Did I once have a "Chocolate" flavored wine??

San Antonio winery in Southern California still makes a wine that has a chocolate flavor component added to it.(Doesn't work for me but ....)

I often get chocolate and raspberry notes from Australian shiraz. Peter Lehman's "The Barossa" is a good example.

Regards, Dean

Agreed. Aussie Shiraz. Most recent example for me was the Thorn Clarke 'Shotfire Ridge'. Isn't it a common characteristic in the Barossa Valley?

We have found that Amarone della Valpolicella (Amarone, for short) has a definite chocolate component, although the notes I've seen usually refer to it as caramel or butterscotch. It's made from dried grapes, so the flavors are highly concentrated and quite sugary. This is an Italian wine which should be available at most wine shops (not Super Markets, as a rule). Prices seem to run between US$10 (Trader Joe's, for example) and US$40.

Quite a few people that I've tasted with will identify chocolate flavors in young red wines that have tannins and new oak in their flavor profiles (some will also refer to mocha). In my experience that happens most often with young, ageworthy California Cabernets and some young Bordeaux.

HTH Mark Lipton

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I´d treat an Amarone that cost USD 10 with deep suspicion. I remember reading (in Decanter, I think) that you couldn´t even produce the juice for the wine for less than about USD 10. Remember, whole clusters of grapes are left to dry for about 3 months, leaving about 25 % of the water (if I remember correctly) ... prices starting about USD 40 is more like it.

And, what´s more, a good Amarone is _worth_ it.

Cheers!

Nils Gustaf

Just for completeness, there was a "California Port" some years back called, 'DECO', with "essences of natural chocolate". "An elegant combination of natural chocolate flavors and fine, barrel-aged port from the best appellations in California. DECO is an unforgettable ending for a fine meal." _Definite_ chocolate. It was unforgettable, but for the wrong reasons. Too bad they didn't know how to make good wine/"port". :-)

I don't mean to imply that you'd not know whether you had a dinner wine with chocolate notes or a sweet, high-alcohol, chocolate-infused dessert wine. Just thought I'd mention it to help cover the bases.

Regards,

- Roy

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Yup. I had a '98 Lokoya last year that had a distinctive note of unsweetened chocolate... I could have sworn it had been added if I didn't know better.

Dana

Heavy amarones should do it.

regards Jan

I certainly have never had a chocolate flavored wine, but I have detected nuances of chocolate in many wines. The most common have been in somewhat-internationally styled (low-acid, highly extracted, lots of toasted oak) Right Bank Bordeaux (so probably mostly Merlot, with some Cab Franc and Cab Sauvignon). Dale

Dale Williams Drop "damnspam" to reply

That makes sense, Dale, although the most pronounced flavor of chocolate I've ever noticed in a wine was in the '82 Branaire Ducru when tasted in the late '80s.

Mark Lipton

I have had a port like wine from France that was the most Chocolate like...

The bottle was a gift from a little restaurant in Monptparnasse, "le parcs de cerf".

Great place. I went in for lunch or dinner 4 days in a row...then after a barge trip returned many times.

Owner gave to me before returning to states.

Wish I could remember the name but it was great. I have the empty bottle somewhere.

Rosenblum of Healdsburg makes a chocolate Port.

Hmmm... isn't Rosenblum really in the wilds of Alameda, that's a tasting room - the winery equivalent of an outlet store - in the urban sprawl of Healdsburg?

Dana

True, true but you never get to the vineyard and I'm not sure from what vineyard their chocolate port comes.