While Champagne and chocolates may sound like a romantic pairing, their respective dry and sweet flavors don't necessarily make the best partners. It may surprise you to learn that sweet wines are a much better match for your sweets. Today I'd like to share my favorite with you.
There is perhaps no better partner to chocolate than Banyuls, a fortified ruby-red dessert wine from the Roussillon region in the South of France (French Catalonia). Its style is often compared with that of a Port. Unlike its Portuguese counterpart, however, Banyuls is made from Grenache Noir, or red Grenache, a dominant grape in Southern Rhône wines. With light fortification from a clear grape spirit, the fermentation is halted prematurely—a process known as mutage—to allow the wine to retain its natural sweetness. Because of this, Banyuls falls under the rubric of vins doux naturels (VDN), or "naturally sweet wines." Having aromas of blackberry jam and hints of vanilla, Banyuls shares the sweetness of a Port, but does so with softer tannins. It's a rich, silky wine with a spicy finish that pairs beautifully with chocolate truffles.
Les Clos de Paulilles Banyuls Rimage has become Valentine's Day tradition for me. (Rimage, incidentally, is a Catalan word meaning vintage.) The wine is aged a minimum of two years in the bottle to yield considerable depth. It's not only perfect with chocolates, but also as a segue to the calorie-burning dessert that typically follows.
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