DRINK DIFFERENT - A WINE FOR CHOCOHOLICS

As Easter approaches, we will forget our new year’s diets and splurge on chocolate – and increasingly on high-cocoa content, dark chocolate.  To go with this, we will naturally turn to the world of sweet wines.

For many, that means wines such as Sauternes which have been affected by noble rot, a unique form of fungus which can develop on the grape skins in the right conditions, resulting in a wonderful concentration of fruit and complexity of flavour.  These wines can be wonderful, but they are not necessarily the best foil for dark chocolate.

I’m going to suggest instead a glass of Maury, a fortified wine made in Roussillon in much the same way as Port.  Unctuous with notes of figs, raisins, prunes and apricots, it’s the perfect wine to drink with chocolate – and has the advantage of being a fraction the cost of a decent Sauternes.