Hey there!
I did this pairing a week ago and I thought I could get it posted by Monday. But it turns out I have a job as well as a blog and it just didn’t happen last week. I hope you forgive me.
To make up for my absence, I have an excellent pairing for you. As you may remember, I paired it with the premier of True Blood. With the second episode airing tonight, I am not too off base. If you don’t know the show, that’s ok because watching it is not a prerequisite for enjoying this pairing.
I like the idea of TV pairings because TV and wine already go well together. Add some candy in the mix and you have an excellent night. As some of you may remember, I blogged during the season premier of Mad Men. Your next TV pair will most likely be for Breaking Bad (rock candy, anyone?).
Hopefully you’ll catch this post before the next episode of True Blood. If not, we have a whole, bloody season ahead of us.
The Wine: Cardinal Zin, Zinfadel, 2010 California
Last season featured some religious figures behaving very badly…the wine was a natural choice.
The Candies: Godiva: Milk Chocolate Dipped Strawberries; Ghiradelli Dark Chocolate Raspberry
For a show about vamps, having a candy with a red filling was a natural choice.
The Dream:
The chocolate with red filling of any variety was the basis for this pairing. The “bloody” factor. Originally, I wanted chocolate covered cherries but I couldn’t find them (I only looked two places–oops). That little accident ended up being a happy one. In terms of wine, a zinfadel instantly came to mind. It’s fruity with a deep, strong flavored while maintaining a lighter quality. Boyfriend’s family love zin so I know it fairly well. The time was up for ignoring my zin.
Obviously, this glass is amazing.
The Reality:
There a moments when I’m doing this blog where I am filled with false confidence. I think, wow, I’m super good at this. I had one of these moments with this pairing. I was with people I just met, so having this work felt really good.
The zin has a light sweetness and a slight tang. It does not go down smoothly, but it’s full, rich flavor makes up for it. Some wines are meals unto themselves whereas others are a perfect pairing wine. This wine was the later. It’s a great summer wine, light while still flavorful.
The chocolate is pretty much what you would expect. I need to start doing some edgy candy, but I put the shopping off so Ghiradelli and Godiva it is. The dark chocolate I liked the best, since it’s so rich and the raspberry is a tangy surprise. It pairs really well with the wine since each has a very simple pallet and they compliment each other. The rich chocolate with the tangy center compliments the full flavored wine. Since the chocolate isn’t very sweet, I can still enjoy the sweetness of the zin.
The Godiva I don’t like very much since it is milk chocolate. I just don’t like milk chocolate. It feels too sweet and the strawberries are rather meager. I hate to pair milk chocolate since I already dislike it, but I wanted to provide variety. It certainly isn’t terrible and a friend enjoyed the pairing. I think the wine had such full flavor that it overpowered the meager milk chocolate.
I will be going on a real vacation soon. I can’t promise a pairing in the near future, since I’ll be prepping for going away and then I’ll be gone. I’ll also be away from the Internet. I’ll try to scrounge something up, but no promises.
Uncorked, Unwrapped 