Simply a match made in heaven

Wine pairing with sweets

WINE buffs might - rightly so - baulk at the idea of any comparisons being drawn between wine and cocktails but one wonders what they have to say about enjoying it in the accompaniment of chocolate or ice cream.

For a long time now, the trend among brandy connoisseurs has been to indulge themselves by pairing fine brandies with chocolate. Needless to say, this pairing is undoubtedly a match made in heaven.

There is perhaps no word to describe the sublime sensation of a chocolate melting in the brandy fumes in one's mouth.

But what about chocolate with wine? Well, some enterprising winemakers and chefs have been working on this idea for some time.

I suppose their job - in some cases - has been made easier by the emergence of "coffee-style" Pinotages like Cafe Culture, Barista, Vrede and Lust and Diemerfontein.

I once tried a dark chocolate with Cafe Culture. The result... mmmm not too bad. The whole experience calls for one to put one's inhibitions aside and take the plunge.

With Easter around the corner, online magazine winemag.co.za has published a few combinations for wine and chocolate lovers to try.

It suggests that one should swig the wine first, then place the chocolate in the mouth, and then drink the wine again.

Another tip from the magazine is to "match lighter, more flavoured chocolates with lighter-bodied wines; and match stronger chocolate with more full-bodied wines". It suggests - among several examples- enjoy-ing Tokara Zondernaam Chardonnay 2010 with white chocolate; and Meerkat Pinotage 2009, Schalk Burger and Sons with dark Chocolate.

Well, if you're very particular about wine enjoyment, the last combination is Spier Signature Shiraz with hot cross buns.

As if that is not enough, then comes another more mindboggling combination - that of ice cream and wine.

As far as I remember, ice cream pairs well with fortified wine such as Muscadel.

But the family-run estate of Clos Malverne have hit on the idea of ice cream and wine tastings - much to the delight of visitors to their Devon Valley farm, near Stellenbosch.

"Yes ice cream and wine pairing does sound a little strange, especially now that the mercury drops. But what better way to perk the senses than with a scoop of homemade ice cream matched with a sip of one of our fine cellar gems," says chef Nadia Louw Smith at Clos Malverne.

She and winemaker Suzanne Coetzee have joined hands to create both summer and autumn pairings of wine and ice cream.

Clos Malverne's wine-and-ice offerings include combining preserved lemon & basil ice cream with the estate's Sauvignon Blanc.

Louw says the basil "enhances the grassiness of the wine while the preserved lemon brings out the freshness of the Sauvignon Blanc".

It is not surprising that this combination would work, given Sauvignon Blanc's compatibility with salads that have vignairette as a dressing.

As is the case with coffee-style Pinotage and chocolate - hence the compatible match between the estate's Pinotage, Le Café, and the scoop of Butternut & Pistachio ice cream. The coffee-style derives its notes from a peculiar toasting of the barrels, in which the Pinotage is matured, to give this effect.

Many who taste Pinotage will tell you they are reminded of Bananas.

It is surely these flavours that Louw and Coetzee explored when they devised the combination of banana and caramel pancake ice cream and Clos Malverne's flagship Cape Blend, Auret, which has Pinotage as one of its components.