Wine & Chocolate!

Wine and chocolate, how can you go wrong?  These are two foods that certainly bring pleasure to life.  You might say that these are very different there are plenty of similarities in the two.  They start as agricultural products; grapes and seeds.  The end products that we enjoy are affected by the varieties of the grapes and seeds used as well as the terroir, which is the combination of the climate, soil type and topography of where they are grown, all of which shine through in their different flavor profiles.  In wine and chocolate, post-harvest the production process involves fermentation.  Wine is produced by fermenting grapes; this is the process of yeast converting sugar into alcohol.  Cacao seeds have an intense bitter taste, and must be fermented to develop their wonderful flavor.

It is a tough job, but someone has to do it, so I put myself to the task of tasting local wine and chocolate.  To arm myself with some chocolate to pair with wine, I first met with local chocolatier Lucienne.  Lucienne is a delight and has a marvelous array of chocolates of different flavors and textures, many truly unique.  Her wonderful chocolates have been featured at the 2011 Academy Awards, Cannes Film Festival and the Emmy Awards and she is located nearby in Jacksonville, New York. 

So with some of Lucienne’s chocolates in hand, along with a few of my standard chocolate favorites, I hit the wineries. The first stop was Bloomer Creek Vineyard, on Seneca Lake, where Kim Engle chose some of his favorite wines to pair with the chocolate.  We worked out some great combinations with several of his wines including Café Red, Vin d’ete ’08 and Gewürztraminer ‘08.  Notably, the Gewürztraminer was absolutely delicious with Lucienne’s 70% Dark Chocolate Bar with Rosemary and Lemon.

The two reds went great with several of Lucienne’s chocolates including dark chocolate pistachio and ginger bark, 70% dark chocolate bar with cinnamon and cayenne, dark milk chocolate bar with sesame, over the top biscotti and Lindt Extra Fine Dark Chocolate with sea salt.

The next stop was Sheldrake point on Seneca, where Christine McAfee helped us with a few wine suggestions.  The Merlot ’09 went along great with Lucienne’s 70% Dark Chocolate Bar.  It was great the way the wine and chocolate were enhanced, often bringing out the fruit, smokiness, nutty or spice flavors in the wine and/or chocolate.  It is worth noting that the Lindt with sea salt was not a good pairing with this Merlot.

Continuing along the eastern shores of Seneca Lake, we next stopped at Damiani Wine Cellars, met with Lou and Gabe Damiani and found that their Pinot Noir went along really well with the Lucienne’s cinnamon cayenne 70% and the Lindt with sea salt, again enhancing the spice and fruit of each.  Damiani also has a really great wine and chocolate pairing that visitors can experience.  They serve Hedonist Artisan Chocolates, from Rochester.  

 And, Ravines Wine Cellars has worked with Hedonist Chocolate to create two chocolate lovers experiences; The Classic tasting included; Chardonnay 2008 with Demi-sec milk chocolate leaf with sesame oil, grey balinese sea salt & toasted sesame seeds, Cabernet Franc 2009 with Dark Chocolate drop with dried cranberries & dried orange zest, Meritage 2008 with bittersweeet chocolate truffle with Ravines Meritage blended in to the rich ganache center for pure decadence! 

And the Eclectic tasting (which changes from time to time) currently includes; Chardonnay 2008 with Creamy Caramel made with Pittsford Dairy cream, Keuka Village Red 2010 with Dark chocolate with rosemary and pink peppercorns, and Meritage 2008 with Dark chocolate truffle infused with Finger Lakes distillery Cream de Cassis and Finger Lakes Black Currants.  

Another wonderful place to visit is Ports of New York right here in Ithaca, where we found the atmosphere and the proprietors, Frédéric Bouché to be were warm and welcoming.  Here I had the chance to pair some very nice spirited wines produced from traditional Port vinification methods. There is a white and red named Meleau.  The red Meleau paired nicely with Lucienne’s Brownie Bar and dark chocolate frogs.  The white Meleau paired very nicely with the following chocolates from Lucienne; including Hazelnut praline, Dark Milk chocolate, milk chocolate sesame bark and Dark chocolate with dried cherries and toasted almonds.

Another chocolatier in the area, Christian Therion, , also has some lovely handmade chocolates that are sure to please.  He makes very intriguing flavors ranging from hot Peruvian, black tea, coffee, passion and salt caramel.  Sure to please!

The best thing about pairing wine and food is that it is a subjective experience.  A good pairing is when both the wine and food are enhanced.  I would love your feedback, some pairings that work for you and some that may not, visit my blog!  Wine And Food with Annemarie:  and leave constructive comments, http://wineandfoodwithannemarie.blogspot.com/. Enjoy your tasting!

For more information, please visit the following websites:

http://damianiwinecellars.com/

http://hedonistchocolates.com/

www.luciennes.com

http://portsofnewyork.com/

http://www.preliminaireschocolat.com/

http://ravineswine.com/welcome/

http://www.sheldrakepoint.com/

Annemarie Morse, MPS in Enology, Cornell University, Certified Wine Judge, American Wine Society, Chairman of the Finger Lakes Chapter of the American Wine Society

Christmas Holiday wine & food

Pairing Holiday wine and food, published in the Ithaca Journal, December 2011.

http://www.ithaca.com/arts_and_entertainment/article_3654f824-2b54-11e1-a476-0019bb2963f4.html

 Would love to know what worked or didn't work for your holidays!

The Christmas holiday is definitely a challenging topic when it come to the pairing of food and wine. Not everybody is serving turkey! An informal poll of friends regarding what they do for Christmas dinner elicited several delicious responses: ham, roast beef or prime rib, turkey, duck, wild hare (from a relative in the Netherlands), goose, Cornish hen, and venison. It is a daunting task at best, so it was time to narrow down the choices. Ham was the overwhelming first choice, so let’s start there.
Ham is salty and smoky, and it is often served with sweet glazes or fruit, which provides a nice balance to the saltiness. Looking at complementary wines, Riesling and Gewürztraminer provide this balance. With a sweet glaze, like honey or apricot, these flavors are picked up in the stone fruit (like apricot, peaches, etc.) and honey notes of a dry or semi-dry Riesling and Gewürz-traminer. Specifically, Gewürztraminer is an aromatic wine grape with a flamboyant bouquet of lychee fruit and aromas of roses and passion fruit and floral notes. The word “Gewürz” literally means spice or perfume. These wines have enough fruit to balance the salt and enough acidity so that they don’t get lost with the strong flavors of the dish. The Finger Lakes wine region offers many great wines that will be sure to please, Damiani, Anthony Road, Hermann Wiemer, Dr. Frank, Bloomer Creek, Atwater Estate, and Red Newt are all great options.
If Chardonnay is a favorite of yours, it can be a neutral complement to the ham and various side dishes. Make sure to choose a lightly oaked Chardonnay. A dry Rose can also go very well with ham, try one from Sheldrake Point, Anthony Road or Dr. Frank.
Although white wine is most often served with ham, a Zinfandel or Pinot Noir would work. Zinfandel can stand up to the strong flavors of the ham; Long Point has a very nice Zinfandel (made with California grapes). Pinot Noir works with a savory rather than sweet sauce. Some of the local wineries with lovely Pinot Noirs include Shalestone, Bloomer Creek, Silver Thread, Damiani, Red Tail Ridge, Atwater, Heart and Hands, and Fox Run.
If you are serving prime rib or roast beef, you’ll want a nice big red wine. Bordeaux (a French region and known as a style of wine) is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, and often “seasoned” with Petit Verdot and Malbec. In this country many wineries produce a lovely Bordeaux style wine but may use the name Meritage (a portmanteau of Merit-Heritage, it rhymes with “heritage”). Wineries must pay to use the name so you may also see wineries using their own names to indicate that it is a Bordeaux style of wine. Some local wineries that make nice Meritage wines are Keuka Springs, Ravines, Damiani, and Fox Run. You can also pair the beef with the major components of the Bordeaux blend, like Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc or Merlot.
Another wine that would pair well with beef is a Lemberger. No, not the cheese Limburger but Lemberger! Also known as Blaufränkisch, it grows well in Austria and also in upstate New York. It has aromas of blackberry, raspberry, complemented by rich plum and black cherry flavors with vanilla, smoke, and a spicy black pepper finish. Fox Run, Damiani, and Anthony Road (Cabernet Franc/Lemberger) all produce very nice wines from this varietal (i.e., grape variety).
Yet another favorite entrée for Christmas dinner is poultry. Turkey, goose duck and Cornish Hens are all considered. They can all do well with Pinot Noir, with subtle earthy and mushroom inspired flavors. Cayuga Ridge has two cranberry wines that I’ve heard go great with turkey.
White wines pair well with poultry. Both Riesling and Gewurztraminer are good food-friendly choices. Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay will also work well as long as there’s not too much spice in the entrée or the sides.
Venison and wild hare go well with lighter reds as well, such as Pinot Noir as well as some of the bigger reds ordinarily paired with beef.
Dessert, there are so many options here. Having pie? Serving port with pumpkin and pecan pie provides a delicious nutty, sweet spice-filled character to the pairing. There are many delicious ports here in the Finger Lakes region. Check out Fox Run, Goose Watch (which make a rare wh port), Swedish Hill, Ports of New York, Hazlitt, Lakewood and Red Newt.
If you are having an apple dessert, cobbler, or pie, a late harvest Riesling brings rich, concentrated flavors of honey to a variety of desserts. I love the Sheldrake 2008 Late Harvest Riesling with any apple dessert. There are numerous fine examples of late harvest and ice wines in the Finger Lakesk which offer the sweetness and the richness in many desserts.
Happy Holidays to you all!
Annemarie Morse has a Masters of Professional Studies in Enology (winemaking) and is an American Wine Society Certified wine judge

Thanksgiving wine & food

Here are my thoughts on pairing wine with Thanksgiving dinner.  I would love to know what wine may have or may not have worked for your Thanksgiving dinner?  Published in the Ithaca Journal, November 2011.

Here are some suggestions for serving wines for the Thanksgiving holiday. Why not keep it local in the spirit of Thanksgiving and the bounty of the Finger Lakes? After all it is an American holiday, originating in the Northeast! Here are some suggestions to try alone or mix them up!
There are lots of flavors in the traditional Thanksgiving dinner, from appetizers, to white and dark turkey meat, mashed potatoes, yams, herb-filled stuffing, and cranberry relish, all the way to pumpkin or pecan pie. Is there a single wine that can take you from start to finish?
Sparkling wine can fit the bill. It is both elegant and versatile when it comes to pairing wine and food. Hermann J. Wiemer Vineyard, Dr. Frank Vinifera Wine Cellars, Damiani Wine Cellars, and Fox Run Vineyards all have sparklers sure to impress!
For red wine, you want to look for wines with fairly tame tannins that will support the flavors of the food.  I would recommend Pinot Noir, a traditional favorite for Thanksgiving. Pinot Noir has subtle earthy and mushroom inspired flavors with lovely fruit which pairs well with the traditional flavors of turkey and stuffing. Shalestone Vineyards, Dr. Frank, Damiani (Sunrise), Heart & Hands Wine Company, Bloomer Creek Vineyards, and Red Tail Ridge Winery all have very nice Pinot Noirs.
For white wines, you want to find a wine with well-balanced acidity.
Riesling and Gewurztraminer are good food friendly choices. Riesling, can be either be bone dry or fairly sweet, and pairs well with any dishes that are spicy, salty or sweet. We have some great Rieslings right here in the Finger Lakes. Riesling's innate flavors of apple, apricot, honey, and its acidity give it a significant pairing edge with the likes of sweet potatoes, turkey meat, and spice-laden or herb-filled stuffing. Anthony Road Wine Company, Hermann Wiemer, Dr. Frank, Bloomer Creek, and Red Newt Wine Cellars are all good bets.
Gewurztraminer, has an aromatic gusto and spicy palate that give it a solid standing with turkey and gravy, bringing out the best in both. Bloomer Creek has some great Gewürztraminers with varying levels of sweetness, also Red Newt, Sheldrake Point Winery, Lamoreaux Landing Wine Cellars, and Damiani.
Dessert is a fun time to experiment. Pumpkin, apple and pecan pie anyone? Serving port with pumpkin and pecan pie provides a delicious nutty, sweet spice-filled character to the pairing. Many delicious ports can be found in the Finger Lakes region. Seek out Fox Run, Goose Watch Winery (which make a rare white port), Swedish Hill Winery, Ports of New York, Hazlitt 1852 Vineyards, Lakewood Vineyards, and Red Newt.
A late harvest Riesling brings rich, concentrated flavors of honey to a variety of desserts. Sheldrake 2008 Late Harvest Riesling pairs well with any apple dessert. Fortified and late harvest wines offer the sweetness and the richness to support the flavors and robust spice of the pumpkin pie as well as the caramelized flavors found in a pecan pie.  Sheldrake also has a 2010 Apple Iced Wine, and Cabernet Franc and Riesling Ice Wines, all sure to please!
As a side note, I always meant to try Montezuma Winery's Cranberry Bog with a Thanksgiving dinner, just might do it this year. Enjoy your Thanksgiving!
Annemarie Morse has a Masters of Professional Studies in Enology (winemaking) and is an American Wine Society Wine Judge Certified

Enjoy exploring the world of wine and food with me!