Chocolate Unwrapped, Sarah Jane Evans

Master of Wine Sarah Jane Evans is also one of the founders of the Academy of Chocolate, so she knows about taste, flavour, texture and those other nebulous associates of palate pleasure.

Be warned, this is not a book about everyday, ‘industrial’ chocolate. Cadbury’s (Kraft) is not listed among the more than 80 ‘proper’ chocolate producers profiled by Evans. Though Green and Black’s, which is owned by Cadbury’s, is.

Chocolate tasting notes read in a similar way to wine tasting notes, where aroma is just as important for chocolate as it is for wine. For Hotel Chocolat’s The Purist Singe Estate Dark, 72%, Evans writes “aroma of earth, red wine, redcurrants; taste: a lively character of red fruits opens up to savoury, textured roast, with a full palate and light grip of tannin on the finish.”

And where wine has the delicious sound of a cork popping (screwcap cracking?), and wine glugging into a glass, so it appears chocolate has a distinctive ‘snap’ – a technical term to describe the noise made as a piece is broken off.  It should be clean and crisp, Evans says in her chapter on ‘how to taste’.

The wine analogy doesn’t stop there. The new enthusiasm for chocolate focuses on increasing proportions of cocoa solids, and ‘terroir’ – site specificity – single origin, single estate.

Evans takes the reader through the history and process in a succinct first section, which is easily an excellent point of continual reference. It crosses countries, deals with Fairtrade and health (antioxidants).  That Evans has also made wine and chocolate matching something of a specialty area of expertise is no surprise, though she restricts herself to a modest part-page in this book to that particular challenge.

Section two is the directory of 82 chocolate producers from across the world. Each gets one double-page spread, offering a neat, single field of vision, reference. A bar of chocolate has been selected from each producer and organoleptically analysed, so the book could just be good reading, or could be a learning tool for someone wanting to get serious about chocolate – buy the bar and follow Evans’ notes while you taste your own.

UK producers are strongly featured in the book: Artisan du Chocolat, Chococo, Choxi, Demarquette, Hotel Chocolat, Melt, Montezuma’s, Paul A Young, Prestat, Red Star, Rococo, Sir Hans Sloane, Thorntons, William Curley, Willie’s Delectable Cacao, which must say something about the country’s love affair with chocolate.

This is a super book.  Though perhaps I should declare a conflict of interest – I love chocolate.

One of the latest trends has become to speak about chocolate in wine terms: variety of cocoa bean, origin of bean, how it is grown, climate, soil, terroir, and quality differentials with all of these. Sara Jayne Stanes, director of the Academy of Culinary Arts, and chairman of the Academy of Chocolate said: “There are three major varieties of bean, with nearly 300 hybrids. Cocoa beans are full of tannins, fruits, spices, herbs, grassy, woody and smoky flavours.”  

For serious, fine, dark chocolate, Jo Stewart, chocolate buyer at Harrods said: “The trend is single estate chocolate, and some of the dark, bitter chocolates go well with wine. Peruvian chocolate tastes different from other parts of South America. It is bitter, but erring on the side of fruity, and it’s the fruitiness that goes with wine.”  

Savoury dishes

Bernd Flemming

Chocolate in savoury dishes is less challenging than sweet dishes, as it should not make the dish sweet. Bernd Flemming, who gained his Michelin star at the Restaurant Français in Frankfurt and now runs a food development consultancy said: “The cocoa has a special flavour. We always think chocolate is something to do with sweetness but cocoa is a spice like vanilla, or chilli. We use it as a spice, for example in the Mexican mole dish.  And like a spice, used in the quantities of a spice or condiment, chocolate balances the taste between the sweet ingredients and spicy ingredients. It doesn’t really change the texture.” 

At a recent wine and chocolate evening, Anne Tupker MW, of Bouquet Wines, paired a 2002 St Joseph with Roe deer with Diva chocolate sauce. She said: “The slight gaminess of the syrah plus the richness and acidity of the wine went well with the venison and with the richness of the sauce.” She added “the richness chocolate gives to the sauce calls for a wine that is fruity, concentrated and with some good acid bite but fairly light, smooth-textured tannin.”

Desserts and petits fours

For sweet dishes, the sweetness has to be at the same level. Tupker said: “A 1977 Graham’s port with with a dark chocolate and praline dessert went down a treat. A five or six puttonyos Tokaji, or a trockenbeerenauslese from Germany or Austria would also work.” 

Sarah-Jane Evans MW, one of the founders of the Academy of Chocolate, reiterated the superior chocolate designation for wine pairing opportunities.  She said “The tastings we do are with bars, not prepared dishes, which makes a difference.  I have found that the fortified wines can work.  If you have something rich and sweet, you need something hefty in alcohol. Young Maury with dark chocolate gives a luscious, lovely, red fruited character, with aromatic fruitiness an extra complement.”

Ripening grenache in Roussillon

Maury, along with Banyuls and Rivesaltes are the sweet, fortified red, vins doux naturels wines of Roussillon in the south of France, made from grenache. The style is either young primary fruit focused, with rasp-, black- and blueberry flavours, which works well with creamy sweet and silky-textured truffles, such as Prestat’s Dark Chocolate Marc de Champagne Truffles, or a more oxidative style, where complex aromas of coffee, chocolate, caramel, walnuts, dried figs and prunes pair well with nuttier desserts and bars of 70%+ cocoa.  

A youthful LBV (late bottled vintage) port such at Taylor’s is a good alternative, with vibrant black cherry, bramble and raspberry fruits to accompany and lift the concentration of the dark chocolate.  Flemming said “I like a chocolate terrine with port wine and figs, and I’d serve a port with it. Cook the figs in port, with a hint of chilli, melted dark chocolate, crème fraiche, eggs and butter. On a biscuit and pistachio base, add the fig and port mixture with layers of chocolate. Warm the remaining port with chocolate to thicken.”

Gearoid Devaney, head sommelier at one-Michelin star London restaurant Tom Aikens said “with [chef] Tom there are always more flavours, for example chocolate fondant with grapefruit. There are always twists in the tail to deal with. I choose wines according to the richness and texture. Tokaji, for example from Istvan Szepsy, works better than French [Sauternes]. I’m using a vins doux naturel Rasteau from Domaine Romero because it has a good bit of acidity, which plays with the sharpness of the grapefruit.” Devaney treats each dessert on its own merit, saying he loves looking at how you can play with the palate.  Italy’s passito wines might feature, or an older Malmsey Madeira from Henriques and Henriques. He said: “you have that heat from the alcohol, but chill it a little, and serve a 15 year old with petit fours.”

Conclusion

The sweet, gamey, concentrated fruit and silky tannins of dry syrah/shiraz was may complement the rich texture of a chocolate-influenced savoury dish, but it seems the fortified wines come into their own for dessert. Red fruits and spiciness are found in both dark chocolate and wine. As sweetness increases, or the chocolate is combined with other complexing flavours, better matches may move away from fortified wines to styles such as passito, Tokaji, or even trockenbeerenauslese, where sweetness, acidity and flavour are concentrated in the grape by sun-drying or very late harvesting.