Champagne With Dick Taylor Chocolate

Champagne and Chocolate is a winning combination in the public eye, creating a sex appeal, the excitement of the bubbles and the creamy texture of the chocolate, we all know the pairing is associated with love in some way.

When it comes to the flavour combo, the real question that is still being asked is, does it actually work? Do they benefit each other by being enjoyed at the same time or is it just hyped up beyond the level of doubt? We have to take our hat out of the ring and judge unbiasedly, leaving behind the images it portrays and simply tasting the united pairing.

The Champagne – Morel

Champagne Morel presents a wonderful representation of what you would expect from a bottle of quality Champagne, operated by a family trio, all hard workers with a bursting passion for Champagne. Simon manages the vineyard, Pascal guarantees the production standards and Emilie puts the finishing touches to the bottles.

Champagne Morel’s cellars date back to the 18th century and within their cellars they hold a personal display of history with a vinotheque/vinothek of their Champagnes dating back to 1947.

Preserving their vineyards for future generations is important to the family, which is why they operate in an environmentally friendly and sustainable way. From 1850 to 1930 the Morel family was focused on cultivating their land and producing Pinot des Riceys wines.

Feeling cramped in their old cellars, in 2005 they expanded, building new cellars to allow for the further production and storage of their Champagnes.

Champagne Morel can be bought in the UK from The Vine Cellar.

Champagne Morel – Pur Rosé – Tasting Notes

Aroma – “Soft strawberry cheesecake on a bed of chalk, strawberries, raspberries, red and black plumbs with dried apricot, raisins and delicate pastry on the aroma.”

Flavour – “Delicate raspberry and strawberry freshly squeezed, with raspberry slushie syrup, black plumb juice, pink rose petals and white strawberries.”

Summer Days Trophy Winner at the Glass of Bubbly Awards 2022

Champagne Morel – Brut Réserve – Tasting Notes

Aroma – “Smooth creamy yeast notes on the aroma, cheesecake, cream, biscuits, shortbread, yellow fruits, green acidic fruits, freshly squeezed zesty apple juice, and hints of pastry on the aroma.”

Flavour – “Soft, delicate, and a touch creamy, but overall very smooth, shortbread, biscuits, yeasty, zesty green apples, cooking apples, yellow fruits, peach, apricot and citrus on the palate.”

Gold Medal in the Classic & Elegant Category at the Glass of Bubbly Awards 2022

The Chocolate – Dick Taylor

Across the North Atlantic Ocean, the United States of America resides, and within its borders, two gentlemen, who had a dream and a passion for crafting some of the finest chocolate that the world has ever known, these two men were Adam Dick and Dustin Taylor, they would unite and bring into existence, Dick Taylor Chocolate.

“Deeply rooted in a background of woodworking and boat building, we have always loved working with our hands. The concept of craft has been a guiding principle in our lives from the beginning. After hearing about what was going on in the young and growing American craft chocolate movement, we were drawn to the common threads we saw in working with wood and crafting chocolate from the bean. We became fascinated with a new challenge and loved the idea of reinventing the chocolate experience. In 2010 we bought some small-scale equipment and began making chocolate.

The most hands-on approach we could take was to start with the raw cacao. We are able to source the finest fairly-traded cacao and perform all the steps in-house to turn the raw ingredients into delicious chocolate, all in our small factory in Eureka, California. This entire process takes approximately three weeks to complete but allows us to make some of the finest chocolate possible. We use organic cacao and organic cane sugar in our chocolate. By not cutting corners or taking shortcuts in our process we are able to leave out vanilla, additional cocoa butter or other emulsifiers, in hopes of capturing and highlighting the subtle flavor nuances in the cacao we source from around the world. We hope you will get as much enjoyment eating our chocolate as we do making it.” – Adam Dick & Dustin Taylor

We got to experience 5 of their chocolate bars, including their Vanilla Milk Chocolate, 72% Dark Chocolate, Peanut Butter Chocolate, Black Fig Chocolate and their Seasonal Release, Strawberries & Cream Chocolate.

First of all, I’ve got to mention the quality packaging of each chocolate bar, from the first interaction with Dick Taylor’s chocolate you automatically feel like you’re enjoying one of the finer things in life, and from the first bite to the last, each flavour persists in delivering a premium chocolate experience, from the creamy strawberries to the strength of the dark chocolate, I can’t wait to see how they pair with a Glass of Bubbly.

I reached out to Adam Dick, one of the founders of Dick Taylor, and asked him: What Is The Inspiration Behind The Wonderful Designs On The Packaging Of Your Chocolate Bars?

Adam specifically spoke about how the boat depicted being built on the single origin bars reflects three main things. It showcases Adam and Dustin’s equal passion of sailing and boat building as they both have a background in woodworking. “The craftsmanship that it takes to build each individual boat also reflects the handcrafted element of our chocolate bars, and the care and thought that goes into the chocolate making process. The boat and sailing elements of our brand help connect Dick Taylor Craft Chocolate to the history of Humboldt County where we are based which has a vast history of boat building that was linked to the lumber industry of the county during the 1900s.”

The Pairing

Pouring myself a glass of both Champagne Morel’s Brut Réserve and Pur Rosé, I experimented with which worked best and wrote down the favoured results.

Strawberries & Cream – “The Rosé Champagne and the Brut Champagne comes through quickly and fades taking with it the cocoa flavours, leaving succulent milk cream coating ravenous strawberries until the close.”

Peanut Butter – “A slight bitterness from the Champagne helps to take away the texture and flavour of the cocoa to leave silky smooth peanut butter flavours on the palate.”

Black Fig – “The Brut Champagne brings out creamier chocolate characters, reducing its level, allowing for more of the black fig characters to shine through.” 

Vanilla Milk Chocolate – “The red berries shoot throughout the dark vanilla touched chocolate, enhancing the vanilla characters within.”

72% Dark Chocolate – “The intensity of the dark chocolate is heightened once the subtle Rosé Champagne characters make contact, it’s only a subtle touch of red berry which appears at its finest in the afterlength.”