Chocolate and wine

This might be too simple and easy of an explanation but I sometimes think that people just genuinely want chocolate and wine to go together so badly that it might be more of a mental persistence thing. Kinda like how one might wish for pizza and hot fudge sundaes to somehow go together just because they both are so great and indulgent.. Or why a sunset and a bright, beautiful glowing moon cant (visually) co-exist at the same time. In theory it sounds great! We have two indulgent, out of this world pleasures - they can't not go together in some way! I don't mean we literally ponder enjoying these combinations at the same time together but just that we love the indulgence/beauty of both so much that we may subconciously long to somehow wish we could indulge in them simultaneously, if that makes any sense??? The fact that neither of these things work at the same time logically or fundamentally doesnt really matter! It's just wishful hoping, so to speak.

And wine and chocolate do have the parallel quality of both being, texturally, sensuous items. And we tend to be attracted to both items emotionally rather than practically. That's why we love both right? It just seems that they are somehow, someway meant to go together. How could two such luxurious indulgences not be enjoyed together somehow? It appears, on the surface, to be a match made in heaven. I think this may be the main thinking behind why the wine and chocolate combination seems to continually exist.

I'm not insisting that if some people DO enjoy a certain chocolate with a certain wine that they are simply delusional. Well, maybe I did just say that but I don't mean it to come off that way. I do believe someone if they say they go together great and they, personally, enjoy the combination. More power to them. Everyone's tastes are their own. They would certainly know their own taste and preferences better than me, or anyone else. Just as long as they genuinely believe me when I say I dont really enjoy food with champagne. I'd rather savor them on their own but when I do have foods with them its usually peanuts or popcorn (of course I dont think those two items inherently conflict with champagne to begin with, quite the contrary to my tastes) yet I still understand, on the surface, why someone might call me crazy for enjoying the combination yet not enjoying actual "food/meals" with it.

At any rate, I also enjoy many chocolates, from milk to 60% dark (although I'm not crazy about white chocolate or chocolates that are mixed with stuff - cherries, fillings, etc.) Yuck! But pure, plain, sensuous chcocolate bars - of course! Yet, as much as I'd like to say I've discovered a magically great combination with wine, I simply, and sadly, never have. Not that I've cared enough to try every possible combination under the sun. I've just decided that, as disbelieving as it is that two such intimate foods wouldn't co-exist, they just, well... don't. I wish they did! I definitely love both! I think the main problem is that even with dark chocolate, it is still always too sweet/rich/fatty to match any "normal" red wine, even the most concentrated, oaky, fruity cab, syrah or zin that exists. It doesn't seem to matter. The wine will always end up being overtaken and will just come off as "thin", sour, and alcohol-ish when contrasted to the chocolate.

The only workable combination I could envision is an intentionally "sweet wine" but then A) we aren't no longer talking about "normal" wines anymore and B) I simply dont care for sweet wines at all by themselves let alone negatively doubled by an otherwise sensuous good chocolate that is now just making me sick because now I'm mixing it with some sweet, rich alcohol...yikes! Doesn't mean the composition doesn't stylistically work together though or that others might not enjoy sweet wine with chocolate...

Take Care,

Jeff

At any rate, I also enjoy many chocolates, from milk to 60% dark (although I'm not crazy about white chocolate or chocolates that are mixed with stuff - cherries, fillings, etc.) Yuck! But pure, plain, sensuous chcocolate bars - of course!..... I think the main problem is that even with dark chocolate, it is still always too sweet/rich/fatty to match....

Jeff, I agree with your preference for bars but if you are not getting above 60% pure chocolate content, I understand your comment about chocolate being too sweet/rich/fatty. Personally I rarely enjoy chocolate of less than 70% from which level flavours are finer and less cloying; I find chocolate above about 90% usually too harsh for enjoyment.

The only workable combination I could envision is an intentionally "sweet wine"

These are the wines which I and others are recommending, particularly Banyuls, Maury and Rivesaltes which have both fruit and structure; if you don't like this style, you obviously won't enjoy the party. I have yet to find a "dry" wine which works but perhaps a hedonistic Zin, if I could find one here, would for me.

Hi Tim,

You're probably right. I think our cut-off points for enjoying the cocoa content just might be slightly different. I think part of my problem is that while I have tried chocolates with various "dry" red wines, when it comes to dark chocolate I usually have it as a single item, enjoying it after a meal or as sort of a luxury type snack now and then and not with other foods/drinks. So if I'm eating it by itself I do have a slightly lower tolerance level for the cocoa percentage. Personally, I can enjoy it up to about the 60-70% range but that's it. Beyond 65% or 70 I simply just find it too wax-like, fat free and bitter to eat anymore. I'm not completely blinded by the milk chocolate palate (although I unashamedly do splurge on it as well). It's just that I do, in fact, need a touch of milk/sugar in it or else it just stops being "chocolate" to me, even though it's technically getting more towards being true chocolate the higher the percentage gets (I know, its a backwards sort of rationality)

Having said that, I really should try a 70% or higher with a tannic, ripe red that I like and see what I think. As you suggested, I might just find it works better as a combination, even though I wouldn't eat that high of chocolate by itself.

And yes I don't think I would enjoy that sweet wine party all that much. Alcohol and sugar mixed with even more outside sugar just doesn't sit too well with me unfortunately but I don't doubt those names you mentioned are good chocolate matches if you like them.

Take Care,

Jeff