As a “warm-up” to Valentine’s Day, we held a Chocolate and Wine Pairing event at the R.I. Kitchen & Bath Showroom – and everyone loved it! It was nice to see many previous customers as well as new faces considering future renovation projects or just stopping by for the event. Everyone commented on how beautiful the chocolates were just to look at – they were truly edible art.

Created by Newport chocolatier Laurent Vals, the European-style chocolates included raspberry Rochambeaus, Desires, and the Passionatta which featured dark chocolate and passion fruit with real gold leaf. Thanks to Wine Consultant Marc Guillotte of People’s Liquor Warehouse in Apponoag, the selected wine pairings were a big hit. The DeForville Muscato D’Asti (an exquisite sparkling sweet Italian White) went very well with both the Caromy, complementing the apricots and hint of cinnamon in this delicious milk chocolate confection and the Amy with its natural sweetness and delicate touch of peach and champagne.

The other great pairings were the Rosa Regale (a sweet sparkling Italian red) with both the Rochambeau's raspberry and the Desire's strawberry and orange blossom. The Electra Orange Muscat (an amazingly inexpensive and delicious dessert wine) paired beautifully with the passion fruit of the Passionatta and the candied orange confit of the Sunset. The other chocolate paired very nicely with the two Old Friends portos (especially the Porto, which was made with port), the ruby with the dark chocolates and the tawny whereever there were nuts.

All wines can be found at People's Liquor Warehouse in Warwick.

Laurent Vals chocolates are available at http://www.laurentvalschocolates.com.