Chocolate dessert w/Yquem??

originally posted by georg lauer: Maury or Banyuls are fine
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Georg etal, Interesting suggestion of Maury with chocolate! Might this work in about the same fashion as Banyuls?

I cannot recall having seen Maury in the U.S. marketplaces.

. . . . . Pete
 
originally posted by georg lauer:
originally posted by Arjun Mendiratta:
Ask yourself, would you slather your flourless chocolate cake in apricot jam? If so, march right ahead...
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Apart from the "flourless", that is pretty much the recipe for a Sachertorte, isn't it?
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Well then, I guess I will be steering clear of Sachertorten.
 
Richard Olney recommends some kind of apple dessert in his book on Yquem, I think, which sounds right to me.

Chocolate sounds like it would clash.
 
Georg took the words out of my mouth. Maury works as well or better than Banyuls with chocolate. Though I'm really in the armagnac camp on this one.

I am curious, though... several people here like armagnac, even unto excess, yet I can think of no one on WD who endorses that other brandy, cognac. Why is that?
 
originally posted by Jeff Grossman: I am curious, though... several people here like armagnac, even unto excess, yet I can think of no one on WD who endorses that other brandy, cognac. Why is that?
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Because the topic hasn't come up before?
 
Traditionally, Rieussec was the one Sauternes that matched with chocolate. I can vouch that it used to work in the old days, but I've not kept track of Rieussec the last ten years to know if it is still being made in the same style (I know that even before I lost track, the amount of new oak had been greatly increased).

Simone Beck, Julia Child's co-author, used to recommend Chteau Margaux with chocolate, but I think she had family relations to Margaux and so didn't pay a lot (and even if she did pay full retail, in her day it didn't cost much compared to today's prices).

If we're sticking to France, Banyuls is the real matchup with chocolate; a sweet red Rasteau (if anyone still makes it) wouldn't be bad, either.
 
originally posted by Peter Creasey:
originally posted by georg lauer: Maury or Banyuls are fine
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Georg etal, Interesting suggestion of Maury with chocolate! Might this work in about the same fashion as Banyuls?

I cannot recall having seen Maury in the U.S. marketplaces.

. . . . . Pete
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I have, though I don't rip through it very quickly.
 
originally posted by SFJoe:
originally posted by Peter Creasey:
originally posted by georg lauer: Maury or Banyuls are fine
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Georg etal, Interesting suggestion of Maury with chocolate! Might this work in about the same fashion as Banyuls?

I cannot recall having seen Maury in the U.S. marketplaces.

. . . . . Pete
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I have, though I don't rip through it very quickly.
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Yeah, Parker gives very high scores to Maury from Mas Amiel, I believe. A couple of years ago, I tasted at the coop at Maury (don't ask, it's not my kind of wine) -- hundreds of different cuves, way, way more than I could taste. I'm told that the market for Maury is almost exclusively people in their 70s and older, and that the future of the wine is in great doubt.
 
Plenty of Mas Amiel on the shelves in Boston. I don't notice that the quantities ever diminish, which might say something, but it's here.
 
I tend to find sweet wine with pudding to be a pretty unpleasant combination. But then I don't really like pudding, preferring to persist with the cheese course. Yquem in general I have greatly preferred at the beginning of the meal, and though the combination with a foie gras terrine(never a hot preparation IMO) is hackneyed it can be magical, particularly an old Yquem with a goose liver.
 
Sweet with sweet can work, and it works in the case of (black) chocolate, as in a Sachertorte, with the classic Spanish combination: a serious old pedro ximnez such as Prez Barquero Solera Fundacional, from Montilla-Moriles. I personally thing that the 'rancio' element in a Banyuls or a Maury works against the desired harmony, or at least works less well than the PX, which serves to simply prolong and amplify the chocolate.
 
Armagnac has been the hipster choice for a few years now. It's easier to find a drinkable Cognac if you're working in the $50 and under range, though. There are plenty of wonderful examples of both of course. If you wanted a principled argument for Armagnac, they have more grapes to work with, so in theory ought to be able to produce more complex elixirs. But, uh, that argument would work for all sorts of wine regions over say Burgundy, so it's not really a very good one.
 
Well, Armagnac is the geekier drink given that it's dominated by small producers and has vintage dating.

Also it sometimes has folle blanche. 'Nuff said.
 
originally posted by Claude Kolm:


If we're sticking to France, Banyuls is the real matchup with chocolate; a sweet red Rasteau (if anyone still makes it) wouldn't be bad, either.
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One can still find sweet red Rasteau around Rasteau. I've never found one I liked though--not that I've tried that hard. Do you remember domaines who made good ones?
 
I'll have to admit that grape brandy has never crossed my mind as a match. I typically prefer my chocolate desserts unaccompanied.
 
originally posted by VS:
Sweet with sweet can work, and it works in the case of (black) chocolate, as in a Sachertorte, with the classic Spanish combination: a serious old pedro ximnez such as Prez Barquero Solera Fundacional, from Montilla-Moriles. I personally thing that the 'rancio' element in a Banyuls or a Maury works against the desired harmony, or at least works less well than the PX, which serves to simply prolong and amplify the chocolate.
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I have certainly enjoyed the sweet [but with a good acid/savoury balance] non-rancio style Mas Amiel Maury's with chocolate but also think some of the top sweet Spanish wines work very well too.

The last one we had, which was very much appreciated at a dinner party, was a Lpez Hermanos - Transaejo Moscatel Don Salvador. The Lpez Hermanos - Transaejo PX Don Juan also did the necessary at another.
 
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