Lindt Chocolate and Wine Pairing Party

Lindt recently launched a home party program called Lindt Chocolate R.S.V.P.. At hosted R.S.V.P. home parties, consultants lead tastings and earn extra income by selling Lindt products and gift items. Guests enjoy the tastings while learning some great chocolate tips. When I was contacted by Lindt to host a wine and chocolate preview party, I obviously said yes! Chocolate and wine are two of my favorite things!

The centerpiece of my party was a huge bowl of Lindt candies. It included a variety of their famous Lindt Lindor truffles along with other goodies to boot. My friend M and I fell in love with the truffle in the black wrapper – the extra dark. There were only a few in the bowl and he definitely got the last one!

Prior to the party, I hit up my local wine store to grab a few bottles of wine for the tasting and cut the chocolate in to bite size pieces. We were having our wine and chocolate tasting party after dinner, and it served as a great dessert course.

To taste each chocolate and wine combination, we followed the steps laid out in the R.S.V.P. Party Guide, taking breaks between each pairing to cleanse our palette with some water and crackers. The steps we took were similar to what you may have experienced in other wine tastings.

1. Examine the wine
2. Examine the chocolate
3. Snap the chocolate and examine the break
4. Smell the wine
5. Smell the chocolate
6. Sip the wine
7. Taste the chocolate
8. Sip more wine

We started with the Excellence White Coconut bar since it has the lowest amount of cocoa. The recommended pairings for this chocolate are a sweet Riesling, a sparkling pink or red wine, a Muscat, or Muscato. I have to admit this chocolate was really the shining star of the night. We were all intrigued by the white chocolate and coconut. The mild flavor of the white chocolate paired beautifully with a sweet wine and the subtle coconut flavor really brought everything together nicely.

Next up was the Excellence Extra Creamy Milk bar. The suggested pairings for this chocolate are a buttery Chardonnay, a Pinot Noir, or a Merlot. This milk chocolate bar was indeed very creamy. As expected, it paired beautifully with the Pinot Noir I had selected. Milk chocolate is one of my least favorite chocolates, but I really enjoyed the last step of the tasting with this combination. The melty chocolate mixed with the fruity wine brought out new flavor notes in both the wine and the chocolate.

The last chocolate we tasted was the Excellence 70% Cocoa Bar. This dark chocolate should be paired with a Cabernet Savuvignon, a Merlot, a Syrah, or Shiraz. The spiciness from the wine that I chose complimented this bar really well. I’ve always been a huge dark chocolate fan, so it was no surprise that this chocolate was one of my favorites.

I also had some of the white chocolate and bittersweet chocolate for my friends to taste even though it wasn’t part of the official tasting as outlined in the R.S.V.P. Party Guide. At the end of the night, the two favorites among the group were the Excellence White Coconut bar and the bittersweet chocolate bar.

If you’re interested in placing an order or wish to learn more about the opportunities that Lindt Chocolate R.S.V.P. has to offer you can send an email to RSVP Customer Service for more information.

Disclosure: Lindt provided the chocolate and the means to purchase the wines to pair with them. All opinions are my own.

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20 Responses to “Daring Bakers take on the Yule Log”

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    Beth G. — December 22, 2007 at 7:58 pm

    Looks great!! I love the history info too 🙂 Congrats you did an awesome job!

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    Gigi — December 22, 2007 at 8:28 pm

    Love the history info and your buttercream looks so silky. Nicely done!

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    MrsPresley — December 23, 2007 at 12:18 am

    good job! rolls like the yule log and the pumpkin roll really aren’t too hard to make, but they’re great to bring to get togethers b/c everyone loves them 🙂

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    Claire — December 23, 2007 at 2:26 am

    Congrats on your first “real” yule log. I wasn’t crazy about the buttercream either, though I did like the coffee flavor!

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    marias23 — December 23, 2007 at 2:27 am

    Yum! Very nice, creamy-looking buttercream. Looks delish! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

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    SMJ — December 23, 2007 at 3:04 am

    I went for raspberry inside too – and agree that chocolate frosting would be tastier. Good job!

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    Lis — December 23, 2007 at 3:59 am

    You did an awesome job, Jen!

    Your log turned out so pretty – as did the mushrooms!

    Way to go!

    xoxo

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    Hilda — December 23, 2007 at 2:57 pm

    Your log looks wonderful, so silky creamy. Happy Holidays!

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    ~Amber~ — December 23, 2007 at 4:19 pm

    Your log looks awesome. Congratulations on completing the challenge.

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    Meryl — December 24, 2007 at 2:58 am

    Very pretty! I thought this one was harder than the “Buche” I made in French class too.

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    Lunch Buckets — December 24, 2007 at 5:35 am

    I love your texturing – nice log!

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    Peabody — December 24, 2007 at 9:24 am

    Job well done. I made it with chocolate buttercream and I think it would have gone lovely with raspberry.

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    Cheryl — December 24, 2007 at 6:39 pm

    I love the idea of the raspberry filling with the coffee buttercream. That must have tasted incredible.

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    Dolores — December 26, 2007 at 6:01 am

    As worldly as I thought I was at the time, I never could have attempted anything this complex in high school. You did a great job with your… it looks luscious!

    I hope you had a joyous holiday, and that 2008 brings you health and happiness, laughter and love.

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    Julius — December 26, 2007 at 7:04 am

    Great bûche de Noël and I loved reading your post.

    Happy Holidays!

    Julius from Occasional Baker

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    Tartelette — December 27, 2007 at 6:11 pm

    You aced this challenge like a pro! It looks gorgeous!
    Hope you had a wonderful Christmas!

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    Deborah — December 28, 2007 at 1:04 am

    Your filling looks and sounds delicious! I went with chocolate for the outside, and loved it. Great job!

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    Rosa's Yummy Yums — December 28, 2007 at 3:39 pm

    A very pretty log! Well done!

    Cheers,

    Rosa

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    Jen Yu — December 31, 2007 at 1:23 am

    Nice work there. I love the combination of raspberry and chocolate – mmmm! Congrats on your challenge and happy new year 🙂

    jen at use real butter

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    Quellia — January 5, 2008 at 3:43 am

    Oooh I love the idea of the raspberry in the log!

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