For the Chocolate and Wine Lovers!

Recently we did a blog on Chateau La Gatte's new business venture, chocolates mixed with wine! Well they are incredible- and If you don't believe me, well then come into us and mention this blog and we'll be more than happy to share a taster with you! So whats the point if you already did a blog on them? Well when i strolled into work today i read a review of them online (be getting to taht in a while) but it got me thinking about what would be the best wine to pair with chocolate....

But now to the review of Chateau La Gatte's Chocolates! Well the basics of them is they are made using 72% cocoa Fair Trade and Rainforest Alliance Belgium Chocolate, with a red wine filling made from Chateau La Gatte's Bordeaux Wine- 80% Merlot, 20% Cabernet Sauvignon! There the Facts but what caught my eye was the reviews final Paragraph:

"I really can't speak too highly of these chocolates. If you're looking for an adult, but fruity chocolate experience, I've not tasted any better this year. They're also perfect for these dark nights to snuggle up on the sofa and work along them. In Summer I'm sure they'd also be great to munch in the garden watching the sun go down."

Is that not the best review ever? And whats even better is Michael Affatato left a comment saying thank you... Now thats classy, and just shows the spirit these Chocolates, and indeed the wines of Chateau La Gatte, are made in!

But back to what makes wine and chocolate a good pairing. Well ususally you just have one variable when pairing food with wine- and thats the wine. But now we've got 2 variables- because there are several different types of chocolate.... It actually isn't as bad as it sounds- we'll just divide them up into white chocolate, milk chocolate, and dark chcocolate!

White Chocolate:

Well white chocolate is pretty sweet, and very creamy! So something sweet and dry would be a good match- like cherry! But if you wanted to take this another direction, you could go with something big and full bodied- like a zinfandel with its rich red fruits, and tannins- what would actually happen is the Creaminess of the white chocolate would round out the tannins and smooth out the wine! Its actually a really great combination!

Milk Chocolate:

Alright so Milk Chocolate- firmly inbetween the other two extremes, yet in no way to be concidered anything but delicious in comparisson to them. Its got to be something medium bodied, yet with its own exuberance that can match the Milk Chocolate! Well then its Pinot Noir!

Dark Chocolate:

Oh well a big Chocolate needs a big wine- simple! The wine should even have a touch of Chocolate itself- Now the true test of who's been following my Blogs... Well if you have then you'll know all about how good the Eternum Viti is from the Toro region in Spain! And for a dark chocolate you're not going to go too far wrong with Tempranillo, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Zinfandel, Shiraz, basically all the big guns!