The sommelier Lucia Telesca: I’ll tell you which wine or beer to enjoy with Cioccocrusco

To further enhance the taste of Cioccocrusco– the Swiss chocolate combined with Cruschi Peppers, with its spicy notes, enveloping aroma and unmistakable flavour – you just need to know which wine, beer or spirit to pair it with, and the magic is complete.

To discover the perfect union, we asked an expert in the field: the AIS sommelier Lucia Telesca, DOC Lucan, with a passion for travel and writing, the founder of “Woman in Wine”.

“The wine-food pairing is, for me, inseparable,” said Telesca. “Every ingredient, recipe or culinary preparation can be enhanced by choosing the right wine, and this is also true of Cioccocrusco. Behind the simplicity of two ingredients lies a complex and multifaceted taste.”

With its unique characteristics, the fruit of passion, dedication, imagination and professionalism, Cioccocrusco is not the ‘usual’ chocolate bar, but a triumph of perfectly blended textures and flavours.

As the expert notes, in Cioccocrusco “the melt-in-the-mouth chocolate meets the crunchy pepper. We have seen chocolate combined with the most varied ingredients but never, until now, with Cruschi Peppers, a product that is starting to become better known and crossing the Lucan borders, and which is admired for its uniqueness. The cocoa’s persistent flavour doesn’t mask the taste of the pepper, but actually brings it out. First the flavour of the chocolate, then the crunchiness that leaves room for the unmistakable, though not overwhelming, flavour of the pepper at the end.”

But which wine goes best with Cioccocrusco?

“Pairing leaves room for various alternatives. The wine must certainly have a couple of fundamental characteristics, so that the taste of chocolate and pepper are enhanced, and a gustatory balance is achieved. Alcohol content,” according to the sommelier “is a fundamental characteristic, which serves to clean the palate of the fatty flavour the chocolate leaves behind, as well as the wine’s structure and body, which balance the intense flavour.”

“Thinking of a combination by region,” she added, “I immediately think of an Aglianico del Vulture, with great maturity and considerable persistence, such as Masqito Gold from Colli Cerentino, Martino Superiore Riserva from Casa Vinicola Martino, Serpara di Re Manfredi or the Vetusto from Cantina di Barile. An equally inspiring choice could be a Primitivo from the Matera region, especially the Baruch from Masseria Cardillo.”

Cioccocrusco also goes perfectly with beer

“With one rule: only craft beer! And this,” explained the expert, “isn’t a question of snobbery, but because in high quality products, raw materials and production processes you find intense and complex sensory characteristics that are best suited to certain foods. Three examples that go particularly well with the Cioccocrusco bar: the imperial stout So’ Biologa and the chestnut beer Druda di Birrificio from Vulture, or fig beer with Fico Rosa from Pisticci di Pintagramma.”

Spirit pairings are also not to be missed

“Chocolate and spirits,” concluded Telesca, “is perhaps the most common and best known combination among consumers. Here we can give our imagination and personal taste a say, choosing mainly between rum and whiskey. To give you a few ideas, we could go for Colombia with a Dictador 12 year old Rum, or the United States with a Bulleit Bourbon Whiskey.”

Curious to know the best coffee blend to drink with Cioccocrusco? We’ll tell you soon!