Pleasure Palate Chocolate and Wine Pairings at The Nose Wine Cellar July 26, 2006

COST: Please contact me at abby@pleasurepalate.com for payment information.

Event Details:

Time to tempt your palate with all the pleasurable flavors that Southern California has to offer. Join Pleasure Palate as we do some culinary exploring of restaurants (both high-end and holes in the walls), various food and beverage tastings, cooking classes, potlucks and so much more. From savory to sweet, from salty to sour, from spicy to tangy, from exotic to All-American, we'll taste it all, so come along and take your taste buds on the ride of their life. Tonight is a very SPECIAL EVENT because we will be pairing the delicious gourmet chocolates of L'Artisan du Chocolat with the wine selections of Stefan Wong of The Nose Wine Cellar!

For those of you unfamiliar with L'Artisan du Chocolat, read below for what the LA Times has to say about their out of this world French chocolates.

"....these are no ordinary truffles. They hold a jolt of chocolate as intense as a tiny cup of espresso...The texture is incredibly silky, and because the sugar is understated, the taste is very pure: simply dark bittersweet chocolate and sweet butter smoothed with a little cream. A single truffle is such a knockout sensory experience."

From Los Angeles Times

With a review like that, you may be able to see why L'Artisan du Chocolat is getting raves from both the Los Angeles Times and other noted food critics. Owned by husband and wife team Christian Alexandre and Whajung Park, L'Artisan du Chocolat is now THE place to get the finest French chocolates in Los Angeles.

For our evening of chocolate and wine, Monsieur Alexandre will be joining us to talk about the chocolates we will be sampling and pairing the wine with the chocolates will be Stefan Wong, owner of The Nose Wine Cellar as well as a respected sommelier. Stephen is currently studying to be a Master Sommelier, so he will definitely have a lot of wine knowledge to share with all of us.

Some say it can't be done, pairing wine with chocolate, but if you have the right wine to complement the right chocolate it can be a match made in heaven!

What's the number #1 rule when pairing wines with chocolate? In short, the wine should be at least as sweet, if sweeter, than the chocolate you are serving it with. Otherwise, the taste may quickly veer towards sour. When pairing wines with chocolate, your best bet is to match lighter, more elegant flavored chocolates with lighter-bodied wines; likewise, the stronger the chocolate, the more full-bodied the wine should be. For example, a bittersweet chocolate tends to pair well with an intense, in-your-face California Zinfandel and there's still much more to learn at tonight's event.

The evening will start with a short talk about chocolate, wine and how well they go together. Following that talk and since the best way to learn is by doing, you will be experiencing your own chocolate and wine pairings. For $42, you will get 6 pours of wines and they will be paired with 6 uniqe chocolates.

The pairings will include:

- Lavendar Truffles paired with a Rose

- Kumquat Truffles paired with a Sauvignon Blanc

- Ginseng Truffles paired with a Semi-Sec Vouvray

- Aztec Truffles paired with a Zinfandel

- Olive Truffles paired with a Pinot Noir

- Pave Noir Chocolate paired with a Spanish Red Dessert Wine

An evening of chocolate, wine and mixing and mingling with other food lovers is definitely the way to start the weekend, so please come and join us!

Official Website: http://www.pleasurepalate.com