Water Wine Travel™

We had tickets to the NYC Food and Wine Festival’s Godiva chocolate and wine tasting last weekend.  The event featured Anthony Giglio, an author, sommelier and renowned wine columnist.  He was joined by  David Funaro, who is a Godiva chef chocolatier.  David’s job at Godiva is to develop new chocolate and pastry products for Japan and Pacific Rim markets. When I read this in my program, my mouth dropped open. “Why had I been pre-med at college?”  I could have gone to culinary school and learned how to eat make chocolate desserts for a living.  Who knew?

The chocolate and wine tasting was held at Astor Center in lower Manhattan.  We arrived early and were treated to a “free” French lounge with complimentary wine, cognac and hors d’oeuvres.  The best part was watching some old geezer hit on one of the young, pretty servers.  She was so unnerved, I heard her saying to herself, “Smile, keep smiling.”  What a jerk.

The tasting started exactly at 2 pm and ended at 3 pm.  We tasted six wines and six different types of Godiva chocolate. My only complaint is that I felt a bit rushed.  Our tasting room held over 100 persons, six persons to a table.  We entered the room to find all our wines samples and chocolates ready.

We tasted the following wines and chocolates, separately, then in various combinations.

1.  Bernardus Monterey County Chardonnay 2008

2.  Ferrari-Carano Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2007

3.  Cinzano Brachetto d’Acqui DOCG NV

4.  Pellegrino Sweet Marsala NV

5.  Justino’s Fine Rich 3 Year Old Madeira NV

6.  Cockburn Fine Ruby Porto NV

1.  Milk Chocolate

2.  Milk Chocolate with Salted Caramel (loved the combo of the sweet cacao and salt)

3.  Extra Creamy Milk Chocolate with Hazelnut

4.  52% Dark Chocolate with Raspberry

5.  72% Dark Chocolate

6.  72% Dark  Chocolate with Almonds

Our favorite chocolate and wine combinations –  The Pellegrino Sweet Marsala NV with either the Milk Chocolate or the Extra Creamy Milk Chocolate with Hazelnut.  Justino’s Fine Rich 3 Year Old Madeira NV and Milk Chocolate  with Salted Caramel.  Cockburn Fine Ruby Porto NV with Milk Chocolate with Salted Caramel or 52% Dark Chocolate with Raspberry.   We enjoyed the chardonnay with the  Milk chocolate.  The Cabernet Sauvignon was a lovely compliment to the  72% Dark Chocolate  (but I hated it with the Milk Chocolate).  We were surprised that the sweeter wines (#4,#5, #6 ) paired well with our chocolates.

Anthony and David also gave us some great tips:

• Don’t pair champagne with chocolate (I know that’s like saying don’t pair lingerie with sex) – but the acid in the champagne reacts poorly with chocolate.
• Avoid biting the chocolate. First take a sip of wine. Then take a piece of chocolate and let the heat from your tongue melt it. Follow with another sip of wine.
• Trust your palate.  If it tastes good – it is good.

Next year, the New York City Wine and Food  Festival will be  held September 29-October 2, 2011.  Tickets for the  best events sell out early!