Wine and chocolate is not always easy to pair but when you get it right, it can be a match made in heaven. At Boat O'Craigo, we’re pretty excited to welcome our reinvented Wine and Chocolate Flight in cellar door. In collaboration with chocolate makers Cuvée Chocolates, we’ve paired half pours of five of our delicious wines, alongside five incredible chocolates, as well as a taste of our housemade brownie.
We highly recommend sampling this decadent tasting experience next time you visit us in the Yarra Valley. Flights available Thursday to Monday, 10.00am until 5.00pm, bookings recommended.
To tempt your taste buds in the meantime we’ve put together this guide to pairing chocolate and wine at home this Spring season.
OUR FAVOURTIE WINE AND CHOCOLATE PAIRINGS
Generally as a rule Pinots are softer, lighter tannic wines so they’re a good match with milk chocolate which is less bitter. Shiraz on the other hand is a more tannic wine, so it matches very well with dark chocolate. Here are some of our favourite wine and chocolate pairings for the ultimate indulgence to try at home.
Boat O'Craigo Black Spur Chardonnaypaired withCuvée Bianco 30% White Chocolate
This wine displays beautiful mineral elements, with fresh citrus, honeysuckle, and hazelnut overtones, with a long, textural finish. It pairs beautifully with the soft creaminess of the Bianco.A white chocolate intended to please even the fiercest dark chocolate connoisseur. With single origin Ecuadorian cocoa butter married to pure Australian milk and a vanilla bean extraordinaire… It’s the Tongan vanilla that lends it an ever so slight nuttiness and combined with the nuances of cocoa butter it just sings.
Buy our Black Spur Chardonnayhere.
Boat O'Craigo Black Spur Pinot Noirpaired withCuvée Soleo 42% Milk Chocolate
An elegant cool climate Pinot Noir, the generous mouthfeel has flavours of raspberry, dark cherry and savoury spice, with a long silky finish, makes a perfect pairing withCuvée Soleo 42% Milk Chocolate.It begins with carefully selected cocoa from the Solomon Islands, roasted and conched meticulously under the watchful eyes of our chocolate makers, with hints of brioche, cinnamon and lightly toasted oak making it appear somewhat Christmassy.
Buy our 2021 Black Spur Pinot Noirhere.
Boat O'Craigo Kincardine Grenachepaired withCuvée Blanc de Caramel 42% Caramelised Chocolate (with Sea Salt)
Bright ruby in colour, our Grenache is a complex wine with vibrant colour, showing flavours of rapberry, blood orange and spice, with a fresh and lively finish. Paired with the subtle salted caramelised chocolate,the tale of decadence meeting pure Australian milk - caramelised painstakingly by hand, creating a caramel ever so delicate and subtle. Somewhat reminiscing of a beurre noisette - Blanc de Caramel is a chocolate that is truly different and simply refuses to be put in a genre.
Buy our 2021 Kincardine Grenachehere.
Boat O'Craigo Black Cameron Shirazpaired withCuvée Amphora 65% Dark Chocolate
Our luscious Shiraz is a complex wine, deep red in colour, this wine has a lively taste of juicy red berry fruits, plum and spice, along with subtle chocolate and savoury characters from maturing in oak.
The sensoryjourney, with flavours of macerated summer berries and transitioning into a rum raisin experience that is so closely followed by its subtle chocolatey notes, this pairing of Shiraz with the gentle bitterness of the 65% dark chocolate is the highlight of the wine and chocolate flight.
Buy our 2021 Black Cameron Shirazhere.
Boat O'Craigo Sparkling Shirazpaired withCuvée Grand Cru 75% Dark Chocolate
Our Sparkling Shiraz is deep red in colour, with a fine bead that dances in the mouth, and an alluring bouquet of blackberry, cherry and spice. It's the darkest and most bitter of the chocolates, but paired with the gentle sweetest in the dried fruit flavours of the Sparkling Shiraz, it's a spectacular pairing.There is lots of cherry and red plum breaking through the slight bitterness of the cocoa, finished by a hint of acidity in the back palate which tends to linger around for a bit. Perfect for the chocoholic preferring less sweetness and more cocoa.
Buy our Sparkling Shirazhere.
TIPS FOR TASTING WINE AND CHOCOLATE
1. Prepare Yourself
Ensure the chocolate is at room temperature; never refrigerate chocolate unless in a humidity controlled wine fridge. Pour the wine and let it breathe a little prior to tasting, the contact with the oxygen will help it unfold its full potential.
2. Taste the Wine
If possible use a large glass, swirl the wine, put your nose to the glass and take in its aromas. Have a small sip, close your eyes and try to memorise everything you can taste and in what order. Cleanse your palate with a glass of water between each wine.
3. Taste the Chocolate
Break of a bite sized piece of chocolate and take in its fragrance. A darker chocolate should smell slightly acidic, while milk chocolate has a sweeter caramel undertones. Place the chocolate on your tongue and close your mouth, don’t chew it but let the chocolate melt for a moment.
4. Back to the Wine
Taste the wine again, swirl it, and smell it. Has the wine changed? Has the chocolate? Take note of how the taste structure of wine and chocolate are complementing each other. Repeat it and indulge.
Keen tro try the pairings for yourself. Explore all our Boat O'Craigo wineshere. Cuvée Chocolates can be purchased via the merchandise page on our websitehere.
