On December 10, I had the delight of presenting a fun and festive tasting event with Judith Steinhart and Traci Schiffer, featuring wines provided by Alexander Valley Vineyards and Banfi Vintners. Titled Sex, Wine & Chocolate, we explored the sensual aspects of these three pleasures in life.

As the wine educator, I lead the wine tasting, accompanied by my friend Traci who works for Godiva Chocolatier and is very knowledgeable about chocolate and its creation. Accordingly, we were able to provide both wine education and chocolate education during the tasting.

Each wine was paired with two different chocolates, graciously donated by Godiva. This gave each participant the opportunity to taste how the wine and chocolate changed depending upon the individual pairing. The featured wines included the aptly named Temptation Zin from AVV and Banfi’s Brachetto d’Acquis. The first is an easy-drinking Zinfandel, part of their Wicked Weekend trio of Zinfandels, which also includes the Sin Zin and Redemption Zin. The wine has berry and cocoa aromas and flavors that permit it to pair with chocolate despite its dry nature. Brachetto is a lovely grape from the Piedmont region in NW Italy that creates a beautifully ruby-hued, sweet sparkler with notes of raspberry and strawberry. The third wine tasted was Duck Walk’s Aphrodite.

Dr. Steinhart has long been a respected health and sexuality educator and brought a wonderful approach to the tasting, framing it within the context of the sensual world. She further provided education on enhacing one’s sex life with an emphasis on being in the moment.

Overall, the event was extremely informative and a whole lot of fun. We look forward to future presentations, which will only get better. Perhaps you can join us next time.