By Matthew Fitzsimmons Chocolate and wine are delicacies in their own right. While sampling them together is easy, pairing them so their flavors blend harmoniously is more difficult than people realize. Anne Tucker, senior manager and pairing guru at Fabbioli Cellars, explained what makes the perfect pairing. “When pairing wine and food the art is in the balance. Making sure all flavor components complement one another, not fight each other. It is about knowing what flavors go together along with textures and aromas. It’s a relationship between wine and the perfect harmonious bite.” The biggest problem in matching the two is how to work around chocolate’s natural bitterness. When chocolate is paired with wine tannins, it increases the perception of bitterness in the wine. The more cacao a chocolate has, the more these ingredients will clash. This means pairing chocolate and wine with matching intensities is often the preferred way to go. While chocolate and wine pairings can be tricky, it can be done. Carl and Donna Henrickson, owners of Wine Loves Chocolate and the Little Washington Winery, are experts in this field. Their approach is to match flavors that are similar to one another. In the wine and food pairing world, this is called “like with like.” “Winemakers use malolactic fermentation to finesse the aromas and flavors of wine. Chocolatiers ferment cacao and also might add a ganache (creamy center) to finesse a rich milky component to chocolate. There are three basic kinds of ganaches that you can make – white, milk and dark chocolate based. Milk and dark chocolate based ganaches add an immense amount of chocolatey flavor and richness which you cannot replicate. White chocolate is the most versatile. Our chocolatiers came to the conclusion that a truffle that has a creamy ganache center is much more compatible … Continue reading A Guide to Chocolate and Wine Paring