by Niki Chanel
Valmonte residents, Ellen Cook and her husband Brian hosted an amazing wine and chocolate tasting affair on Saturday, August 7th at their home overlooking the lovely green canyon vista of Via Pavion. Their aim was to help raise funds for the Neighbourhood Church. It seems the cliffs on which the church sits, needs a hefty layer of Gunite to halt erosion to the south parking lot, when it is extended. It’s a huge undertaking estimated to cost around $500,000. Living on the Palos Verdes Peninsula we have all seen what can happen if our cliffs integrity is breached.
Each wine was paired with a tasty dish prepared and donated by local businesses like Trader Joe’s, Elephant Bar, Lazy Dog Restaurant, Giorgio’s, Bristol Farms, Whole Foods, Ralph’s, Admiral Risty’s, the Trio’s restaurant and the Red Onion. My favourite combination was the Pinot Grigio with the bruschetta.
Then there was the chocolate.
Marsatta Chocolate from Redondo kept our palettes clean with the heavenly cocoa finish between wines. I had a delightful conversation with Naomi, owner of Marsatta, as she explained some lesser known facts about chocolate making… tid-bits like
- their Venezuelan ingredients are organic and from only a single plantation;
- truffles were invented in France in 1895
- and their best seller is a 72% dark chocolate with a vanilla softener.
MMMmm. Their website, www.marsatta.com , has photos and information for ordering.
The relaxed and elegant afternoon was tied up nicely with a chocolate infused Port from Australia, Jeremy’s home turf. The Choco Bloc Port was served with a tablespoon sized ‘melt-in-your-mouth’ soft centered truffle covered in a thing coat of crackle-y dark chocolate.
If you weren’t already, it was enough to make you religious!
