Chocolate layer cake and single vineyard rioja

I’ve always been sceptical about the combination of red wine and chocolate but I came across one in Moscow last week that was simply sensational

I was in there to present a talk on food and wine pairing for the annual Spanish Wine Academy Rioja producer Ramon Bilbao organises for the sommeliers there. It was an impressive event with a high turnout - Russian sommeliers are really keen to learn more about wine.

In the evening we had a dinner at a very smart restaurant called Selection where the chef Ramon Bilbao had brought with them, Ignacio Echapresto of Venta Moncalvillo, cooked a five course meal which we matched with a range of contemporary Spanish wines. The red in question was the 2014 vintage of one of Ramon Bilbao’s top wines called Mirto, a beautifully poised, ripe modern rioja that you’d be more inclined to pair with a main course

The dessert, a light but intensely flavoured chocolate cake was sandwiched with ganache and (I think) a touch of red fruit jelly which chimed in beautifully with the Mirto. Generally a wine needs to be sweeter than a dessert to work but this was just perfect.

I still wouldn’t open a red of this quality just to drink with dessert but if you’re drinking a similar wine with the main course you could happily save a sip for a chocolate cake or even a square of dark chocolate.

Disclosure: I was paid by Ramon Bilbao to present the wines (but not asked to write about them.)

Chocolate and almond cake with auslese riesling

I’ve never been wholly convinced that sweet white wines go with dark chocolate but have had to modify that view after a surprisingly successful pairing at my friends' this weekend.

The wine was a Prinz von Hessen Johannisberger Klaus Auslese Riesling from the warm 2005 vintage but still only 9% - far too light you’d think to go with a rich dark flourless chocolate and almond cake. But strangely it worked due mainly, I think, to the exotic passionfruit and dried mango notes in the 11 year old wine.

Passionfruit, of course, goes pretty well with white chocolate, I just hadn’t expected it to work as well with a dark chocolate dessert though the fact it contained 4 tbsp of rum (yes, four!) may have given it a tropical fruit character for the wine to latch onto.

I still think a lighter, less intense late harvest riesling would have struggled but it’s certainly worth experimenting with ones from a hot vintage.

Unfortunately I can’t find the wine currently on sale in the UK but you can obviously try similar wines.

The recipe - which is not difficult and absolutely delicious - is Claudia Roden’s and is available here.

Three things you need to think about when pairing wine with chocolate

Chocolate marmalade slump cake with Tokaji dessert wine

As we have so much freshly made marmalade in the house I thought I’d make some kind of marmalade pudding as my contribution to the lunch we had with friends yesterday and settled on this chocolate marmalade slump cake from Lucas Hollweg’s marvellous Good Things to Eat.

It’s a deeply chocolatey flourless cake (how much more appealing does that sound than ‘gluten-free’?) that tastes a bit like an orangey brownie so the wine that immediately occurred to me to pair with it was a Tokaji.

We happened to have a bottle of the 2002 Kiralyudvar 6 Puttonyos hanging around which was still wonderfully fresh and with its own marmaladey flavour picked up perfectly on the orange notes of the cake. (I wouldn't match it with something like a marmalade steamed pudding though - there wouldn't be enough contrast.)

You wouldn't of course have to find a Tokaji this old for a similar match - a younger Tokaji would do.

(If you’re wondering what the ‘slump’ bit means the cake depends like a soufflé on eggs for rising and falls back once you take it out of the oven.)

You can read more about Kiralyudvar on the US Rare Wine Co's site. For a full review of Good Things to Eat see here.

Chocolate brownie and Churchill Late Bottled Vintage Port

I was invited to host a food and wine evening by the Bristol Uni Wine Circle last week which I have to say, despite the vast quantities of food and drink consumed, they took impressively seriously.

We kicked off with champagne (Pol Roger 2000), moved on to manzanilla (La Gitana) and tapas, then prawn and monkfish brochettes with leek puree with Avery’s Clare Valley riesling followed by duck pie and mushroom risotto which were paired with a 2006 Chambolle Musigny Aux Echanges from Nicolas Potel and a 2010 Luis Felipe Edwards Reserva Pinot Noir from Chile (the Chambolle went best).

Then - deep breath - apple flan and Sauternes (Bastor Lamontagne 2006) followed by Roquefort, LBV port, Maury and chocolate brownies. All I can say is that I hope the Wine Circle members land themselves a well-paid job. They’ll need it to keep up that lifestyle.

All the pairings went pretty well I thought. I particularly liked the prawns and riesling but the standout combination was the Churchill 2003 LBV port and rich dark chocolate brownie. I’d expected the Maury to be the better match but as it was an very old vintage (1974) the fruit was a bit dried out. The Churchill however was in its prime - beautifully smooth and velvety with a lovely flavour of wild blackberries. It went well with the cheese too. A great way to end a meal - or, rather, marathon blowout.

Most of the wines came from Avery's, I think, except the Churchill LBV which I ironically wrote about last week on the Guardian website in a blog about wine clubs. It's quite widely available though, as I pointed out, prices fluctuate considerably - from £11.80 at slurp.co.uk to £15.50 at Oddbins who also recommend pairing it with dark chocolate - and Fats Waller (part of their new pairing wine and music schtik!)