Wine and Chocolate

One of our favorite parties to host is a Wine and Chocolate Tasting.  We have had one in February or March every year for the past three years.  It is fun because they are both great things on their own, and it is fun to try to find combinations that make them even better.  We were especially excited to try this in Berlin with a new wine selection to choose from.


To start, the internet is a great resource for finding wines that pair well with chocolates.  People who work at wine shops have also helped us out a lot.  I make several types of chocolate dishes for different types of chocolates, white, milk, semi-sweet, and dark.  I try to stick to things that are more chocolate than anything as some things will change with the wine.  For example, I thought about making a chocolate cheesecake, which I love, but it is too heavy for me to eat with wine, so I left it out.  We also put out different chocolate bars for people to have small samples with the wine.  This year we also tried adding tea to the list of pairings as a non-alcoholic option, which seemed to go over well.


Another big change this year was the layout.  In the past, we've set out a large table with the wines and chocolates all arranged a long it. This year, we spread the pairings out across tables placed throughout our apartment.  The wines and chocolates that pair well together went together.  I used ribbon to color code wines that crossed-over types of chocolate.  But we always encourage people to try what they want.  You never know!  I think that spreading the food and drinks worked really well because people knew they had not tried anything from a section yet and were more willing to make sure they got to each table to try new things.  When all of the chocolate is on one table it is easier to keep going back to the same thing and never quite make it to the rest.


Here is what we tried this year:




White Chocolate:
White chocolate goes well with sweeter wines, such as Muscatos, Cream Sherry, sweet Reislings and sweet Gewurztraminers (especially Reislings can be quite dry, so look at the label or ask).  This year the big hit was the Cream Sherry with the white chocolate options.

Oolong and Herbal tea go with white chocolate.  We put out Oolong and a Mango Lemon Tea, which people liked, but I don't know how well it went with the chocolate.


For white chocolate I made Paula Deen's White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Fudge, posted on another blog.  It is more creamy than traditional fudge and goes amazingly well with Muscato d'Asti (which we could not find here sadly).  From the Food Network I made a White Chocolate Berry Fool that was supposed to only have blackberries but included some random Berlin berries such as Johannisbeeren.  This one has more whipped cream than chocolate so was a nice lighter alternative when you had a bit too much chocolate (in case that is possible).  I also made a White Chocolate Silk Pie from All-Recipes with an almond crust instead of chocolate so as not to mix types of chocolate.  I also left off the whipped cream and berries so it didn't seem just like the Fool.   I don't love white chocolate, but these were all really good.



Milk Chocolate:
Milk Chocolate goes well with a lot of wines.  Some of them include Reisling, Champagne, Muscat, Pinot Noir, Ruby Port, Hungarian Tokaji (which we thought we would find being so close to Hungary, but no), light Merlot, Italian Sparkling wines, and dessert wines.


The same teas that go well with white chocolate are said to go with milk chocolate so we put out the Oolong and Mango Lemon Tea.


Milk Chocolate is not my favorite.  I prefer semi-sweet and dark.  So I never make as much in this category.  I also find it hard to find things to make that are milk chocolate.  Most things that you bake are semi-sweet chocolate and or are non-chocolate things with milk chocolate in them.  But I hate to only have candy bars out so I made milk chocolate covered strawberries, always a winner, and milk chocolate mousse.  The mousse is officially  Peanut Butter and Milk Chocolate Mousse Parfaits from Food and Wine, but I just made the Milk Chocolate Mousse part.  The mousse wasn't as light as a traditional mousse.   It tasted like a thick custard, but a really good chocolatey custard.   The next day it tasted like frosting!  For me this was great, because I love to eat a few spoonfuls of frosting and they don't really sell pre-made frosting here.


Semi-sweet/Dark Chocolate:
We always have the most types of wines at this end because when you think of pairing wines and chocolates these are the types that you think of.  There are also a lot of wines that go well with darker chocolates: Grenache, Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfindel, Pinot Noir, Merlot, Tawny Port, Sangiovese, Syrah or Shiraz, Marsala, Beujulais, and Bordeaux.


White, Jasmine, and Green tea are said to go well with dark chocolates so we had some of each.


In our experience, there are always the most left overs in this category because you are supposed to try them last.  So make things you like!  My old standby here is a Flourless Chocolate Cake from Paula Deen, which she calls Deep Dark Chocolate Truffle Cake.  You can find the recipe in this blog. She drizzles it with a white chocolate sauce, but I prefer it with a raspberry or other berry compote.  This cake is relatively easy to make and I had made it before for some of the people who were coming.  When they asked if I was making it I figured I would make two just to make sure there was enough (we did have about 20-25 people).  However, we never even started the other one and I brought it to work to share on Monday.  The other recipe I love is Truffle Tarts with Raspberries from Food Network.  I always use very dark chocolate for these and make them in mini-muffin tins so that they aren't so over-whelming and so you can try more things!   I do recommend just adding the chocolate to the liquid mixture you are heating otherwise my chocolate never melts and it is a bit of a mess.  Last but not least I made a Chocolate Honey Almond Tart, also from Food Network, that was amazing.   It was my new recipe here and is a winner.   I can't wait to try it again.



This party is always fun because people get to try lots of types of food and wine and can talk about what they like best or not.   I highly recommend trying one.  Just make sure to have a double boiler or a bowl that will fit in a pot with hot water.  It works much better than trying to melt chocolate in the microwave, despite what the recipes say.  Happy Tasting!

Random Berlin

 

This weekend marked the first nice weekend since the fall.  While it may be too early to say that Spring is officially here, I can say that we took full advantage of the sunny, warm days and not too cold nights.  We started our Saturday outside at Knofi, a cafe on Bergmannstrasse, eating breakfast and people watching. After dropping our coats and getting some sunblock, we went to Admiralsbrücke and met a friend.  We walked up and down the canal.  It seemed like all of Berlin was out.  We stopped for ice cream and a while later drinks.  The outdoor seating at all the cafes and bars were of course mostly full.  We also found this bar pictured here which I think has the best name.  We were on our way home at this point, but we will go back.

Later in the evening we headed out to dinner near Warschauer Strasse.  At the U-bahn station you come out onto a street that is raised.  On the sidewalk of the street below a DJ had set up a turntable, getting power from his car.  Few people were dancing yet, but the night was young.

After dinner we went back to Warschauer Strasse and crossed the bridge there to go to another friend's house.  While walking over the bridge fireworks started from the bank a little bit up the river.  We thought it would just be one or two, but it turned into a whole show.  The craziest thing was that a guy who was among the others who had also stopped to watch started playing the Star Spangled Banner.  I took a bit of video.  Listen and you will hear the end of the song.  (I was in too much shock to start near the beginning.)  It was a very odd Berlin moment on a St Patrick's Day night.   

You never know what may happen in a city.  And when the weather is nice and people are out it becomes even more random.