Clotilde has posted a summary of the 54 entries to Wine Blogging Wednesday 13 already. An amazing array of wines matched with Clotilde’s great chocolate cake recipe. I’d better get on the stick and record the podcast to go with my post before WBW 14 is announced

This month the theme is provided by celebrated food blogger Clotilde from Chocolate and Zucchini, who challenged us with theme of, “Like Wine for Chocolate“. Instead of just selecting a varietal or wine region, she has given us a recipe to match a wine; in fact, the most challenging match I can imagine: wine with a chocolate cake.

When announced, this sent me to the basic rule of thumb to match a sweet dessert with a wine of more sweetness, and chocolate with a very fruity wine of high alcohol. All roads led to the great vintage wines of Porto. Since I assumed most WBW participants to go down this road, I thought slightly differently. First, in selecting a fortified wine from Clotilde’s native France, the somewhat cult status Banyuls, and then with a big, ripe Zinfandel from my native state of California. Since I am not well educated in the fortified wines of France, I trusted the advice of Solo Vino’s experts, Robert and Chuck, to steer me to M. Chapoutier Banyuls from the 1998 vintage. Similarly, I trusted the advice of listener Stephanie in suggesting I try Matt Cline’s wines at Trinitas, made from ancient 120 year old vines in California’s Contra Costa County. My theory was that ripeness and high alcohol would lessen the perception of sweetness and the jammy ripeness of the old vine Zin would match with the richness of the cake better than wines that naturally have chocolate flavors, such as Merlot.

Here are my findings:

Before cake:

Trinitas Cellars, Old Vine Zinfandel, Contra Costa County 2002 ($17.50) - Ruby color with a subtle blackberry, spice and cedar nose; bold blackberry fruit with some vanilla and dusty, but strong, tannins. Not as rich and extracted and I would have expected in a 15.5% wine. Score: 8.5/10

M. Chapoutier, Banyuls 1998 ($24 / 500 ml) - Light ruby color with tawny edges; earthy raison and spice aromas; very sweet entry with rich black cherry fruit and some orange peel. Very much like a vintage Porto. Delicious on its own, but looking forward to trying with the cake. Score: 9/10

I made the recipe with bittersweet chocolate and the rich, sweet flavors are sumptuous in this moist cake. I thought that I possibly over sugared this, as the recipe did not specify whether the chocolate was sweetened or not, but it seems to be quite nice as it is. Next time I might cut the sugar in half or more, given the sweetness of the chocolate.

With cake:

Trinitas, Old Vine Zinfandel - The wine picked up a bit more aroma in the glass since the first tasting, now showing more sweet blackberry aromas with the cedar scents noted earlier; the flavors seemed to be toned down a few notches, with the tannins barely noticeable over the sweetness of the cake. Quite interesting, but not a good match, I’m afraid. The wine seems to be overwhelmed by the sweetness of the cake. Score: 8/10

M. Chapoutier, Banyuls - This wine also picked up more aromas, now dominated by prune and orange peel; the sweetness of the wine seems less when matched with the cake, with very nice black cherry flavors and now just a suggestion of orange. This is perfectly matched, but still garners the same 9/10 score (I might have given this a 93 on a 100 point scale).

Two days later, before cake:

Trinitas, Old Vine Zinfandel – After 2 days of Vac-u-vin with very little headspace for air, the wine is much more open and aromatic, suggesting mandatory decanting or some more time in the cellar. Strong blackberry and spice aromas are present with a bit of oak; ripe blackberry and raspberry flavors dominate the palette, followed by pepper and a touch of, yes, sweetness. Not the traditional, jammy-style but an undercurrent of fruit that finishes the wine quite nicely. This elevates the wine to a delicious, 9 out of 10 on my scale.

M. Chapoutier, Banyuls – Not much different in aroma than the last time, dried dark fruit and a bit of orange; very port-like flavors and a sweetness that is nicely balanced by acidity. Very young now, but seems quite a bit more drinkable than a similarly aged vintage Porto. Still a solid 9 out of 10.

Two days later, with cake:

The cake is still quite moist and rich, as I remembered it from 2 days before. A bitter-sweet extravaganza of flavor…

Trinitas, Old Vine Zinfandel – I really like the nose more and more on this wine, but the tannins of the wine and sweetness of the cake almost cancel out each other. Still not a good match.

M. Chapoutier, Banyuls – This remains a very nice match with the sweetness of the cake. I really enjoy how the wine complements the cake and adds more dimension to the flavors. It remains a solid 9 out of 10.

So the clear winner here is the Banyuls, not from its country of origin, but its level of sweetness (helped, no doubt from the level of alcohol and our perception of sweetness previously mentioned). I’m sure I would have come to the same conclusion had I chosen Porto or port-style wines from California or Australia, but it was nice to see a French wine come out on top this time.

Although this has been the most demanding Wine Blogging Wednesday to date, I’ve had a great time researching and choosing different wines to try to stand up to a delicious recipe. Thanks once again to Clotilde for hosting and conceiving such an excellent theme. A high bar for those of us who will host this event in the future.

Feedback: winecast@gmail.com | Audio comments: +01-206-33-WINE-9 (+01-206-339-4639)
Copyright 2005 Tim Elliott. Licensed to the public under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

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Beau over at Basic Juice emailed the wine blogosphere this morning with a challenge he posted to his blog a few days back:
“Take the amount of ca$h you spend on wine/vin/wein/vino over the course of 1 week, 1 month, or even 1 year and donate it to…”, the relief agency of your choice.

I have placed Beau’s banner on the right menu of the blog and encourage everyone to make a donation.

I also noticed over at the eRobertParker forum that Bob Fleming posted a generous donation matching offer of up to $5,000 of your contribution. Many others have also posted ideas to auction off parts of their wine collections to support Hurricane survivors.

It’s great to see the online wine community coming together to help others in need with the same passion we bring to our love of the grape.

Today’s podcast features Spain’s Tempranillo grape and I continue the cellaring series looking at the many cellar management solutions available.

Show Notes:

00:20 – Welcome and show theme
00:30 – Background of the Tempranillo grape
02:19 – Tasting Notes
02:31 – Bodegas Ercavio, Tempranillo “Roble” 2003 ($9)
02:54 – Bodegas San Valero, “Manyana”, Tempranillo 2004 ($8)
03:14 – Vina Albali, Tempranillo Reserva 1999 ($10)
03:33 – Tikalo, “Rubens”, Tempranillo 2003 ($10)
04:03 - Best of tasting
04:08 - Best value
04:14 – Cellar Management Solutions
06:25 – Hurricane Katrina PSA
06:57 – Appeal from Wichita Rutherford
08:00 – Contact details
08:23 – Next show theme

Feedback: winecast@gmail.com | Audio comments: +01-206-33-WINE-9 (+01-206-339-4639)
Copyright 2005 Tim Elliott. Licensed to the public under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

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In what is sure to be the first of many food and drink industry fundraisers, bars and restaurants in New York, Philadelphia, Washington D.C. and Las Vegas are banding together on September 12 to aid the thousands of hospitality workers unemployed due to Hurricane Katrina. The “Save New Orleans Cocktail Hour” event from 5-7 pm will 100% benefit those bar and restaurant employees out of work in New Orleans and surrounding areas. They have also set-up a donation link for others outside of those cities to support the cause.

I will be taking a break from my regular blogging and podcasting today to ask for your support of the many relief agencies doing unbelievably great work in the region devastated by Hurricane Katrina. I have placed a banner for the Red Cross at the top of the blog, but there are many other groups doing great work in the area collected at this site. Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of those who lost their lives and the hundreds of thousands now homeless. This is an overwhelming and unprecedented situation but we can all contribute directly to those in need; even a few dollars will help if millions respond.

Thank you.

Later the same day I posted about wine hacks, Lifehacker posted a great one involving a camera phone and a bottle of wine. Most excellent, since I just got a Nokia 3220. The quality is not great, but it just might be good enough for our purposes

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Interesting article about how venture (vulture?) capital has not been kind to wine.com or their Chairman Chris Kitze. It’s just business, but distressing for wine lovers hoping to benefit from new shipping laws and the convenience of ordering wine online. Additional coverage past a sign-in here.