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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14 Responses to “Cranberry White Chocolate Cupcakes”

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    theblogisthenewblack — October 25, 2010 at 11:22 am

    Yum! And festive… I’m glad there’s another Boston blogger out there that loves making cupcakes as much as I do!!!! 🙂

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    Lauren — October 25, 2010 at 12:04 pm

    These cupcakes look amazing!! I love white chocolate, and the tart cranberry flavor sounds like a fantastic accompaniment :).

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    Fun and Fearless in Beantown — October 25, 2010 at 12:30 pm

    While I adore pumpkin, I think it is great that you did something different from the norm. The cranberry sauce filling looks really good!

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    Carrie — October 25, 2010 at 12:59 pm

    These look great! I have some cranberries I have been debating what to make.

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    We Are Not Martha — October 25, 2010 at 1:13 pm

    These are so beautiful! I love the idea of white chocolate cupcakes…. and cranberry sounds just perfect. Yum!

    Sues

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    Dani — October 25, 2010 at 3:16 pm

    They’re beautiful and sound amazing!!

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    Aimee — October 25, 2010 at 4:10 pm

    Those look delicious! Love the flecks of color, and it is nice to step outside of pumpkin paradise once in awhile. Yum!

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    Nutmeg Nanny — October 25, 2010 at 5:08 pm

    These look amazing! I like that you did a recipe with cranberries…delicious! I have two frozen bags in my freezer calling my name 🙂

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    Rachel @ The Avid Appetite — October 25, 2010 at 5:41 pm

    What a great idea! I love this flavor combination. I agree that this is the best way to fill a cupcake…I’ve used it a few times now!

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    Megan — October 25, 2010 at 6:28 pm

    These cupcakes look gorgeous! Now I want to order Fiori di Sicilia from KAF. I did so good not letting myself buy it when we were there!

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    Evan @swEEts — October 26, 2010 at 1:27 am

    How fun! These cupcakes look delicious.. I don’t know why but I would have never thought about cranberry and cupcakes!?

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    Shannon — October 26, 2010 at 10:02 pm

    these sound fabulous, love the flavor combo!!

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    Cara — October 26, 2010 at 10:25 pm

    Great pics! These sound delicious 🙂

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    Gia — November 25, 2014 at 7:43 pm

    For some reason I am not seeing the recipes for the cranberry filling or mousse. Can you help me find them? Thank you!

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