Tag Archives: wine and chocolate

A World of Wine…and Chocolate

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Ready, Set, Go! to the Wine World Warehouse Grand Opening

Wowza!, what a place. The brand-new Wine World Warehouse of Seattle is the largest store of its kind in the Northwest. With over 23,000 square feet of wine, you can imagine the variety is vast. Wines for the conoisseuer, wines for the wine-clubber, and wines for the college student. Born from the enthusiasm of sommelier David LeClaire, Wine World holds adventures in wine for enthusiasts of all stripes.

It was down to the wire with permitting and plans, but LeClaire’s dream of opening by December 1st, 2010 was realized. And we were there to see it happen. At the VIP Grand Opening on December 1st there was a buzz of excitement in the place. And while there is a plethora of shelvage going on, don’t imagine that the word warehouse in the name relegates this venue to the cheap and common. LeClaire knows his wine, and his staff are following suit. Not only are they educated about the wines of the world (including over 500 Washingtonian wines), but the space allows for privacy and intimacy in its layout as well.

We loved being at the VIP Grand Opening of Wine World, along with many other vendors. Sampling was happening all around, ranging from wineries, a brewery, food caterers (the black bean hummus was our fav), and Intrigue Chocolate’s truffles for a well-rounded presentation!

Most exciting? Wine World is going to be carrying our truffles in their chocolate case. Intrigue Chocolate and wine, on side-by-side shelves. Now that is a thing of beauty.

Truffle Masquerade: Happy Halloween!

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Truffles in Disguise

As the sun sets on Halloween, and the streets fill with tiny ghosts and goblins, we want to reveal a secret. We are excited to tell you about our new Truffle bar! Not it’s first unveiling, but still a brand new concept for us, the truffle bar is another way to get into some seriously good chocolate.

It’s a great way to serve a crowd, everyone can cut off just the right size that they want. Equivalent to eight truffles, you might serve the truffle bar at your own personal wine tasting party. It’s made from all the same, fresh, quality ingredients as the original truffles, just made in a different shape to satisfy a different chocolate scenario.

Whether you’re handing out individual Intrigue truffles or Intrigue truffle bars to your trick-or-treaters, we hope that you have a safe, and super fun Halloween!

Intrigue Hits Big at Northwest Chocolate Festival

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Karl, the man behind Intrigue's sample table!

Wow! What a weekend! We knew it was going to be fun, we knew it was going to be busy. But we didn’t know how fun, or how busy the Northwest Chocolate Festival would be. All day October 23rd, and 24th, 2010 saw somewhere in the neighborhood of 5,000 people coming through the Seattle Center to have a chocolate experience. (No, we did not stutter. We did not say five hundred, we said five thousand!) Yeah, we were pretty blown away, too. But in a good way. What a riot to have so very many people so very excited about chocolate!

The weekend was set up to showcase chocolate artisans, and was intended to be educational and informational. There were lots of classes and workshops going on. Our Aaron taught two wine/chocolate pairing classes each day, and participated in a thoughtful panel discussion on “What is fine chocolate?”. He was joined by some seriously chocolate-educated panelists; a cacao-broker for XOCO, a representative from Taza Chocolate, local Bill Federicks (“The Chocolate Man”), and Madecasse company (from Madagascar).

The panel went on for two hours with the audience held in rapt attention, so you can be sure that there is not a simple answer to that question. Unless you just want to say “Intrigue truffles”. That works for us!

We’ll be back to tell you more about the event. Stay tuned for Part II of the NW Chocolate Fest soon!

Two Classics: Chocolate and Cabernet

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Vine Ripened Cabernet Grapes

At the Cabernet Classic this last Wednesday (October 20, 2010) we were pleased to be part an enjoyable evening. And even more so because it was helping to raise much needed funds to feed hungry families in our community.

Tickets admitting classical-loving patrons to the event benefited Rotary First Harvest, and organization that has distributed almost 150 million pounds of fresh produce since 1982. It’s a majorly cool program, started with the notion of backyard gardeners growing a little extra to share with their neighbors. There are even “extra” fruits and vegetables that are not good-looking enough for the market (Ever see a “two-legged” carrot in the store? Where do they go, the island of misfit veggies? Naw, usually they are left to rot.) By creating a bridge between growers and consumers, the produce is rescued from waste and given a new life feeding those who need it most.

This second annual showcasing of over 100 Cabernets featured one French, one Californian, and more than 35 Washington wineries.

Considered by some to be “The King” of wines, the Cabernet is a beauty to pair with Intrigue Truffles. And given the volume of wines present, there was plenty of variety to match the the range of truffle flavors we had at our booth. We appreciated all of the visitors, and as always, welcome your interesting questions about what makes a wine a good pair with a particular chocolate.

In a time when more people than ever need to rely on food banks, and fresh, nutritious food is the least likely to be available, we applaud the efforts of First Harvest to feed our neighbors.

Farewell to Sips and Shoes!

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Chocolate, Wine and shoes?

Visitors to Seattle’s Grand Hyatt last Sunday (Oct. 3rd, 2010) afternoon shopped for shoes to their heart’s content! Attendees brought a pair of new or gently used shoes to donate, and everyone got a shot at them during the auction.

Entrance to the event bought not only a chance to bid on great kicks, but also wine tasting from 30 wineries and pairings with luscious eats like Intrigue Chocolates.  The proceeds went to support the Ryther Child Center, an amazing facility that lends support to children and families with behavior health needs.

We thought those of you who walked our way looked absolutely fabulous in your new duds! Our only regret is that this was the last of a really neat event, Sips and Shoes is being retired. However, we’re sure we’ll see you again out there in the world where chocolate and wine (and sometimes shoes) intersect!