Definition: chocolate and wine 1

Its taste is so pronounced, powerful and concentrated that it is often very difficult to pair it with red wine, and even more so with white wine. The sugar concentrated in chocolate desserts has the effect of literally overwhelming the wine. So, are wine and chocolate really compatible?

Wine and the aroma of chocolate:
While white wine, but especially red wine, can be full of cocoa aromas, typical of mature wines such as Pommard or Madiran, to name but two, there are also more opulent wines around us that offer this roasted aroma.
For example, Port in particular. Port is a naturally sweet wine. To put it simply, this wine is made from grape juice (called must), to which brandy or sugar is added during fermentation. This has the direct effect of stopping fermentation. These wines are then aged in barrels, without going into further detail here. See the entry for "Port".
One thing is certain: alcohol and chocolate go very well together.

What types of wines:
When young, Port wines reveal aromas of macerated red fruits, ranging from sour cherries to blackberries, with spicy notes. With age, these aromas transform into prunes, raisins, cocoa, coffee and roasted aromas. It is therefore these types of sweet wines that we will focus on. Port, of course, aged 15 years, such as a Late Bottled Vintage, or a Vintage aged around ten years. Vintage Ports are elite wines, and their prices often exceed £100, or even £1,000 for some. But with such incredible persistence, complexity and class, it would be a real shame to miss out on such pleasures.

Other wines in France to accompany chocolate:
In France, there are natural sweet wines similar to Port wines, such as Maury, made from the Grenache grape variety and aged in glass demijohns left out in the sun on the town square when the weather is fine.
There is also Banyuls, as well as Rasteau in the southern Rhône valley, not to mention MAYDIE, a Tannat made into a fortified wine by the Aydie estate in the Madiran appellation in the south-west, not far from the Basque Country.

How old should these fortified wines be?
Opt for mature wines with roasted aromas; these can be found in 20-year-old Maury wines and old Banyuls wines, aged 20 to 30 years. Not forgetting old Rivesaltes wines.
Original suggestion:
Near Seville, Spain, the territory of Xérès, a wonderful wine. One of the grape varieties used in its production is Pedro Ximénez, which is transformed by fortification into an elixir of very rare concentration, with around 400 grams of sugar per litre.
PX, gran reserva, aged for a very long time, often from very old vintages, this wine is extremely dense in sugar and reveals aromas of prune jam and cocoa. The palate is overwhelmingly rich and opulent, but what a pleasure it is to finish with a last sip of this delicacy, as the wine and chocolate pair together with great delight.
To be drunk almost homeopathically, at the end of the meal.