I have often been asked whether organic wines give hangovers or not!! My reply is usually that drinking enough of anything will give a hangover, organic, biodynamic, cheap, expensive….

However it is often found that organic wines do not give the painful headache in the middle of the forehead as this comes from excessive use of sulphur and spraying pesticides onto the vines. The sulphur allowed for organic wines is half that of conventional wines. What I find particularly interesting is that those who suffer headaches from drinking wine are able to drink cheap beer with apparently no ill affect. Also, to my knowledge, they have not had an ill effect from eating non-organic dried apricots or drinking fresh orange juice, both of which contain high levels of sulphur.

So is sulphur the dastardly culprit that we all think it is?? Actually it is often the naturally occurring histamines that cause the headaches. These are found on the skins of the grapes, hence a general feeling that red wines give more headaches than whites.Produced by wild yeasts and bacteria they are also common in food stuffs where some fermentation has taken place.

So if you suffer from a ‘wine headache’ take note whether the following foods also give you a headache: cheese, charcuterie, chocolate and oriental foods.

Organic wines will definitely have less sulphur and no traces of chemical sprays but they cannot prevent a hangover!

Cheers!

Death by chocolate might be a better title to this blog!! The other night we ran a Wine and Chocolate Tasting at Vinecole. Not an obvious marriage as, on the whole, chocolate kills most wines. However I like a challenge and thought it only fitting to get into the ‘Easter’ spirit!

Whilst researching the subject it became more and more apparent that chocolate, much like wine, is a hugely complex subject. The type of bean used differ in much the same way that the range of  grape varieties differ. The soil, climate and location are equally as important.

We kicked off the tasting learning how to ‘taste’ chocolate – as opposed to the usual stuffing of chocolate that most of us (myself included) are more familiar with. Look, smell, listen ( I have only ever had one student do that to wine, he used to listen to the bubbles of Champagne, I’m not sure that the WSET approved!), then let the chocolate melt in your mouth and with your tongue coat the insides whilst you search for the chocolates’ characteristics. Fabulous stuff. We tried a 75% Trinidad Grand Cru and then a 75% Ivory Coast Grand Cru. It was fascinating to see how different they both were. From fruity and acidic to smoky and toasty. I think that last night 16 people had their perception of chocolate permanently changed.

So to the wines. What makes pairing chocolate with wine so difficult is not necessarily the sweetness but the cloying, coating character that numbs the tongue and deadens the senses. Hence the fact that fortified wines work so well, they have both the sweetness and weight from the alcohol required to lift the palate and withstand the chocolate.

However last night was not all about sweetness, we also looked at using chocolate in savoury dishes. There are many French and Mexican dishes that use chocolate, it can add spice and depth to sauces. The chocolate that I used for these dishes was a 100% Cacao from Peru – Willy’s Peruvian Black. Outrageously dark and bitter, this is not for munching on but delicious as a cooking ingredient.

The first dish was duck coated in a balsamic and chocolate sauce, wonderfully rich but not at all sweet. This we partnered with the Domaine du Petit Causse, Cuvée Andréa, AOC Minervois La Livinière 2007.  The wine was intense with hints of cinnamon, nutmeg and dark cherries which complimented the richness of the duck and sauce.

Next up an authentic Mexican Chili with plenty of spice, the chocolate added a glossiness to the sauce and a smoky spiciness. This we served with the Wolf Blass Yellow Label Cabernet Sauvignon 2007. Cabernet often has notes of bitter chocolate, in fact many enjoy a glass of New World Cabernet with a bar of chocolate. The Wolf Blass was rich, ripe and powerful. Plenty of fruit, ripe tannins, balanced acidity and it worked beautifully with the Chili.

This was followed by a light chocolate and orange mousse served with the lightest and frothiest of Asti’s! As Matt said, if a wine was to get points for fun then Asti would be at the top of the class. Muscat is the grape that works best with chocolate, it is highly adaptable and has the right balance of sweetness and acidity. The mousse was light, frothy and and not too sweet, the chocolate used was a Javanese milk chocolate with 65% cocoa solids. The wine had the perfect balance of lightness, sweetness and orange blossom that complimented the Cointreau in the mousse.

The 4th dish was an incredibly rich, chocolate cake – the River Cafe’s Chocolate Nemesis. No flour, just chocolate, eggs, butter and sugar and lots of each! This required something with weight as it would overpower a Sauternes so we turned to Australia and a Rutherglen Muscat from Campbells. Intensely sweet, notes of toffee, dates, caramel and fruit cake. The chocolate used to make the cake was a mix of Madagascan and a premium cooking chocolate by Michel Cluziel which gave notes of coconut and toffee.

The next dish was for the gentlemen present, an unusual combination of Tawny Port, Dominican Republic chocolate and Bleu de Gex cheese. My take on Paul.A. Young’s chocolate and blue cheese truffle. A very rich truffle that had a gentle after taste of blue cheese, it was rolled in toasted praline to give an added ‘crunch’. This was served with a local wine, Domaine Cazes Ambré 1996 made from Grenache Blanc and left on ullage to gently oxidise. The wine was superb, nutty, intense, not overtly sweet, a great combo with the blue cheese and with just enough weight for the chocolate.

Last but not least were Agen prunes soaked in Armagnac and dipped in 3 types of chocolate, Peruvian Pralines Noir, 64% Noir and 72% Noir. The prunes were alcoholic, chewy and very naughty! The wine, 2008 Maury from Domaine des Soulanes. A wine that is a perfect balance of sweetness, fruit, acidity and tannin. If in doubt serve Maury with chocolate as it is always a good match.

Our conclusion, wine and chocolate can and do match. Muscat is a bet as is Maury (fortified and Grenache based). Next time you are buying cooking chocolate look out for specific regions, and remember that if the chocolate is black in colour it is because inferior beans have been used and over roasted, they should be a rich brown or red/brown colour instead.

En route to London with a stopover in Sancerre.
I thought the UK had the reputation of having all forms of weather in one day, but after my drive through France today , the “Hexagone” runs it a close second.
I left the Languedoc at lunchtime under clear skies but with a rapier-like Tramontane blowing at over 100km an hour (the sort of wind that makes people go mad). At Montauban the rain started, lightly at first, then pretty heavy. Between Cahors and Brive the temperature dropped below freezing (at 3.30 in the afternoon) and it started to snow. It remained like this all the way to Chateauroux where the mercury finally struggled to reach a rather timid 2 degrees. The milder temperature, though, gave way to thick fog and the last 100km to Sancerre took an “eye-challenging” 2hours. Luckily the last hour was spent on the taillights of a local who had rashly pulled out in front of me but actually enabled me to reach the village of Saint Satur, outside Sancerre, a good 30 minutes earlier than I would have done tout seul.
Found a great little hotel by the Loire (apparently, as haven’t seen it yet) and an even greater bistro type restaurant 2 minutes walk away. The sort of establishment that rekindles your faith in authentic French cuisine.
2 courses of delicious food (hot Crottin de Chavignol salad) followed by a succulent Bavette au poivre all for an incredible 13.50€.
The real eye-opener though was the wine selection. Over 20 Sancerre wines on sale by the bottle at no more than 24€ for the most expensive. Even better was that all were offered by the glass at 3€ a pop ! Fantastic. My knowledge of Sancerre producers being a little rusty, I asked the owner to recommend a selection of his best wines and he didn’t disappoint. A Sauvignon Blanc and a Pinot Noir from Vincent Pinard and another Pinot from Domaine Paul Cherrier were inspiring – notes to follow in a future post.
I came away feeling enthused, not only about the food but the high quality wines that I had tasted but also without the feeling of being fleeced and bankrupted.
I wish more On Trade experiences were the same…….