WBW #13: Like Wine for Chocolate
07-Sep-2005
Well, this is Wine Blogging Wednesday but it almost seems like the focus is on the cake, more than the wine! Not really, I guess, but I did get caught up in the cake. Clotilde is the host this month and her challenge was for us to pick a wine that would pair well with a cake recipe posted on her site. Well, I glanced a bit at that recipe but decided instead that this was a really good excuse for me to try one of the many recipes I’ve been drooling over in Fran Bigelow’s cookbook, Pure Chocolate. It was the same idea – a dense, chocolaty cake – but the one I chose had a bit of an advantage. There was wine in the recipe!
I decided to make Fran’s Chocolate Cabernet Torte – doesn’t that just sound great? The recipe calls for bittersweet chocolate (I used Callebaut Bittersweet) and 1 1/2 cups of Cabernet or a Cabernet blend that gets a little sugar added to it and then is reduced to just 3 Tablespoons! It’s a flourless cake and I will try to post the recipe a bit later. The ingredient list is short but the instructions are long and I won’t have time to post them tonight.
For the wine I chose Kestrel Vintners Drop Dead Red, 2nd edition. Okay, now this is really odd. My bottle is called Drop Dead Red, but when I look up this wine on their site it’s called Lady in Red and it shows the exact same bottle and label except that where mine says Drop Dead Red their’s says Lady in Red! I wish I had seen this a couple weeks ago. I originally came across this wine a year or so ago while scanning the wine selection at Costco. The label catches your eye and upon further examination I noticed that this was from Kestrel, one of my favorite Washington wineries. They mostly produce high-end, big luscious wines and so I was interested in seeing what this second label wine priced at about $15 would be like. Once I tasted it, I went back for more! And it’s become one of my "house" wines – I try to keep a couple bottles around as it’s good enough for company but also fits my "have a little glass on the deck" expectations. Anyway, a couple of weeks ago while shopping at Costco, Kestrel was there selling some of their higher end wines at great prices – just a one shot opportunity that I took advantage of. And I spoke at some length with the guy (I didn’t think to ask exactly who he was) about this wine. If only I’d known that it had two names! I would have liked to know why. Anyway, either way it’s become a personal favorite. (I wonder if I should hold on to this bottle??)
So tonight, I whipped up my torte (actually it took a little time), and then waited for it to cool so that I could have a little slice along with a glass of the wine. I loved the idea of the reduced and concentrated wine flavoring the cake!
Finally the time came to sample my creation. First a bit of the cake… dense, dark chocolate; moist; with just a hint of cherry from the wine. I was a little disappointed that the flavor wasn’t a bit stronger. Then I took a sip of wine and WOW! The resonance of the flavor was amazing! I couldn’t believe how the sip of wine brought out the fruit in the cake and the cake brought out a hint of chocolate in the wine. I had to stop myself at one small piece of cake and one glass of wine – the combination could be addicting! But I had a blog entry to write up and a busy day of meetings tomorrow. No time to waste indulging in red wine and chocolate torte!
The wine is a non-vintage blend of Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and a touch of Malbec. All grapes are from Kestral Vineyards in Yakima Valley. This wine is a deep, deep ruby color with lots of cherry and a hint of chocolate. There’s also a bit of cedar but just a light note, the fruit still takes center stage.
This is really a lovely wine – with or without the cake – and you can’t beat the price! The 3rd edition was released in May and should be out on the shelves for you to check out.
4 Comments
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Culinary Fool 
hi thereawesome page with some nice pics you\’ve got here. Ireally like it. anyways you\’re alawys to visit mine too.well i\’ve got tons of pics there as well hopefully you would enjoy it.C U
Thanks for dropping by megaberry! I\’ll check your site out soon. ~ B
I love the photo of the cake. It\’s fun to "whip up" a cake (and like you, I took far longer with mine than that phrase would connote) and flourish it in front of friends. I\’ll have to investigate your wine–looks interesting.
Hi Shauna!I think it\’s sometimes hardest the first time I make something because I am focused on making sure I don\’t miss anything important! I found this particular recipe interesting becasue the steps weren\’t hard at all but some of them didn\’t quite play out as I\’d expected and so it seemed like I was "working" at it, but I really wasn\’t. And even if I was the result was worth it! :-) If I made this cake again it would be much easier. As for wine, I read your post and saw that you are in learning mode (as we all are and will contintue to be, probably for a lifetime…) but this wine is actually a nice way to experience something a little more serious without spending big $$. ~ B