Chocolate: Called to the bar

“Aromas of licorice, raisin and chestnut…harmonious character with a hint of vanilla…flavors of honey spice cake and citrus fruits…”

Throw in some details of terroirs, estates and vintages and you could be forgiven for thinking you’d encountered a cork dork raving about a favorite wine. But the bittersweet truth is that the world has gone loco for cocoa. Chocolate connoisseurs and reviewers are now according the humble cacao bean the same respect usually reserved for fine wines.

In New York, you can stop into Chocolat Michel Cluizel where a sommelier will guide you through a tasting of fine chocolate wafers made from beans grown in São Tomé or Papua New Guinea as if they were a flight of wine. Or head to Del Posto, where Mario Batali, the famed chef, offers an Assaggi di cioccolato—hunks of Swiss, French and Ecuadorian chocolate, wheeled to your table and served up like so much rare cheese, complemented by three exotic rums. In Toronto, you and a group of friends can contact A Taste for Chocolate to organize a tasting, which includes six different fine chocolates, complete with rating sheets and pretzels (for palate cleansing).

Perhaps the most delicious thing about the chocolate craze is that it remains an affordable luxury. “If you go to buy the finest wine, it costs hundreds of dollars, whereas the finest chocolate bar is only $15,” says Tracey Edelist, founder of A Taste for Chocolate.

If $15 sounds like a lot for a piece of chocolate, remember that we’re not talking about your afternoon Mars bar. This is straight-up dark chocolate, usually with at least 65% cocoa content and a minimum of additives, so that what you taste depends largely upon the beans themselves.

The chocolate that earns the biggest raves comes from criollo and trinitario beans, which together make up only about 5% of the world’s annual cocoa production. Chocolate makers identify products made from these varieties by the place where the beans were grown. Just as with fine wine, the makers also include tasting notes on the label. Some companies label products as “Grand Cru” or “Vintage.” And, yes, experts will talk about a bean’s “terroir,” or place of origin, in the same reverent way wine connoisseurs debate the merits of one chateau versus another.

Consider Chuao, one of the world’s finest chocolates. It takes its name from a remote Venezuelan village plantation renowned for its high quality criollo beans. In 2000, the name Chuao was recognized by Venezuela as an “appellation of origin,” ensuring that its use is restricted to beans and cocoa products from that area only. Amedei, an Italian chocolate maker, holds exclusive rights to the beans under an arrangement with the Venezuelan government and produces limited edition, hand-numbered bars.

Chocolate of this quality should be savored, not gobbled, says Jenn Stone of js bonbons, a gourmet chocolate shop in Toronto that offers a class in how to taste fine single-origin chocolates. “I always recommend customers try at least two in one sitting and no more than five,” Stone said. “This way they can compare the chocolates without tiring their palates.”

To put the claims of the chocolate connoisseurs to the test, MoneySense decided to hold our own tasting. We removed wrappers from 11 bars to ensure a blind tasting. We then grouped bars by their place of origin: three from Ecuador, three from Madagascar, two from Venezuela and three assorted Caribbean varieties.

Even to our untutored palates the regional differences were obvious. The Ecuadorian bars were woody and fruity, with hints of caramel and coffee. Madagascan bars were more aromatic, with undertones of coffee and citrus. Venezuelans were rich with hints of raisins. And the Caribbean contingent (with samples from Trinidad, Jamaica and a blend of Caribbean beans) ranged from woody to floral.

Equally eye-opening was the discovery that more expensive is not necessarily better. The modestly priced Lindt Excellence bars ($3.99 for 100 grams at your local grocery or drugstore) were solid runners up in two categories. The company’s Ecuador bar beat out Vintage Plantations’ “estate bottled” organic offering ($5.99 for 100 grams), while its Madagascar bar offered a delightful middle ground between the extreme opinions inspired by Michel Cluizel’s prize-winning Mangaro Noir ($11.99 for 100 grams) and Amedei’s Premier Cru ($4.29 for 20 grams). While Lindt may lack the complexity of the more exotic brands, it was great value for the price.

Surprisingly disappointing was Valrhona’s Araguani ($5.29 for 75 grams), a Venezuelan chocolate with port and raisin undercurrents. It drew negative reactions for its almost turpentine aroma and cloying mouthfeel. But perhaps it was unfair to stack it up against the unanimous winner: Amedei’s Chuao (the most expensive of our selections at $11.99 for 50 grams).

Our Chuao—one of only two battered boxes on the shelf at Pusateri’s, a high-end food shop in Toronto—had a slight bloom (that white coating that appears on chocolate that is old or stored at the wrong temperature). But, ah, looks were deceiving. Its woody, tropical aroma gave way to intense, pure chocolate, with hints of coffee and raisins. The effect was complex but smooth—incentive enough to inspire my tasting partner to polish off the bar when my back was turned.

Your own tastebuds may come to a different conclusion, of course. Just like wine, fine chocolate varies from vintage to vintage, says Clay Gordon, author of Discover Chocolate and creator of the massive chocophile.com website, which features reviews of high-end chocolate from around the world. “I might like one vintage from a producer, and not the next,” he says. His list of most reliable producers includes Bonnat, Michel Cluizel, Pralus and Felchlin.

If, like us, you get hooked on fine chocolate, Gordon points out one nice difference between top-end chocolate and high-end wine—chocolate doesn’t age well. “It’s not like you can buy 10 cases when you find something you like and cellar it for five years, because the chocolate will eventually change texture.”

In other words, eat up.

More, please, more
How to satisfy your craving for the darkest of desires

If we’ve whetted your appetite for more about single-origin chocolate, visit websites such as chocophile.com and U.K.-based seventypercent.com for a full serving of news and reviews of the finest chocolate on the market.

Wikihow.com and lindt.com offer tips on tasting. Begin with the chocolate at room temperature. Then break off a piece: good chocolate should give way with a crisp snap. Inhale the aroma at the breakpoint and let the flavors evolve as the chocolate melts on your tongue. Finally, you should chew—but not too much. The point is to savor, not devour.

If local shops don’t carry the bars you’re looking for, you can order top brands online from jsbonbons.com and atasteforchocolate.com.