Chocolate and Wine Tasting with Boston Chocolate School

A few weeks ago, we received news of chocolate events in Boston hosted by Boston Chocolate School and Boston Chocolate Tours. We were given the opportunity to chose events to attend. Because we already went on the Back Bay Boston Chocolate Tour in the Fall, Miss Yunks, the Boston half of TFAW, chose to attend an Evening of Chocolate and Wine.  She also chose to bring her BF.  On the day of the class, we discovered several other Boston food bloggers had the same idea.

An Evening of Chocolate and Wine class is held at the College Club of Boston in Back Bay.  The College Club of Boston also functions as a bed and breakfast.  With its historic and elegant decor, The College Club seems like a quiet romantic place to stay.  I got a small taste of it on my way up to the classroom, which is really a large dining room.

Before the doors opened to the dining room, we snacked on small appetizers.  I enjoyed phyllo cups filled with chopped tomatoes and asparagus wrapped in phyllo dough.  The passed appetizers and unique antique-looking furniture helped to make the evening feel fancy.  When the doors opened, we were greeted with a long table already set with chocolate and wine.

We each had a setup with six chocolate squares and six wines.  Each person had a random selection of three chocolates on the side.  My first impression was that the glasses were filled with more wine than I expected, and there was less chocolate in front of me than I expected.   A chocolate expert and a wine expert guided us through the tasting, teaching us the ins and outs of chocolate and wine.

The most interesting information I learned is that devil’s food chocolate cake is only devil’s food is if it is less than 23% chocolate.  I knew that not all chocolate cake was considered devil’s food, but I did not know that the name has a percentage qualifier.  I thought chocolate was the devil, and vanilla was the angel, as in angel’s food cake.

I also learned that in true white chocolate, cocoa butter is the only fat.  If your white colored chocolate has other fatty ingredients such as vegetable oil, then it’s not real chocolate and you should “put it back on the shelf,” as our chocolate expert repeated.

For the chocolate and wine pairings, we started with a white chocolate and a white wine, working our way through higher percentages of cocoa and stronger red wines. We were taught to see, smell, swirl, sip, and savor the wine.  We were taught to listen to the noise of breaking the chocolate, to slowly let a piece melt on our tongues, and to then taste the wine with the chocolate.

I used to love white chocolate when I was younger.  My dad gave me a box of white chocolate Lindt truffles every Valentine’s Day for several years.  Sometime since then, I outgrew my love for white chocolate and never choose to eat it anymore.  Milk chocolate is my favorite, but after slowly enjoying this small square, I’ll admit I enjoyed it quite a bit.  It wouldn’t satisfy a chocolate craving, but it reminded me of these past Valentine’s Days and for that reason, I enjoyed it.  After the white chocolate paired with white wine, pairing two was a milk chocolate paired with 2009 Alasia Brachetto D’Acqui, Tuscany, Italy.

I knew right away this would be my favorite pairing.  I love milk chocolate, and I loved the light bubbles in this sweet red wine.

The next three middle chocolates had an increasing percentage of cocoa and paired with a Shiraz, a Merlot, and a Cabernet Sauvignon.  The percentage increase was very slight, about 10 percentage points, and the difference in taste was not always obvious to me.  I enjoyed tasting each wine with each chocolate.  I tried each alone, and together with the wine.

The highest percentage cocoa chocolate we tasted was 73.5% cocoa and was paired with a port wine.  I took one sip of this wine, winced, and put my glass right back down.  This is the only wine I did not enjoy.  It was too strong for me.  The chocolate tasted like a dark chocolate, but not the darkest I’ve tasted and I honestly expected a higher percentage cocoa as the final chocolate taste.  Perhaps because I didn’t have time for dinner before class, I would have liked to have two chocolate squares per glass of wine.  There are so many varieties of each, it must be hard to pick only six.  Two chocolates would be fun to see which the group believed paired better with the wine.

I could see the enthusiasm in both the chocolate and wine experts.  Both were patient, informative, and answered all of our questions.  The Boston Chocolate School’s Evening of Chocolate and Wine was a relaxing weeknight activity, and I learned a lot while enjoying chocolate and wine. Check out the Boston Chocolate Tours website to learn more about their chocolate tours and other events.  Walking tours are offered in five Boston neighborhoods.  The Back Bay tour was a lot of fun, and lot of chocolate!

After the sweetness of the evening, I was craving something salty so BF  and I walked over to Saus, the new Belgian frites and waffle cafe in Faneuil Hall.  I’ve been waiting for Saus to open since May and am so happy the wait is over.  Review coming soon!

Full Disclosure: BF and I received complimentary tickets to an Evening of Chocolate and Wine, a $100 value for the two tickets.