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Finding a good match between chocolate and wine: that is the very interesting challenge thrown down by Clotilde for the 13th edition of the well-known Wine Blogging Wednesday. Before last June, the solution was very easy for me: a good chocolate, a good coffee and that’s it! I was always hearing oenologists talking about how difficult it is to find a good match thinking: if they’re having trouble, I’m fine with my coffee.
Then, last June, in the beautiful town of Bordeaux, I was very lucky to attend a tasting of liquorish wines from Aquitaine and Kaoka chocolate from Ecuador, organized by Slow Food and hosted by Segolène and Patrick during the famous 2005 Vinexpo fair. Since then, I changed my mind. First, because I tasted original and delicious new wines; then, because I learnt that it’s better to hold the glass by the bottom in order not to reheat it, that you shouldn’t finish your glass, and, the most important, there is way to match wine and chocolate in a very pleasant way. You’ll find all the information on that chocolate and wine tasting on Segolène’s blog or on the Slow Food blog.
For today’s Wine Blogging Wednesday, the rule given by Clotilde was very simple: find a match between a chocolate cake and a wine and talk about it..
For the chocolate cake, I chose to bake chocolate « mini financiers » which I had already made for this party. The chocolate mini financier recipe is adapted from Jean Paul Hevin’s recipe.
For the wine, after asking Patrick Chazallet, I chose one of the wines we had during the Slow Food Wine tasting. The wine is called Maydie (chateau Maydie) and comes from Domaine Laplace located in the South West of France. It’s a liquorish wine and the grape is “Tannat” and I found it amazing with chocolate.
You’ll find some information on this wine here and here.
Last night, after the meal, we were ready to start. The little financiers are perfect for a tasting and I made a lot of them. We started by looking at the wine in the glass: it has a very nice red colour, 
very deep and the liquid is quite thick on the glass. When we first smelt the wine, the first words that came to my mind were “ripe fruits”. David had a little trouble finding the words to describe the taste, but found it was quite similar to port. Gabrielle (don’t worry, she didn’t drink any) was more precise and told us “it smells of blackberries” (no doubt she has a pretty good nose, our little girl). Writing this post, I realise how hard it is to express tasting with words. I’ll just say that I really enjoyed this wine with the little financiers. I found the wine “generous” and most of all the taste of chocolate does not overpower the wine and vice versa.
I still have a full bottle of it and I’m wondering with who(m) we’ll open it.
Minis financiers au chocolat
I’m not going to translate this recipe. If you need any help, feel free to send me a mail I’ll help you.
Pour environ 50 mini financiers
150 g de crème liquide.
150 g de très bon chocolat noir
40 g de farine
60 g de sucre glace
40 g de poudre d’amandes
60 g de beurre
110 g de blanc d’œufs, soit environ 3 blancs
½ cuil. à café de levure chimique.
1 pincée de sel
Préchauffez votre four sur 180°C.
Faites chauffez la crème dans une casserole sur feu doux. Au premier bouillonnement retirez la casserole du feu, mettez le chocolat noir coupé en morceaux et remuez jusqu’à ce que tout le chocolat soit fondu.
Faites fondre le beurre dans une casserole sur feu doux.
Laissez chauffer, jusqu’à ce que le beurre dégage une légère odeur de noisettes et versez dans un bol en verre ou en porcelaine afin de le refroidir.
Dans un grand bol, mélangez la farine, la levure, le sel, le sucre et la poudre d’amande.
Ajoutez les blancs d’œufs et mélangez bien à l’aide d’un fouet.
Ajoutez ensuite le beurre refroidi et mélangez.
Ajoutez le mélange chocolat crème et mélangez à nouveau.
Mettez dans les moules à mini financiers ou mini tartelettes et enfournez pour environ 10 minutes.
I bought this wine in Lafayette Gourmet in Paris. You can also buy it on line here, but it's a little bit more expensive.
