Julie Nygard - Dare to Pair: The Ultimate Guide to Chocolate & Wine Pairing

Another delicious book by

Adapted from the authors book,
The Chocolate Therapist: A Users Guide to the ExtraordinaryHealth Benefits of Chocolate

Copyright 2014 by Julie Pech, The Chocolate Therapist,Inc.

Littleton, CO 80123, USA.

www.thechocolatetherapist.com

All rights reserved. No part of this publication maybe reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in anyform or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording orotherwise, without the prior written permission of the author.

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Licensing Notes

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For Britt and Blake. My life is so much sweeterbecause youre in it.

Acknowledgments

Thank you to the thousands of you who haveattended my classes and have been the guinea-pigs, testing wineafter wine, chocolate after chocolateit was a lot of work, but youhung in there. Thank you Erik & Rebekah, who helped bring thepairing process to a whole new level. Thank you to my extraordinarystaff at The Chocolate Therapist and to Erin, for managing the shopso I could finish this book. Thank you Mary Carol,chocolatier-extraordinaire. And thank you Maryann, my brilliant andpeaceful graphic artist, who really did everything else.

Weve toasted abroad, weve toasted at home,
The chocolate enticing, never alone.

And along the journey, we discovered THE rule,
The precious secret of Wine Pairing School

If you ever discover a marginal pair,
Just keep drinking, my friend
And soon you wont care.

I know what youre thinking: chocolate and winepairing is an interesting concept to say the least. When I firstheard about it over a decade ago, my initial reaction was why?followed shortly after by why not? Fortunately, the job oflearning about it came into my life out of sheer necessity. Thework started shortly after the release of my book The ChocolateTherapist. A series of serendipitous events led to anopportunity to travel on cruise ships, giving lectures aboutchocolate. In the process of booking the first cruise, I was askedfor the titles of all my lectures to confirm my reservation. Thisrequest surprised me because Id only planned on lecturing aboutthe health benefits of chocolate. But cruise ship policy calls fora series of lectures on the same topic, not the same topic fivetimes. (I thought Id share this fact with you in case yourethinking about presenting a topic.)

To keep things simple and fun, I quickly came upwith a series of lectures: Chocolate and Wine Pairing, Chocolateand Tea Pairing, International Chocolates, How to Throw aChocolate Party, and, my original lecture, The ExtraordinaryHealth Benefits of Chocolate. I sent the list and secured my spot,a little later realizing that the only topic I knew anything aboutwas the health benefits of chocolate. But I decided not to let acomplete lack of knowing what I was doing stand in the way.Cruising to Bermuda and the Eastern Caribbean was on the line, soId have to figure it out.

I needed some practice fast. A bottle of wineand a box of chocolates seemed like a good place to start, and as Iwas polishing off my fourth pairing, it occurred to me that I mightfare better doing the research with a group. If I did everythingmyself, it seemed unlikely that Id fit into any of my clothes bythe time the cruise date arrived. I also wanted to keep on trackwith the principle I was teaching in my lecture on the healthbenefits of chocolate: to be healthy, a person should eat betweenone and two ounces of good-quality dark chocolate a day at themost. This meant discovering a plan that didnt include a halfpound of chocolate and a couple of glasses of wine a day (althoughthe idea didnt seem half bad). I presented my idea for achocolate- and wine-pairing class to Colorado Free University, alocal continuing education facility. They loved the concept, andshortly thereafter I began teaching the classes, my experiencelimited to anything I could find in books (not much) and my ownshort-list of pairings.

The first classes were rather humoroustheperfect example of learning on the job. Although Id researchedevery fact I could find about chocolate and wine pairing, puttingit into a presentation didnt come naturally to me. I cut all theinformation into little pieces and meticulously reviewed every itemwith the class. It took hours to prepare for each class, and it wasconfusing for the students as they sifted through their folders,trying to find my notes on the chocolate or wine we werediscussing. I also poured the wine much too early, a strategy thatin hindsight proved to be completely counterproductive. From thefirst sip, it was almost impossible to recapture anyonesattention. (Ive since adopted a strict policy: education first,then drinking.) The classes were too long, and they contained toomuch information. And then there were the pairings, oftenfrightful, as I used my early students as the unfortunate guineapigs. (Note to self: Muscato should always be served chilled.)Fortunately, we learned one of the cardinal rules of pairing earlyon: If you dont like a combination, just keep drinking! Eventuallyeverything pairs perfectly.

I kept teaching and learning, adjusting andsharing, taking notes and revamping. Slowly I was learning how topair chocolate and wine. In the meantime having my class listed inColorado Free Universitys catalog came with an unexpected benefit.The university sent the catalog out to over thirty thousand peopleper quarter, and I soon found myself being asked to host corporatechocolate and wine events and private parties. People assumed thatif I was teaching a class on the subject, I must know what Imdoing. I decided to bear the burden of my new chocolate and winepairing expert title. I figured since the topic was so new, it wascertain that I knew more about chocolate and wine pairing than mostpeople anyway.

Somewhere during the early classes, I took myfirst cruise. The year was 2006. The cruise company asked me toprepare for about twenty to thirty guests, the average attendancefor an enrichment lecturer. I considered this request and insteadprepared for fifty guests. I was giving away free chocolate, afterall, something that has probably never occurred on a cruise ship.It seemed likely that more than twenty people would show up. It wasan eight-day cruise, and I had been asked to prepare four lectures.It seemed easy enough, but during the preparation I also had todiscover the art of packing enough information for fifty people toattend four classes, while keeping the total weight of thematerials under fifty pounds (to avoid the airlines heavy-bagfee). After repacking a mere seven times, I discovered that it ispossible.