Chocolats Valrhona - Grands Crus de Chocolat, putting taste first
Because our passion has always been to select and collect the finest cocoas from all over the world, our range of Grands Crus de Chocolat explores a very wide palette of taste sensations.
Taste uniqueness... the Grand Chocolat.Our never-ending passion to select and to blend the world’s most exquisite cocoa beans, gives us the opportunity to offer a pure, unique collection of Grands Crus de Chocolat, unveiling sensations of taste from the deliciously-known to the outstandingly undreamt-of. From Manjari’s intense acidulous fruitiness to Abinao’s delicately tannic bitterness, we invite you on a journey to discover the aromatic, the flavoured touches and nuances uncovered by Valrhona.
Using the Wheel
Using the Wheel
Tasting Chocolate
Tasting Chocolate
Taste Experience Tip
Taste Experience Tip
Using the WheelThe wheel is a tool inviting you into the world of chocolate through the gate of “Taste”. Use it to refine your choices, by preference, by curiosity, or just simply let yourself be led into a world of unique sensations. The wheel is a guide accompanying you in your quest for knowledge and understanding; perfectly illustrating that a chocolate’s uniqueness is not linked to its percentage, but to its origin and its history. Tasting ChocolateFirst of all, just look. Concentrate carefully on the polish, the shine, and especially the colour of the chocolate; colours ranging from: milky beiges, to pure mahoganies, to deep dark browns... an essential detail that uncovers the varieties of cocoa beans used.Breathe deeply, smell the chocolate, fill your mind and body with its aromas. A deliciously simple first initiation into the aromatic secrets of chocolate. Listen... break a square into fragments between your fingers, and listen to the crackling sound it makes. Savour the crackling as it hits your teeth... now, let’s start the taste experience!Start by biting into a quarter of a chocolate square, to taste the initial flavours, aromas and consistency. Then bite again and again, twice, three times (or more) and take the time to savour the various individual flavours. Let the chocolate melt slowly and delicately on your tongue to unveil its flavours and its aromas.Take a moment to concentrate on your tongue, to feel, to savour the different flavours: acid (sensations on the sides of the tongue, stimulating salivation), then if you wait a little longer you may experience the bitterness (persisting sensation felt at the back of the tongue, becoming gradually more intense). A moment of pure privilege Taste again, but this time concentrate on your nose, and discover the aromas which unleash themselves one after the other. Similar to wine, you will first smell the most volatile aromas (primary or head aromas): These are instantaneous, fleeting flower or fruit aromas, which volatilize quickly and fade away in the middle of the tasting process. If you miss them... then just simply start the taste experience again! Next, we move on to the aromas that are unveiled in the middle of the tasting experience, known as body aromas: These are essentially hot aromas, such as roasted almonds, hot bread crust, spicy mix, etc. If you let yourself be seduced a little longer by the pleasure of the taste experience, then you will be able to savour the less volatile aromas of certain chocolates, known as final aromas: These are often woody, roasted nibs (grué), malty, etc.We hope you enjoy your sensorial trip!Taste Experience Tip:Do as the Cocoabase experts do – rinse your mouth with water between each chocolate taste, and nibble some soft bread or soft apple. This makes the persistent bitterness and tannic astringency fade away.