Patchi, Anyone?

Recently, the folks over at Patchi were nice enough to send over a box of chocolates to the savings.com office. What is Patchi, you ask? Just about the best chocolate I've ever had, that's what!

Being a chocolate connoisseur, I couldn't believe that I wasn't familiar with this brand before. Especially when I learned they have been around since 1974! When no one was looking, I pilfered a few extra pieces to take home for some research, namely a chocolate and wine pairing experiment.

Hey, somebody's gotta do it!

The first delectable, individually wrapped treat I devoured turned out to be milk chocolate, some sort of hazelnut confection. I'm just going by taste here--Patchi prefers to keep the mystery alive and does not provide a roadmap for their boxes. Mark West Pinot Noir turned out to be quite a nice match for the incredibly creamy milk chocolate, with neither the wine nor the chocolate overwhelming each other. But my favorite milk chocolate match by far was Merlot. 2005 Franciscan Merlot, to be exact. Somehow that wine managed to bring out every nuance of the milk chocolate, while the chocolate brought out the fabulous tobacco and plum notes of the Merlot. The Franciscan paired equally well with the second milk chocolate I unwrapped, which was nugget-shaped and I believe had almonds involved somehow. (Okay, maybe calling myself a chocolate connoisseur was a bit ambitious. More like a chocolate enthusiast...)

Then it was on to the dark chocolate, wrapped in silver and containing some nutty, mocha-like filling. I have read on numerous occasions that dark chocolate is supposed to pair well with Zinfandel, so I gave that a go. Unfortunately, while I still love my Rancho Zabaco, that didn't turn out so well. Maybe it was the mocha essence in the chocolate, but instead of bringing out the berry notes in the Zin as I had hoped, it made it a little sour and exaggerated the alcohol. Next! The Concha y Toro Casillero del Diablo Cabernet Sauvignon fared much better, with the chocolate and Cab competing for toastiest flavor and getting along just swimmingly.

Hope this helps next time you are sitting in front of a table strewn with amazing chocolate and open bottles of wine. Or am I the only one who does that on Thursday nights? And I hope you didn't think you were getting out of here without a coupon code. How about a Patchi coupon with an exclusive code good for 10% off?