Cheese and chocolate is a perfect pairing; blue cheese and chocolate paired together is sublime.
The Lady brought home a small box of sublime this week: Chocolate covered Point Reyes Original Blue Cheese Wine Grapes. Muscat grapes infused with Shiraz, coupled with Point Reyes Original Blue Cheese and then encased in Bissinger’s dark chocolate.
Bissinger’s Handcrafted Chocolatier dates back to 17th Century France when King Louis XIV granted the Bissinger Family the title “Confiseur Imperial” in honor of their confectionery excellence. At that time Confectioners were known as true artisans of their time and were the most highly regarded of all tradesmen. 350 years later, Bissinger’s still seeks out the finest ingredients to create unique flavor combinations.
Like Bissinger’s, Point Reyes has a long tradition in artisan cheesemaking. The Giacomini Family has been dairy farming in the Point Reyes area since the 1930’s and now the four daughters of Bob Giacomini are making cheese from the milk of the cows living there on the farm.
This chocolate and blue cheese creation has been several years in the making with Bissinger and Point Reyes working together to produce this sweet and savory confection.
The Lady served served these with another cheese, Lenberg Farms’ Tania Toscano, an aged sheep’s milk cheese made in Canada. A review of that cheese will be posted in the next few days. Pairing cheese with cheese is not the norm here at the manse, but this one worked. The chocolate created the bridge to bring these two cheeses together.
When you bite into the wine grape, your first taste is the piquancy of the 60% dark chocolate followed immediately by the sweetness of the grape and the fruitiness of the Shiraz wine. The lingering finish is the savoriness of the blue cheese. You get just a hint of salt at the end, bringing all the sensations together for an amazing and satisfying mouthful of heaven.
I give these blue cheese wine grapes 4 Paws out of 4 Paws (cause that’s all I’ve got).
Serving Suggestions: Like I need to tell you how to serve chocolate covered blue cheese wine grapes… They go with most anything and they can also go it alone.
Wine Pairing: Shiraz, of course. Also, ice wine would also make a nice pairing.
Beer pairing: Stout or porter.
Cheese source: Raw cow milk.
FTC Full Disclosure – The manufacturer or representative sent me samples, hoping I would review their product. For more information regarding our reviews of product, please visit our “About Me” page.
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