I was recently invited to attend a very special wine tasting event at Thornton Winery, located in the breathtaking Temecula Valley Wine Country. The warm and welcoming Thornton family had a new series of wines that they were unveiling and some of us lucky press writers were included in the fun. I say "fun" because what else could you possibly have when combining chocolate with wine?
I am sure the picture you have is of all of us lazy travel writers sitting around sipping wine and getting plump on chocolate. That is not what happened at all. First of all, you must understand that the chocolate is actually in the wine, not necessarily paired with it. As a matter of fact you would be amazed at what you can pair with chocolate wine. It is not just for dessert.
Our first tasting was Creme De Cocoa, the NEW Chocolate Lover's Wine. This wine is smooth and creamy and can be served chilled, on the rocks, or traditionally, right out of the bottle. This wine was hands down my favorite and the one I hope to see in my Easter basket instead of the chocolate bunny. I was very surprised when Thornton Winery's very own Chef Steve Pickell paired this yummy wine with a Moroccan tomato jam and a very dry, aged Jack cheese. I was even more surprised at how much I liked it together. This was a perfect example of why we must keep an open mind and leave some things to the experts.
Our next taste was of The Chocolate Lover's Wine. This is a deep red wine with hints of black cherry and dark chocolate. As you swirl the wine around in the glass, you can smell the sweet aroma of chocolate as though you were in a bakery. This is a more traditional style of wine, not at all creamy like the first one we tasted, but still very appetizing if you enjoy the sweeter wines. Chef Pickell paired this wine with a small tasting of smoked duck breast in his very own flavorful style. Again, I was totally amazed at how well these flavors all came together perfectly.
Our third taste was called Dark Chocolate or "Coco Rosso". I feel this wine is for a more dinstinguished palatte than mine. It is very close to a tradtional deep red wine with a hint of dark chocolate. Neither of which are my favorites, but I did notice many of my fellow tasters were quite impressed. Along with this dark chocolate wine, Chef Pickell served an Oaxacan braised short rib that literally melted in your mouth. Here is when I really appreciated his talent for pairing because the full flavors of the short rib really smoothed out the sharpness I found in the wine. Together they are quite the pair!
Our last but certainly not least wine of the day was the Chocolate Strawberry. This is a bright, refreshing wine, much lighter than the others. While still tasting the cocoa, you also experience the freshness of strawberries. I believe this will make a perfect summer dessert wine for even the most finicky of wine snobs. I must not be too far off with my opinion because our chef paired this wine with a coconut almond torte drizzled with white chocolate and raspberry cream. It really was a great ending to a great tasting.
For those of you that are feeling some pangs of thirst for chocolate wine and maybe some of the decadent food they were paired with, you can visit Thornton Winery and have a similar experience in their Champagne Lounge. They encourage a full tasting experience by offering specially paired food with their wine flights. John Thornton, owner of Thornton Winery, when asked which foods paired best with these wines, answered "All of them".
John Thornton, along with Chef Steve Pickell, and Steve Thornton, President of Thornton Winery were our three gracious hosts for our day of chocolate wine tastings. I have to say that as upscale and "old world" as Thornton Winery appears, they are just as down to earth and warm and welcoming as family.
So, I highly recommend to all my savvy readers to drop by and meet the Thornton family and taste their fine selections of wines. Don't forget to pick up some Creme De Cocoa for the Easter basket.
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