Dynamic Duo

An unusual coupling makes a powerful pair, finds Kathrin Puff, who combines amarone wine with fine dark chocolate

Standardised thinking when it comes to wine pairings with food has unfortunately crept in over time, making us all a bit lazy when it comes to trying new combinations. The famous late wine critic Alexis Bespaloff summed up the malaise in matching perfectly with the outgoing message on his telephone answering machine: “I cannot take your call right now, but if it’s an emergency, white with fish and red with meat.” Has adventure been completely leeched out of us, leaving only the tried and true wine-food combinations that seem An unusual coupling makes a powerful pair, finds Kathrin Puff, who combines amarone wine with fine dark chocolate to be written in stone? Maybe there should be a new rule: follow your own senses and be experimental, otherwise you’ll miss out on a world of delightful pairing possibilities.

One the most sensual pairings that at first seems strange, if not a blasphemy, is wine and chocolate. Many varieties of chocolate work well with different kinds of wine, but a toothsome couple that has shown an extravagancy that sometimes gets close to decadency and is the strongest of this exotic combination is amarone and bitter chocolate.

Another reason to enjoy red wine and dark chocolate together is that they are regarded as a type of chemotherapy in preventing cancer. According to recent research by the Angiogenesis Foundation, chemicals in both spur reactions that starve tumours of their blood supply.

Amarone della valpolicella has a long tradition originating from northern Italy. The grape varietals exclusively used to create it are rondinella, corvina and in decreasing amounts, molinara (being a less interesting varietal in terms of quality). The grapes are picked fully ripened, preferably in not-too-compact bunches and are then spread on mats in a dry and ventilated room. Here they undergo their appassimento, which means they are left to concentrate and shrivel until they look like raisins.

The shrivelled grapes, having lost a lot of water, means that when pressed they give birth to a dense, concentrated red juice high in sugar content. Making wine out of such a rich juice is quite difficult as fermentation and ageing processes take a long time and are at high risk of microbiological growths. In fact, most amarones are released only after five years, of which three to four are spent in oak barrels.

The characteristics of amarone, which comes from the Italian word amaro, meaning bitter, is a wine with quite a kick – over 15 percent alcohol by volume – with a dense and rich colour, compact tannin structure and a sweet spot coming from a higher volatile acidity and glycerin content (typical for shriveled grapes) and a residual sugar higher than is found in other red wines. Amarone might appear dry to normal consumers, but it actually ranks as a semi-sweet wine. Flavours are described as spicy, chocolate, coffee, dark berries and sour cherry, tannic bite, smooth and very long finish, cedary and slightly sweet.

Combining the right concentration of bitter chocolate is the key to unlocking both the wine’s and the chocolate’s characteristics. A good recommendation is to go for bitter chocolates that are less sweet than the wine; however, one has to be attentive as the perception of sweet is relative. Sweet doesn’t mean that the wine is sugary sweet. Sweetness comes as well from tannins, higher alcohol levels and ageing in oak. The wine should also be as rich as the chocolate so that the chocolate doesn’t overpower it. Likewise, the flavours of both should be similar to ensure that disharmonious flavours and textures don’t cancel each other out.

Here are some couplings that deliver marvelous results:

Amarone della Valpolicella DOC 2005 Tedeschi (2,100 baht)

-Tasting notes: Cedar, leather, pine needles, cherry/amarena, wood fire, schist (a mineral flavour reminiscent of slate), slightly green, very dense and alcoholic, still quite young, sweet though slightly tannic finish.

- Chocolate: Villars Swiss Chocolate noir 72 percent (91.50 baht)

-Why: The wine is rich with flavours and has a nicely dense body. The creaminess and medium sweetness of the chocolate marries well with this wine underlining even more the amarena/cherry flavours and rounding out the finish by giving it more bite.

Amarone della Valpolicella DOC Crosara dele Strie Corte Rugolin 2005 (1,1900 baht)

-Tasting notes: Leather, balsamic, coffee and chocolate, peppery, amarena, fruits under spirit, firm acidity, smooth and sweet finish, hint of volatile acidity

-Chocolate: Lindt Excellence cocoa chocolate noir 85 percent (110.50 baht)

-Why: The wine is elegant and not too exuberant; its acidity lends a nice backbone to the texture whilst cherry fruits combined with spice aromas linger. The 85 percent chocolate matches well with the wine’s smooth and slightly sweet finish whilst underlining its refined ageing notes.

Both wines are available at G Four. Contact info@gfour.co.th.