I've told you before about how difficult it is to match wine and chocolate (I even went to Prime Minister of Chocolate Paul A Young to find some weird and wonderful recommendations) but I'm always up for new suggestions. Especially with Easter a mere 11 days away - I need me some chocolate booze!One of the hardest chocolates to find a partner for is the seriously dark stuff - I'm talking the bittersweet 70% cocoa content badboys - because unlike other chocolate it doesn't react well to too much sweetness in a wine.
Some lovely people from Linton Park think they have the answer, and they sent me a bottle of Cafe Cabernet and some chocolate to prove it. Who was I to refuse?
It's a South African red wine: a dry, devillishly dark, sensual Cabernet Sauvignon, which means technically it should do to chocolate what bankers do to the economy. But oh no.
It has been carefully aged in French and American oak barrels for 6 months, which adds extra roasted flavours of mocha and chocolate to the delicious dark berry and black cherry fruits you get from the cabernet sauvignon grape.
So when you take a sip when nibbling some dark chocolate, these flavours merge in perfect harmony. The bitterness of the chocolate is mellowed, and also makes the cherry flavours in the wine really pop.
If you're not convinced by the chocolate match (my other half wasn't) then it's perfectly lovely to sip on its own. The mocha-esque aromas are so delicious it's a boozy alternative to your after-dinner coffee, but I'd also love to try it with something equally rich like venison.
You can pick up a bottle for what I feel is a very reasonable £8.98 from The Drink Shop.
My pallette must be less sophisticated. My idea of heaven is red wine and dark choc (Montepulciano or Valpollicella, something like that). And Strictly. If at all possible.
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