Pairing Pisco with Chuncho Chocolate

pisco flavor wheel, pisco tasting wheel

Because Peruvian pisco is made from wine and it is so aromatic and flavorful, it pairs especially well with food. In this post, we have chosen a quintessential Peruvian food, Chuncho chocolate, and combined it with pisco to show you what a perfect harmony of food and drink looks like and tastes like.

Chuncho is a variety of theobroma cacao and is considered to be the “center of origin” for all cacao flavors and aromas, with flavors like mandarin, soursop, peach, banana, and jasmine. Chuncho hails from La Convención in Cusco, Peru – precisely where Machu Picchu is located.

Fascinatingly, it is suspected that the cacao pods manifested attractive aromas to allure consumer animals and to ensure repeat consumers it had to deliver a flavorful pulp. This occurred to facilitate seed dispersal and the continuation of the plant. Pre-Inca and the Incas alike consumed the flavorful pulp and only slightly roasted the beans. In fact, Chuncho farmers to this day still do.

Since the flavors in the pulp are imparted to the beans and ultimately to the finished chocolate, the long-standing selection process of the Chuncho cacao variety makes it one of the most prized.

Out of 40 flavors and aromas identified in Chuncho cacao, twenty nine of them mimic those of known fruit and flower or spice species such as: mandarin, soursop, custard apple, cranberry, peach, banana, inga, mango, nut, mint, cinnamon, jasmine, rose and lily.

If you look at the pisco flavor wheel in the image above, the flavor and aroma crossover with pisco is uncanny. Based on the shared flavors and aromas, it is very clear that this would be an exciting pairing to make. While chocolate made from Chuncho cacao may be exclusive and hard to find, any high quality chocolate will be suitable to carry out the pairing.

The flavors and aromas of pisco are fruity and flowery, mainly due to the presence of terpenes, esters, and aldehydes that come from the varieties of grapes used in the wine production and are also produced during the fermentation and the distillation processes. In pisco, forty-two olfactory attributes have been detected, highlighting the complexity of the product.

Channeling back to the tasting lesson, taste the chocolate and the pisco slowly and studiously. We recommend you alternate a small bite of chocolate with a small sip of pisco, taking care to give your palette and brain ample time to formulate an analysis. When pairing with food, there are times when the distillate is enhanced due to the pairing and there are times when it is not. The takeaway is the analysis and what you have learned about both of the tasting specimens individually and together – even if the pairing is a fail.

Because pisco is an unaged spirit with seemingly infinite variations from the grape, the growing year, the producer, and production methods, pairing food with pisco can be such an adventure. Pairing is yet another tool to add to your arsenal of studying the spirit.

We hope you can use the culmination of your experience with Peruvian pisco to experiment with pairing, try pairing it with some of your favorite dishes!

What does pisco taste like?

pisco taste, what does pisco taste like, quebranta

What does pisco taste like? 

 

Pisco tastes like grapes because it’s a grape brandy (grape juice ferments to make wine, then the wine is distilled to make pisco). There are more than 15 pounds of grapes in every bottle of regular pisco and 33 pounds in a bottle of mosto verde. Naturally, the dominant flavor will be that of the vitis vinifera used to make the pisco.  Also, because it rests in neutral vessels after distillation, nothing alters the original flavor of Peruvian pisco, so you can appreciate the concentrated flavors of the fruit in the bottle.

 

How do the 8 grape varieties of pisco differ in terms of flavor?

 

Besides flavors and aromas of grapes, you should also note other nuances that are typical to each variety. For example, a Quebranta may taste like pecans, peach or apple (see the example flavor chart above), Albilla might taste like pineapple and Negra Criolla could have notes of raisins and caramel. For more detailed information about the unique flavors and aromas of each variety, check out this blog post:  https://piscologia.com/all-the-peruvian-pisco-grapes/

 

What’s an example pairing with pisco?

 

Try a Quebranta pisco with suspiro a la limeña, a famous Peruvian dessert. In this combination, the sweetness and creaminess of the suspiro are balanced out with the alcohol from the pisco. It’s a perfect fusion between the sugar in the dessert and the fruitiness of the pisco. If you can’t get your hands on suspiro a la limeña, try a Quebranta with key lime pie. You won’t be disappointed!

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