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Make it a Double (Chocolate)

Posted on November 24, 2013 by lilliebette

Hi Folks!

It has been awhile! The holidays are just around the corner so I thought I would provide you something super sweet to try. And it is extra boozy in case you need to self-medicate while spending quality time with the fam or while watching your favorite team lose. I will be with someone else’s family which is certainly less stressful. In fact, it is incredibly entertaining! I hope you have some fun plans.

I found this pairing’s candy at Candy Village, a store in a local mall. Unlike my August splurge in Indianapolis, this was a fairly reserved grab bag. I bought a variety of chocolates filled with delectables. I however screwed up the purchase so instead of a champagne filled chocolate I got an espresso bean one. Oh well!

The Wine: Layer Cake, Garnacha, 2010

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I had to indulge!

The Candy: Chocolates with the following fillings: Blackberry Rum, Rum, & Espresso Beans

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Undressed

The Dream:

For this pairing, I picked up a Layer Cake Garnacha. Layer Cake has a distinct chocolate flavor and their reds are incredibly rich. Instead of doing opposites, I wanted to draw like-to-like to change my typical approach. Since every chocolate was different, I had to be able to at least match one flavor note from the wine to the chocolate….and so I went with chocolate.

The Reality:

As predicted, the chocolate note comes surging through on the first sip and then smoothes out into a raspberry tang. It is slightly unexpected and almost like biting into a fruit filled chocolate. I love Layer Cake for this experience. It is a fairly affordable wine that truly is its own meal.

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Blackberry Rum:

The chocolate has a firm crunchy shell (and I didn’t even freeze them!) and has little flavor. The liquor is more sweet than sharp. When the wine and liquor filling meet, the wine is very unhappy and sour. But if you sip after you eat the chocolate, it is a double berry delight. Yum.

Rum:

The shell is again fairly flavorless and crunchy. The pure rum is rum alright and I prefer it over the blackberry. But when the rum and liquor meet the wine goes sour. Sipping after eating the chocolate didn’t add anything either.

Espresso Beans:

This was my favorite pair. There is a slight minor throw of flavor when the wine hits the coffee bean but it is mostly pleasant. After eating the chocolate, the coffee-chocolate flavors layer nicely with the wine.

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Well the espresso bean bought on accident edited up being the star player! I will have to return to try more of the offerings though honestly the chocolates weren’t that great. Next pair will return to this blogs pure, candy roots!

 

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A Little High, A Little Mal-Lo

Posted on August 1, 2013 by lilliebette

Hello! I am bouncing back and forth between little vacations and trips so posts have been few and far between. Between work being very busy and my demanding social life (eh…marathoning Daria with my boyfriend), I’ve been a bit negligent. But here I am! I am going to Philly this weekend and I am hoping to find something fun. Philly cheesesteak…candy bar?

I bring to you a very special candy from my childhood, which I outlined in my pervious post. A mallo cup is cheap chocolate stuffed with marshmallow goo wrapped in garish, bright yellow paper. It’s a great time, please go find one, order some on Amazon, search everywhere for one. You won’t soon regeret it*.

*You might regret it

The Wine: I have no idea what that says! All the wines from WonderfulWine.Co are good but I can’t read the labels

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Vaguely Christian?

The Candy: Mallo Cup, they’re gluten free!

Hello Old Friend

Hello Old Friend

The Dream:

Mallo Cups are extremely sweet so I didn’t want to overwhelm it with a sweet white. I grabbed the non-descript wine I had on my shelf from a wine deal I cashed in on sometime ago. It looked like a table red, so I played it pretty safe in this pairing. It tasted like I played it pretty safe too.

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The Reality:

The wine smells a bit like yeast, which isn’t the best sign. But it is tart and smooth and the yeast is not that strong. It’s genuinely pretty nice, but not stellar.

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The mallo cup is well…chocolate and gooey marshmallow. The chocolate isn’t super strong or rich, but the flecks of coconut flow well with the underwhelming red. I def stuffed my face and felt very, very sick afterwards. But that’s always a good sign over here at Uncorked Unwrapped n Co.

The Take Away: I regret not going bold. I think a spicy Malbec would be nice with the Mallo Cup. After all, a strange and gorgeous candy needs a suitable partner.

 

Please tell me if you have eaten a mallo cup below! Or whatever.

 

 

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Try Merlot with Haribo

Posted on July 11, 2013 by lilliebette

Hello!

I am about to go on another vacation. It will be short and sweet, but worth every drop. I have one more post for you before I shove off and it’s a special one.

We paired the variety of Haribo we bought in Istanbul with a red wine, as I promised in my previous pairing with the wine gummies. It actually turned out pretty well! Don’t get me wrong, gummies are still difficult but this rolled alright. It helped that the flavors were more unique. That’s the Haribo way, I guess.

The Wine: mrlt*, Merlot by Wonderful Wine Co

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*I actually have no idea what that says, mrlt is my best guess

 

 

The Candy: Haribo! Afrika, Smurfs, Phantasia

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Yes Haribo. These are ALL candy categories alright.

 

The Dream:

I just wanted to try something different, so I grabbed Merlot which doesn’t get a lot of play on this blog.  It tends to have some bite but isn’t overwhelming and not too fruity. I thought it may go well with the fun fruit flavors. But honestly, I wasn’t sure. I got lucky (or is it SKILL?).

The Reality:

We did this pairing while watching the extended version of Return of the King (…yea) so I didn’t take notes on the wine flavors! This is a huge offense and I apologize. But the wine was quite nice! Let’s break down the pairing by gummy.

Phantasia:

I paired a yellow gummy that was alligator-shaped and had white stuff on the back. Predictably, it tasted like lemon but the white stuff on the back gave it a strange stale flavor. It wasn’t altogether unpleasant, just strange. Paired? Not so great. Lemon is just never great with wine in my experience. The wine goes tart and gets very harsh. This particular pairing was not successful.

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Gator! Smurf! ….Gator?

 

The Smurfs:

I don’t know why I bought these, because I hate the Smurfs. I find them annoying and frankly suspicions. But they paired really well. They had a nice, tart blueberry flavor. It is uniquely blueberry and not the vague Berry that so many gummies go for. The wine stays smooth and tastes quite good. Would I gobble and drink til I can’t see straight? Maybe not, but it doesn’t upset me either.

Afrika!:

This citrusy gatorhead-shaped gummy actually stays quite smooth. The Merlot is crisp and fresh. Overall, a lovely combination.

The Take Away: Gummy pairings have found a new savior, and her name is Red Wine. Yeah that savior is a HER, sorry fellas.

 

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Chew, Chew, Fail

Posted on June 9, 2013 by lilliebette

In a few days readers, I will be sipping Turkish coffee in well…Turkey! So there won’t be posts for a little bit due to the travel and such. I will try to throw a pic or two your way while I am there. And yes, Mommas reading this blog / friends, I WILL be safe. My excess caution is legendary.

Before I ship off, I have another special post with candy from overseas! (Oh, there will be Turkish candy, you know it). My friend brought me these wine gummies from England. They are pretty nutty, just look at the back of the bag.

Chew Chew CHEW

Chew Chew CHEW

It’s a gummy, so yes, I went with a white. It wasn’t incredible, so I am committed to switching it up next time. Mark my words readers, Liz is going to switch.it.up.

Candy: Maynards Wine Gums

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A Colorful Assortment

A Colorful Assortment

Wine: Cupcake Wine, Angel Food

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The Dream:

Sigh. I am bored with my approach to gummy-wine pairings. My friend told me these gummies were fruity but a bit more intense. It is a richer flavor, so she said. I wanted a wine that wasn’t too sweet and not too dry. I chose this Cupcake wine because I was relatively unfamiliar. It is a table white, so it felt easy and not too risky.

The Reality:

The wine has a subtle sweetness with a delightful hint of vanilla. There is a bite like Chardonnay but it is smooth and goes down easy. The flavors all combine in the right way to make it a wine that’s worth sipping on a hot summer day. I will be buying it later this summer.

Took this photo at 8. Summer is here!

Took this photo at 8. Summer is here!

The flavor breakdown:

First of all, the gummy flavors don’t pair exactly with a wine flavor. By not exactly, I mean they don’t pair with wine at all.

Orange: The sweet orange flavor reminds me of Skittles. After the orange gummy, the wine loses the sweetness and the vanilla flavor jumps ship.

Dark Purple: This gummy is rich and not the normal grape flavor. It is nuanced and very tasty. But the wine goes dry although there’s a bit of berry twist.

Yellow: This flavor is a lot like Skittles yellow, pretty standard. The smooth wine goes down well with this pair. It maintains its richness.

Green:Lime flavor with nothing that is interesting.

The Takeaway:

A good person admits when they are wrong. I am done with the white wine approach for gummies. There will be a switch up, mark my words.

 

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Bacchus

Posted on May 18, 2013 by lilliebette

Hey all

Look at this candle from the find retailers of the Etsy shop Witch City Wicks

It smells warm and peppery. This candle company comes strongly recommended.

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Blueberry Blues

Posted on May 11, 2013 by lilliebette

Hello!

Do you notice anything different? Well? It’s ok if you don’t but…let me just point it out.

I now own this domain name! Now it is even easier to find this little home of mine. You should expect a new look too in the coming weeks with a few twists and maybe some boxes where you can type things. I enjoy this blog a lot, so I want to work on its look. It’s time for a spring makeover anyway.

I don’t know why I am talking about spring…it was 80 degrees yesterday, so it is practically summer. Summer can be a rough time, depending on where you live. In DC, it is horrible. The hot air clouds your judgement and your skin oozes sweat and you can’t think. The only relief is a cool white wine and the sweet berries that grow this time of year. This pairing is dedicated to inevitable heat and all the sweaty, sweet things that come with it.

The Candy: Blueberry Licorice, Panda

Blueberry Panda

 

The Wine: Paradise Spring, Sommet Blanc, 2011

IMG_1506The Dream:

This wine is bubbly and I imagined how delicious frozen berries would be plopped in the glass. When I saw the blueberry licorice, I figured it was an obvious choice. A crisp wine, not overly sweet, would benefit from the tart blueberry. Granted, I was dealing with candy and not blueberries so there was some risk involved.

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The Reality:

I tried the licorice first and was hit by the soft, grainy texture. The blueberry flavor did not overwhelm and I was surprised by the touch of anise at the end. The candy works, but I knew straight off this was going to be a challenge. I had imagined something more sweet andI honestly did not think there would be an anise flavor. Even though it said licorice, I thought they would make it like strawberry licorice and not have any anise.

The wine has a bouquet of crisp, clean Macintosh apples. The bubbling, light wine dances on your tongue with the subtle apple flavor. I highly recommend this wine. It’s pricier, but it is one of my favorites.

I took a sip with a piece of licorice still in my mouth and didn’t notice any relationship. It was not bad, but it wasn’t really good. It just was. Sam really liked it, so his taste buds clearly have a different opinion. That’s the cool thing about tastebuds. Even when I think I am wrong…to someone..I could be right.

Take Away: Gummy textured candy continues to elude me…someday…

 

 

 

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Classy Bunny

Posted on April 21, 2013 by lilliebette

I just got this excellent print! Do you like it? As you may know, I’m a proud bunny owner. This classy bun just may be my mascot. Once I’m on my computer I will provide a link to the artist.

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All About Karou

Posted on April 11, 2013 by lilliebette

Hello!

Cats. Do you like cats? If not, this may not be the post for you, because that’s kind of the theme. I bought a cat recently and yes, she took a lot of my money and my heart too. I am pretty smitten and of course I will show you a picture. Her name is Karou she’s sweet as a button.

Oh Hello. Rub my belly?

Oh Hello. Rub my belly?

The jump off point for the pairing was the Ecuadorian cranberry chocolate bar that my cousin gave me when I saw her play at the National Cathedral. I would link you to her website but you could probably find me through that and well, we’d never fall out of our drunken stupor. Suffice it to say she’s really talented. I mean, she played St. John’s Passion at the National Cathedral right?

I felt like one chocolate bar wasn’t enough, so I added Ghiradelli raspberry chocolate. Cranberry and raspberry work well together since they are both tart and sweet. And the wine..

But I don’t think I will say anymore…it’s a surprise…

The Wine: Gatao, Vinho Verde

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The Candy: Pacari Organic Chocolate, Cranberry & Ghiradelli Raspberry Chocolate Squares

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The Dream:

When I got the cranberry chocolate, I imagined frozen cranberries in a nice cool white wine. I could taste the cranberry bursting in my mouth and combining with a crisp chardonnay or pinot blanc.

But I couldn’t decide while I was at the market! I was fresh off the cat purchase and feeling pretty frisky, so I grabbed the cat wine thinking…well, this will be terrible.

I was wrong.

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The Reality:

The wine is sweet, dry and slightly tart with bubbles that pop on your tongue. It is a nice wine and I am delighted it is so cheap.

The chocolate is rich with a chewy center of cranberry. It makes the wine soft and a bit sweeter but in a good way. The flavor and integrity of the wine isn’t dominated by the chocolate.

The raspberry chocolate squares area bit different. The wine gets more tart but it isn’t as crisp. I don’t like it quite as much.

The Take Away:

Cranberry chocolate with an ideal white is delicious and I can recommend it without any hesitations. It’s been awhile since I could give two thumbs up, but I guess Karou is my lucky charm.

 

My next post won’t be a pairing..something a bit different! I am just full of surprises aren’t I?

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Sip the Rainbow

Posted on March 14, 2013 by lilliebette

Hello All!

I hope you are having a wonderful March with Spring-ish weather. Do you have St. Patrick’s Day plans? If candy & wine are included, maybe you should check out these two posts for great ideas! 

This post is a bit more colorful. I started with the wine, a charming shiraz (wait til you see the bottle), as the inspiration. Fun, flirty, and fruity, Shiraz can be paired with many candies. Though chocolate was tempting, I took a dive and chose the rainbow charm of Skittles. Although a candy like Skittles is a one way ticket to tummy-ache town, I figured the risk was worth the pain.

The Wine: Snake Charmer, Shiraz 2010 (Australian…the entire brand has fun labels!)

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Hey….Snakey Lady! (C’mon you were expecting that)

The Candy: Skittles

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The Dream:

I was not 100% confident in this pairing, but I went with that good ole gut feeling. Something about the texture and flavor of a handful of Skittles matched with a rich Shiraz appealed to me. Plus each Skittle has its own flavor, which I always find very fun when pairing…although it is labor intensive.

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The Reality:

The wine is light and tart with an underlying rich flavor. There is a bouquet of strawberry. Let’s break it down by flavor.

Lime:

Don’t like this combo because the lime flavor thins out the wine a bit

Cherry:

The taste of the cherry is rich and round. I think it goes well with the light and tart flavor of wine.

Orange:

Mmm..I don’t know why I like the orange-berry flavor of this combo but I do. It tastes a bit cheap and overwhelming but dang, it is tasty.

Grape:

YUCK not good very bitter

Lemon:

The lemon adds a little flavor, but there’s not much else to note.

 

Either way, yum! I definitely recommend the wine. I look forward to checking the other types. Go Australia!

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A Minty Xmas and a Malbec New Year!

Posted on December 25, 2012 by lilliebette

Merry Christmas! I hope you all have a wonderful holiday / winter break. Whether your opening presents or cursing capitalism, I wish you the merriest of days. If you want to be EXTRA merry, you can try out the pairing below. I’m writing this on December 22d, but it should post ont the 25th. I am pretty proud of myself for being so organized. Although I mostly have this done because we delayed traveling by a day…

This turned out to be very tasty and an excellent choice. I hope you’ll try it. You may not being able to buy wine today but there’s always Boxing Day!

The Candy: Candy Cane Hershey’s Kisses & Mint Hershey’s Kisses

 

A Very Mmminty Christmas

A Very Mmminty Christmas

The Wine: Agua de Piedra, Malbec 2011

Malbec, It has Been Too Long

Malbec, It has been Too Long

The Dream:

As you may recall, we have tusseled with mint candy in the past. The pervious success worked with a port, since it is so heavy and fruity. The rich heavy flavor washes away the mint. Otherwise, the mint will dominate the wine’s flavor. It is just yucky.

Merry Merry

Merry Merry

But I didn’t want to repeat my success(especially because I can’t afford Port at the moment), so I chose the other heavy wine I adore: Malbec. My favorite type of Malbec is rich and juicy. I liken it to eating a delicious chocolate cake. Occasionally you get a weaker one and that would not work with a mint pairing. I tried my luck on this bottle. I had tried the other Malbec’s in the store (surprise surprise), so I moved on to something new. It turned out to be a pleasant surprise.

The Reality:

The wine is perfect-it is smooth and rich with hints of blackberry. There is a slight sweetness that fills the mouth. It dominates the senses, which is a good sign for our pairing. It reminds me very much of the El Presidente that succeeded in the last mint pairing.

The candy cane Hershey’s Kiss is not especially strong. It’s minty, but mostly sweet.  With a sip of wine, the peppermint remains but wine holds its ground. I credit this to the white chocolate which balances the intensity of the peppermint. Even the bits of candy cane sprinkled in the kiss feel faint when surrounded by this white gold.

The mint hershey kiss is more of a challenge since its entire center is bright green with mint. The Malbec and the mint mix nicely, with the wine maintaining its flavor. The mint remains strong, but since the wine is so heavy and rich it isn’t dominated. They flavors melt into each other.

The Take Away: Both Port and a rich Malbec pair well with mint! See, we are learning!

~Happy Holidays~

 

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