Toronto Star

SWEET pairings of chocolate, wine

- CAROLYN EVANS HAMMOND OR HER OPINIONS OF THOSE WINES. REACH HER VIA EMAIL: CAROLYN@CAROLYNEVA­NSHAMMOND.COM

Some say, yes. Some say, no. But the answer is, it depends.

A piece of chocolate and sip of wine can quicken the pulse, focus the mind and create a bit of bliss. But chocolate can also obliterate a wine. A piece of dark chocolate with caramel filling, for instance, would destroy a dry, delicate sparkling wine. The mouthcoati­ng intensity of the bitterswee­t chocolate would overpower the wine’s wispy complexity while the candy’s sweet centre would bring out the wine’s high acidity and make it seem sour.

The trick therefore is to balance the weight and flavour profile of the wine with that of the confection. Convention says to serve sweet wine with sweet food. And that line of thinking works most of the time. In fact, the safest bet is to ensure the wine is sweeter than the accompanim­ent.

A fabulous pairing is the 2019 Pondview Gold Series Vidal Icewine, VQA Niagara Peninsula (LCBO and Winery $19.95/200mL) served well-chilled with a sliver of dark chocolate covered orange peel. The wine exudes a deep, candied orange fragrance that mingles with notes of peach jam, honey and almond nougat. Luscious citrus and stone fruit flavours laced with honeycomb are beautifull­y balanced with a crisp lemony finish that leaves the palate scraped clean. Follow that sip of this 93-point

wine with the chewy-bitterswee­t bonbon for immediate pleasure.

SOMA Chocolatem­aker in Toronto makes marvellous Seville orange peel dipped in chocolate (somachocol­ate.com $7/seven pieces) or you can make your own. The internet is filled with recipes.

If you’re nuts about dark chocolate covered almonds, serve them with a glass of Warre’s Otima 10Year-Old Tawny Port from Portugal (LCBO $21.95/500mL). Tawny Port is a fortified wine produced in Portugal that starts out ruby red and sheds its colour from time spent in oak — in this case, 10 years. The time in oak imparts a nutty, complex character that has a natural affinity to nuts. And the wine is best chilled — or even on the rocks.

Warre’s Otima10-Year-Old Tawny gleams a glowy amber hue and swirls with coffee, toffee, figs and nuts as well as hints of nutmeg and clove on the nose. The entry is smooth and satiny. Then it expands instantly, cascading with everything found on the nose and more — allusive flavours shift from figs and dried plums to walnuts, caramel and café latte. As a fortified wine with 20 per cent alcohol, it’s a slow sipper. So linger over the long, tantalizin­g finish of this 92-point

wine and enhance the experience with a few dark chocolate covered almonds.

If you enjoy the creamy goodness of milk chocolate truffles for which Lindt is certainly famous, pair a few with a well-chilled glass of the NV Chiarli Castelvetr­o Lambrusco DOC from Italy (LCBO $10.95). This sweet, fizzy red tastes ripe, bright and juicy. And it’s chockful of cherry and muddled raspberry goodness. In fact, the pairing calls to mind those chocolate-covered cherries found in old school boxes of chocolates. The wine is good on its own pulled straight from the fridge — a solid 89 points. But better with the chocolate.

If you’d like to pair dry wine with chocolate, pick the 2017 Montresor Amarone della Valpolicel­la DOCG

from Veneto, Italy (LCBO $36.60) and pair it with dark chocolate caramels with sea salt.

Amarone if of course made with partially dried berries, which creates intensity in the glass. And the salty-bitter-sweet balance of this bonbon complement­s this bottle’s expression with aplomb.

Each sip of the 2017 Montresor Amarone opens with heady aromas that are deep and dark. Find black cherries and cocoa as well as blackberri­es, dried plum and smoked almonds on the nose before it powers in with muscular fruit balanced by intrinsic elegance. Unfurling flavours reveal dark fruit, freshly turned earth and peppercorn­s, as well as roasted meat, espresso and hazelnut. And it’s all captured in a wonderfull­y velvety structure. Score: 94. The wine’s long finish becomes the perfect segue to the salty dark-chocolate sweet.

These pairings do more than suggest how to finish a meal or cap a night.

CAROLYN EVANS HAMMOND IS A TORONTO-BASED WINE WRITER AND A FREELANCE CONTRIBUTI­NG COLUMNIST FOR THE STAR. WINERIES OCCASIONAL­LY SPONSOR SEGMENTS ON HER YOUTUBE SERIES YET THEY HAVE NO ROLE IN THE SELECTION OF THE WINES SHE CHOOSES TO REVIEW

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 ?? SOMA CHOCOLATEM­AKER ?? Seville orange peel dipped in chocolate.
SOMA CHOCOLATEM­AKER Seville orange peel dipped in chocolate.
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