Paula's Easter wines of the week
By Paula Goddard - 07/04/2009
Easter means eggs - chocolate eggs. And there's lots out there in the shops at the moment: dark chocolate eggs, milk chocolate eggs, eggs filled with Smarties and even chocolate eggs filled with liqueur chocolates. But come the final egg count this Sunday there will be two important questions to answer: "Which one to unwrap first?", and "What wine will match all that chocolate?".
Well - that's a difficult one. Wine isn't a natural match to chocolate. Its mouth-coating intenseness can overwhelm many wines, and once the tongue has tasted anything really sweet it's difficult for it to identify subtler fruity flavours, like those found in wine. And should you prefer your eggs made from dark chocolate then finding a suitable match will be all the harder – choose unwisely and both wine and chocolate will clash leaving behind an unpleasant metallic taste.
But there are wines that elevate both food and drink to the next level of taste experience.
Vintage port and Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon harmonise wonderfully with dark chocolate to produce deep spicy notes. While milk chocolate reduces the acidity of oaked whites making the resulting blend taste smooth and yoghurty.
Truffle and liqueur fillings need matching with equally rich wines: try Sherry, Marsala and Madeira. With a higher alcohol content than normal, these Mediterranean wines taste naturally sweet and so your palate will taste both wine and chocolate equally well.
£5.99 and under
There are a few fruity, slurpable wines among the forgettable masses.
Arrogant Frog Vins De Pays Ribet Red, £5.33 (when bought as 3 bottles, single bottle price £7.99) Thresher and Wine Rack www.winerack.co.uk. This blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot is the perfect match to high cocoa-content dark chocolate Easter eggs. Blackcurrant with a hint of cherry fruit pastille flavours will smooth out the bitterness from the 70% cocoa chocolate, while the slightly earthy and cocoa after-taste will add an extra dimension to the enjoyable union.
Naudin Tiercin French White Burgundy, £7.49 Wine Rack www.winerack.co.uk (down from £14.99 until April 28th).
When you drink the contents of a bottle labelled 'white Burgundy' you'll be enjoying wine made with the Chardonnay grape. Lucious creamy aromas of hawthorn blossom and hazelnuts match the candied barley-twist flavours. Not an obvious chocolate matching choice, but the wine's rich flavours will stand up to milk chocolate and nut filled fillings.
Costs a bit more, but tastes great
Sometimes a bottle of wine tastes so fa it's still a bargain whatever it costs.
Morrison The Best Chilean Carmenère Reserve, £6.69 Morrisons www.morrisons.co.uk.
I recommended this wine for Mother's Day. And it's so good it needs recommending again. A superbly refined red for under £7. Aromas of seaweed and tar light up memories of walking down Hasting's shingle beach behind the tarred fishermen's huts. Its flavours are just as enjoyable: blackcurrant and bramble jelly with a hint of cocoa at the end.
Marananga Dam Australian Old Vines Grenache Shiraz Mourvèdre, £7.49 Marks and Spencer www.marksandspencer.com (down from £8.99 a bottle)
Not only is the name a bit of a mouthful, so is the wine. Blackcurrant jam filled chocolate sponge flavours matched with almost Sherry levels of alcohol (a whopping 14.5%, but that's pretty normal these days with Ausssie wines) means it'll go down nicely with chocolate. Any sort of chocolate. Chocolate Easter eggs, chocolate Hob Nobs, squares of chocolate...
Villa Maria New Zealand Private Bin Pinot Noir, £9.99 Tesco www.tesco.com, £10.99 Sainsbury's www.sainsburys.com/groceries.
Expensive, but worth it. A high alcoholic level of 13.5%, along with flavours of Black Forest gateaux means this unusual New Zealand red is the perfect match to liqueur chocs. During any breaks in chocolate munching just sit, sniff and enjoy the wine's rich fruity aromas of cherries, blackcurrants and under-ripe blackberries.
Reyneke South African Organic Sauvignon Blanc, £9.99 (when you buy 2 bottles, single bottle price £12.49) Majestic www.majestic.co.uk
Rich floral aromas and oaky, buttery flavours will match milk and white chocolate as well as plain cakes and biscuits. Expensive but slurpable.
If you want to tell Paula about a bargain bottle spotted at the supermarket or off-licence then contact her via jayne.warren@maturetimes.co.uk or directly through her website link below.