Day, but if the man of the house wants to contribute, he can get her Champagne to go with chocolate dipped strawberries. I say in this case make it a big, full toasty bubbly like Bollinger RD or Krug.