I can still remember vividly sitting in the upstairs tasting room at Hill Country Chocolate, overlooking the factory floor, and visiting with Flavio Andreucci about the best way to pair a gianduja. Flavio comes from seven generations of winemakers at Vino Andreucci in Montefollonico, and his palate is something extraordinary. He can identify wines and their origins through taste alone.
It was at that meeting that Flavio and I talked about Piedmont and the beauty of a Moscato d'Asti in pairing with these products. We both instantly fell in love with the idea of bringing in a traditional Italian masterpiece chocolate: the Cremino.
It is this really special connection of the Cremino with its three layers. Milk chocolate on top. White chocolate gianduja in the middle. And the bottom layer is a milk chocolate gianduja (or as we sometimes say it here in Texas, "shanduja"). We sneak in some dark chocolate here too.
The Cremino
After crafting a chablon—which is really just a very micro-thin film of chocolate—we overlay these laminated gianduja layers on top until they've all crystallized gently. We then carefully pick this up, place it on the guitar, and carefully cut them before the milk chocolate layer on the surface has fully crystallized.
This gives us extremely clean edges, precision in look, and it matches the beauty that this chocolate represents in Italy.
Flavio understood immediately what I was after. His family has been producing wine for over 225 years, and he brings that same attention to detail that I try to bring to chocolate. He's a perfectionist, working tirelessly on the thousands of small decisions and details required to produce something exceptional. When we sat there discussing the pairing of a Moscato d'Asti with our Cremino, it felt like two old traditions meeting for the first time.
This does represent one of the perfect wine and chocolate pairings I've ever tasted. The effervescence of the Moscato lifts the richness of the gianduja. The wine's subtle sweetness harmonizes with the hazelnut praline without overwhelming it. And somehow, both become more than they were apart.