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CHICAGO — Barry Callebaut’s Chef Martin Diaz stopped by WGN Weekend Morning News to share the perfect wine and chocolate pairings for Valentine’s Day.
Dark Chocolate with Red Wine:
- Dark chocolate from Tanzanie 75%: The chocolate has a perfect balance between the acidity and the bitterness of the cocoa. It also has a nice floral profile that lifts the experience and creates a long-lasting impression. Topped with sea salt and pure cocoa nibs for the tasting.
- The recipe to make at home : The chocolate tapa
- Toast sourdough bread, place a 75% Tanzanie dark chocolate square on top when the bread is still warm, add a little bit of sea salt and enjoy the pairing with a red Rioja.
- Paired with Gómez Cruzado Rioja Riserva 2012: This is Tempranillo (but future vintages will have some Garnacha and Graciano), and they have used French oak, which provides a more serious profile with hints of peat and forest floor rather than the vanilla-driven notes lent by American oak. It’s balsamic and has notes of cigar ash, from a low-yielding year with good ripeness, pretty apt for Reserva-style wines.
Ruby chocolate with sparkling wine:
- Ruby Chocolate: A NEW kind of chocolate you may not have seen yet. Ruby is the biggest innovation in chocolate in 80 years. Made from the ruby cocoa bean, it’s a completely new experience and is naturally pink. Topped with coconut, raspberry and lavender for the tasting. The tango between the berry fruitiness and the velvety smoothness, one of the only chocolates to pair with sparkling wine.
- Paired with Bartucci Cerdon de Bugey 2019: An absolute treat, this semi-sweet sparkler is composed of mostly Gamay with a bit of Poulsard and Chardonnay that finishes its primary fermentation in the bottle. Explosively fruity and incredibly drinkable it bursts with notes of raspberry, strawberry and black cherry cola accented by white and pink flowers. Open this before dinner and you’ll be ready for a second bottle with dessert. (Vin Chicago Price: $25.99)
