A few weekends ago I gathered some of my girlfriends on a warm Sunday afternoon for a chocolate and wine tasting party. When I sent out the invite asking if anyone could join me for chocolate and vino during toddler nap time, one of my friends replied “Is this a dream?” It sure felt like one!
I first fell in love with Scharffen Berger chocolate back in 2009 at the BlogHer Food conference. The blue bag of 72% bittersweet chocolate chunks is known in our house as “the good guy.” It’s my favorite baking chocolate…er…and snacking chocolate. I love that Scharffen Berger chocolates have simple ingredient lists and focus on pure cacao bliss. During my trip to Hershey in July I learned that Scharffen Berger is actually part of The Hershey Company, so I was thrilled to take it under my wing for a future post.
What goes better with chocolate than wine?
I took notes from the Scharffen Berger website on pairing party best practices. They have a pretty extensive tasting library, including a downloadable booklet you can print. Following their guide, we chose four bars of chocolate to pair with four wines and matched the sweetness of the chocolate with the body of the wine. I had two extra bars on hand for bonus tastes – the new Pistachio and Sea Salt flavor and a 72% Signature Dark bar.
I put out waters and oyster crackers for palate cleansers along with paper and pens for taking notes.
I chose these four wines for our tasting going from light to full body:
Leese Fitch Pinot Noir // Saint Cosme Cotes du Rhone // Trentadue Old Patch Red // Sebastiani Cab Sauv
These four Scharffen Berger chocolate bars were the official tasters going from 41% Cacao Extra Rich Milk to 82% Cacao Extra Dark:
We paired them from left to right so that the sweeter chocolate went with the lightest wine and the extra dark chocolate paired with the boldest cabernet.
And then the tasting began!
We sniffed, swirled, chewed, sucked and nibbled.
Here is a collection of our notes:
Leese Fitch Pinot Noir + Scharffen Berger 41% Extra Rich Milk Bar
Cherries // Toffee // Spiced // Leathery // Black pepper
With chocolate: Big fruit, smoother, less spice, cherries, less acidic
Saint Cosme Cotes du Rhone + Scharffen Berger 62% Semisweet Dark Chocolate Bar
Cream // Brie Cheese // Wood chips // Bold chili spices // Tobacco // Earthy
With chocolate: Brought out more fruit and spice, enhanced hidden flavors, a bit musty
Trentadue Old Patch Red + Scharffen Berger 70% Bittersweet Dark Chocolate Bar
Jammy // Well balanced // Smooth and soft fruit // Sweetest of the bunch
With chocolate: Brought out more spice and berries, enhanced all flavors
Sebastiani Cabernet Sauvignon + Scharffen Berger 82% Extra Dark Chocolate Bar
Toasted like a grill // Hazelnuts // Big and bold // Plum // Toasted vanilla
With chocolate: Best pairing, smoky and rich fruit, chocolaty
Overall we felt that the darkest chocolate and boldest wine were the most perfect pairing of the bunch.
Please share your favorite chocolate pairings in the comments!
Disclosure: This blog post was sponsored by The Hershey Company as part of my participation in their Food Ambassador program. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Anele @ Success Along the Weigh says
“Is this a dream?” Love it!
Kaila @healthyhelperblog! says
That dark chocolate bar with pistachios sounds like HEAVEN! My favorite nut!
Katie @ Live Half Full says
What an awesome idea!! I’ll have to try some of these. I currently have a dark chocolate bacon bar that I paired with a Cabernet blend- it was pretty good!
Katie @ Talk Less, Say More says
I love it! One of my favorite coffee shops/bars is also a chocolate shop and they have some of the BEST chocolate and wine pairings. 🙂
Tonya says
This looks fun. Who was the photographer? They got really good candid shots of you guys. Especially the first pic.
KathEats says
Mr. Matt : )
Chelsea @ Designs on Dinner says
I had a glass of Merlot with a a York Peppermint Patty at a wine tasting once. Sounds strange, but the flavors completely worked! The fresh mint enhanced the bold, fruity flavor of the wine.
Kim says
This was Such a fun post kath! Curious how you plan financially for gatherings like these? I love the concept of tasting parties! But after the cost of wine, food, decor, and chocolate…it gets very expensive! Interested in your ways of managing this and fitting it into your budget. Thanks for a great post!!!!
jill says
I think Kath mentioned this post was sponsored…? If I were organizing, I’d suggest that each of my girlfriends bring a bottle of wine. When we get together for girls nights (and, actually, most group events that my husband and I attend), we usually share the financial “burden” by everyone bringing something. That way nobody feels put-upon as a host. But that’s just how we do it. I’m sure there are lots of alternatives!
KathEats says
We do a lot of potluck parties in our circle of friends. They help the host and keep the food interesting.
Laura@SneakersandSpatulas says
I believe she gets the supplies donated and/or a gift card to buy them from the company sponsoring….
Mary says
That looks so fun, and mmm chocolate!
Dana @ fresh simple five says
This is such a fun idea for a girls night! I love that Scharffen Berger offers tasting and pairing tips on their website. I’d definitely need help with selections if I did something like this (which you’ve inspired me to organize a fun night for friends!).
Alex @ True Femme says
How fun! You already know of my lemon pepper/white chocolate + Moscato pairing preference but I am definitely going to try some of the chocolates you listed above!
Ella says
Kath, you do (rare) sponsored posts so well. They always feel 100% genuine and true to your food and nutrition ethos. I appreciate that. It’s one of the many reasons why, although I read a variety of food/healthy living blogs, I truly find yours to be the most intelligent, interesting, and well-done. Keep up the awesome work 🙂
KathEats says
Thank you thank you
Shel@PeachyPalate says
The perfect night!!!
seana says
On our block, we alternate hosting a lot. We always bring our own beverage of choice to keep the price down for the host. Usually the host(ess) makes the main food and others supplement. Works great for us. For a special occassions (for instance, a graduation party or such, the host takes care of the drinks 100%)
Annie says
I am not so savvy about “tastings”. Is the purpose of taking notes to be able to compare with others? Or to get you to focus on what you’re tasting? I am so curious. Thanks.
KathEats says
For discussion, comparison, fun, etc.
Kelli H (Made in Sonoma) says
This looks so much fun!
Inez says
The pistachio and sea salt dark chocolate sounds so good! I wonder if I could make my own chocolate pistachio bark. Peppermint bark is so much fun to make, I think a pistachio version would be worth a shot!
Alex says
Not a bad way to spend an afternoon 🙂 I love chocolate paired with almond butter. So simple but you can’t go wrong!
Hannah @ eat, drink, and save money says
Looks like a blast! I am going to have to check out that chocolate. I love all dark chocolate!
Erin says
Until slave labor (including child slave labor) is no longer part of Hershey’s supply chain I will NOT be purchasing their chocolate. I love the idea of a fair-trade chocolate + wine tasting, though.
Cas says
I too was curious if Kath is aware of the common use of forced/child labor in the chocolate industry. I didn’t want to rain on the parade so I didn’t comment but I’ll echo Erin’s comments. Since reading about labor practices at The Art of Simple (http://theartofsimple.net/chocolate/), I avoid buying chocolate that is not fair trade. I’m by no means a purist but I think (as I’m sure Kath does) that if we go to great lengths to find meat that’s “humane” we should do the same when sourcing the chocolate that we eat.
Curious what others think…
Resh says
Agreed. Though it’s an issue across most industries that have also been highlighted on this and many other blogs (stitch fix, white plum, etc. – none of these orgs are transparent on whether their products are ethically sourced, at least not that I could find on their website). Personally, I would rather pay extra for a tshirt/shoes/chocolate/whatever and be sure that it was created in a way that was respectful to other humans, as well as environment / animals.
KathEats says
I can’t speak for all of Hershey but Scharffen Berger bars are made with 100% certified cocoa.
Theresa says
Just curious, but what does “100% certified” mean? Certified as what? According to multiple articles I found online, Whole Foods stopped carrying Scharffen Berger because of the company’s failure to ensure that their cocoa is sourced without slave or child labor.
KathEats says
I asked Hershey for more information and this an excerpt from the letter they send to customers inquiring about certification.
Theresa says
Thanks for sharing. It’s disappointing that they don’t actually say how much certified cocoa they source. Just saying that they source “increasing” amounts doesn’t really mean much without giving the actual numbers.
I’m with the commenter above – I won’t be buying Hershey’s chocolate until slave labor and child labor is eliminated from their supply chain.
Nichole @2healthnuts says
Such a fun idea!!
Michelle @ A Healthy Mrs says
This is basically my dream party — can’t go wrong with chocolate + wine! 🙂
Andrea says
Disclaimer – I am truly not trying to slam the commenter above, as I gather she was simply asking for tips on how to budget for a dinner party, which is totally a fair question. The comment and follow up comments just reminded me in general of how odd I think it is that some commenters seem to expect that Kath should explain how she can afford this or that, like vacations, dinners out, etc.
To me, that’s quite an intrusive question to ask … even to a “public” blogger who has blogged about budgeting in the past. People can obviously be well off through many different means (e.g. their own success, investments, family money, prize winnings, real estate, whatever) and not have to think meticulously about every expense that they have – they just spend money without really analyzing it. Not saying this is or isn’t the case for Kath – maybe she does fret about spending money or maybe she doesn’t- but either way, I think it’s strange that commenters seem to expect Kath to explain how she affords certain luxuries, or even imply she should feel guilty for being able to afford certain luxuries (like multiple vacations, personal training)…anyways….just wanna say…you go Kath! Keep enjoying life and all it’s luxuries to the fullest.
Crystal says
U took the words right out of my mouth!
I love the idea and want to do this with my friends!!
Emily @ More Than Just Dessert says
This sounds like my kinda get together!! I think this would be a total hit at a bridal shower as well!