Monday night’s class with John & Kira’s Chocolates, Penns Woods Winery, and Shellbark Hollow Farm was a COOK-style salute to the artisans of the greater Philadelphia area.

John Doyle of John & Kira’s provided bite-by-bite analysis of the twenty-some chocolate varieties he brought with him, explaining each type’s unique characteristics and capacity to be paired with various wines.  John was quick to mention that pairing wine with chocolate (or any type of food) is always a hit-and-miss endeavor – and he took the time to explain why certain pairings work so well and why others, well, don’t.

Cliff Lewis of Penns Woods Winery brought several varieties of wine from Chadds Ford, PA, including a few discontinued types that he shared with our lucky COOKies. Cliff eagerly shared his extensive knowledge of wine and the stories behind each bottle and the winery itself in such a welcoming and unpretentious way that even the few novice wine drinkers around the table felt at home from the start and more and more confident as the night went on (and it wasn’t just the wine and chocolate-induced bliss!).

After the first course of (six!) chocolate and wine pairings, Peter Demchur of Shellbark Hollow Farm brought out chevre from his goat dairy in Chester County. The cheese course was followed by Chef de Cuisine at Audrey Claire Lou Boquila’s Arugula Salad with warm goat cheese, fresh mission figs, raspberries, French lentils, and honey, followed by Audrey Claire’s Pappardelle with sautéed portabella mushrooms, sauteed arugula, toasted sunflower seeds and shaved Locatelli.

But of course there was more chocolate to come. The final ten-piece fruit and ganache plate and accompanying pairings of wine built subtly on the palate, eventually erupting in precisely the kind of overwhelming joy we were anticipating from the start.

Each component of this evening, while delicious on its own, was combined artfully and explained expertly. Wine paired with chocolate and cheese is enough to get anybody’s heart going, but the accompanying knowledge and personality that we Philadelphians are lucky enough have come to expect from our artisans is what made this date night at COOK divine.