Wines of Canada

Each February, the wineries of Niagara-on-the-Lake have an event which tries to match chocolate and wine. The jury is still out on whether or not this is a good match. This year, 25 wineries participated and a $30 passport let you try all 25 pairings over four weekends. The chocolate part was prepared by Willow Cakes and Pastries in Niagara-on-the-Lake. The challenge for the wineries was to pick a wine that would complement the chocolate they were supplied with. How did they do? Well there were a number of excellent matches but a few, in my opinion, were just disappointing.

Let's get the not-so-great pairings out of the way first. One winery was serving a blackberry fruit wine with a dark chocolate chili. The chili pepper flake was just so hot that it overpowered both the chocolate and the wine. It took a while before our mouths cooled down! Another not so memorable matching was a white blended wine with a roasted chocolate-covered brazil nut. I'm not sure what the winery was matching the wine to – was it the light chocolate or the Brazil nut? Either way, it was a poor choice. Maybe I'm “nuts” but the wineries that were trying to match a wine with a chocolate covered nut just didn't work for me. For example, another winery offered a Pinot Noir with a milk chocolate cashew. A third winery served a cabernet sauvignon/merlot blend with a milk chocolate coconut cream. The wines and the chocolates were great served separately but just didn't go well together.

Now for the better pairings! One of our favourites was at Ravine's. Their 2007 Gewurztraminer was matched with chocolate freeze dried strawberries. The chocolate did not overpower the wine and vice-versa.

At Inniskillin Wines they were matching the 2007 Winemakers Series 2 Vineyard Merlot with a dark chocolate espresso topped with a chocolate-covered coffee bean!

Another favourite pairing was at the newly opened PondView Estate Winery. They were serving a 2009 Barrel-Fermented, Barrel-Aged Chardonnay with White Vanilla Bean Chocolate. The caramel, butterscotch and vanilla aromas of the wine complemented the white chocolate. We were greeted at the Ice House with a surprise. They were serving a Vidal Icewine slushie to everyone that came in with a passport. This went down really well after having sampled all the chocolate and wine pairings that day. We then had their 2005 Northern Ice Vidal Icewine with a dark chocolate candied ginger - another great pairing!

After visiting 25 wineries over the four weekends, we've slowly come to the conclusion that dark chocolate is best with a red wine and (some) white wines are best with white chocolate but, as with other things in life, everyone has their own opinion. Check it out for yourself next February when once again the Wineries of Niagara-on-the-Lake will present the “Days of Wine and Chocolate”.

News from the Ontario Vines

Fred Couch