Is the world's greatest dish for Zinfandel... a chocolate salad?

Glass of St. Amant Winery Zinfandel at its source: 123-year-old grapevine in Lodi's Marian's Vineyard.

Since Lodi's immensely popular Wine & Chocolate Weekend is coming right up (February 15-16, 2025), it is a perfect time to talk about a dish that, back in 2006, a Philadelphia chef named Tony Lawrence—also known as the “Global Wine Chef”⏤created for a big public event. 

It turned out to be, no exaggeration, the "perfect" dish for Zinfandel. That is to say, the rich, sumptuously scented styles of red wine made from Zinfandel vineyards in the Lodi appellation.

According to Lawrence, it was Stuart Spencer... "the co-owner and winemaker at St. Amant Winery in Lodi who asked me to partner up at a wine and food pairing event called 'Epicuria,' put on by ZAP (Zinfandel Advocates and Producers) as part of their annual Zinfandel festival in San Francisco."

Chef Tony Lawrence enjoying a past Lodi ZinFest.

The dish Chef Lawrence came up with to serve with the St. Amant Zinfandels turned out to be as spectacular as it was unusual. He called it, simply enough, "Chocolate Salad." It was such a hit back in 2006 that he has since repeated the dish on several other occasions over the years, adjusting the recipe (please see end of post) as the St. Amant Zinfandels have continued to evolve, going from lusciously full bodied and almost over-the-top in Zinfandel fruitiness to the more refined, restrained, yet still wonderfully fragrant and multifaceted styles of the wines today.

How, you may ask, can a salad of all things be made to compliment a Zinfandel, and vice versa? There are a number of reasons why it can work, which Lawrence discovered as he went through the process of tasting the wines and assembling the ingredients⏤first in his mind, and then on a plate as he tasted the interaction of each ingredient with the specific sensory components in the wines. 

The Zin-friendly ingredients in Chef Tony Lawrence's Chocolate Salad: Spring mix greens (middle) and (clockwise from top-left) raspberry syrrup, Gorgonzola crumbles, brownie "croutons," rice wine vinegar, sun dried cranberry and dark chocolate syrup.

Here is a breakdown of how everything came together for Chef Lawrence...

Zinfandel taste components → Matching salad ingredients:

Blackberry/raspberry aromas → Fresh raspberry, sun dried cranberry
Savory fruit flavors → Gorgonzola (contrasting salty/umami sensations)
Tannin and oak → Chocolate brownie "croutons," baby spinach/mildly bitter greens
Zesty acidity → Rice wine vinegar (balanced with olive oil, raspberry and chocolate syrups)

Lawrence called this his Chocolate Salad because of what he considered to be one of the dish's key connecting components: Toasted brownie "croutons." It works because of something most of us don't think about, which is that both chocolate and red wines have a major taste component in common: Tannin.

Inside of cacao pods and the high tannin, bitter seeds from which chocolate is made. maribeacacao.com.

"Chocolate" as we know it starts off as raw cocoa derived from the cacao seed (i.e., cocoa bean), which is very strong in bitter tannin. In its raw state, cacao is practically devoid of natural sugar. Once sugar, cocoa butter or milk are added, of course, it becomes the luxuriously sweet product everyone knows as chocolate.

Red wines such as Zinfandel derive both their color and their phenolic texturing from the high tannin skins and seeds found naturally in the grapes from which they are fermented. And it is the luscious, zesty fruit sensations that make Zinfandel so delicious; backed up by the sturdiness of alcohol and, normally, a good dose of oak sensations (which add additional tannin) contributed by barrel aging.

Chef Tony Lawrence with head trained old vine Zinfandel.

This is how Chef Lawrence explains how he first came up with this perfect match for Zinfandel:

A few weeks before the ZAP even, Stuart had sent me two of his wines—the 2005 St. Amant Marian’s (Vineyard) Zinfandel, and the 2005 St. Amant Mohr-Fry Ranch Zinfandel. As a chef, I always have my own way of creating a dish for a wine. First, I examine the wine. I like to start by chilling it to about 40 degrees. This gives every wine a neutral taste. Both of the St. Amant Zinfandels were about 15.5% alcohol, very aromatic with a cocoa-like, black raspberry/jammy fruit character, chewy and juicy in the mid-palate, and long, solid and racy with a candy-like finish. Every 10 minutes, for up to 40 minutes, I tasted and made notes on how the wines opened up.

At colder temperatures, red wines show more richness of fruit and less alcohol. As they warm up, their fruit qualities subside—you notice more tannin and alcohol in the taste, and astringent textures emerge in the back and finish. All the St. Amant Zinfandels have that classic old vine taste of deep wild berries, cooked condensed fruit, candied jam, raspberry liqueur, and cocoa aromas. I wanted to think outside the box—what could I do to highlight the rich, concentrated, layered and complex tastes that make St. Amant’s old vine Zinfandels so unique?

Annual ZAP (Zinfandel Advocates & Producers) tasting in San Francisco.

Going to my well-stocked pantry, my first thought was to go with a rich, savory, luxurious dish, but to avoid barbecue, gamey or meaty ideas. I wanted to be creative without mirroring what all the other chefs would be bringing to the same event. I wanted something new, bold, elegant, yet easy enough to assemble and serve to the 1,300 guests expected to attend ZAP's 2006 Epicuria.

I mixed together raspberry vinegar, milk chocolate syrup, virgin cold-pressed olive oil, rice wine vinegar and fresh raspberries in a blender and pulsed until smooth. Tasting for balanced acidity, and then tasting the wine, I found that this combination cuts though the wine, but seemed to take some of the fruitiness and complexity away. So, I added a little raspberry syrup to highlight the ripeness of Zinfandel fruit and retain the old vine integrity.

St. Amant Winery owner/winemaker Stuart Spencer with Chef Tony Lawrence.

This gave me a more refined, focused, balanced dressing/vinaigrette—technically, more of a sauce or gastrique. I tossed a spring mix of bitter greens with baby spinach, sun dried cranberries and crumbled Gorgonzola, adding the chocolate vinaigrette. At first, the salad was wonderful, but too singular and soft. So, I toasted a brownie, cut it into croutons and tossed them into salad, and the result was... heavenly! Like that priceless moment when you hear those six lucky numbers on a lottery ticket.

Over the years I've adjusted the recipe as the St. Amants have come down in alcohol to about 14.5%, toning down the sweetness in the vinaigrette to balance the ripeness and fruit profile of the wines. For salads, you apply the same rule as you would when creating desserts, which is to make sure that the dish is never sweeter than the wine.

Last but not least, I think this pairing is the perfect fit for St. Amant not only because of their wonderful wines, but also because of the late Tim Spencer (Stuart Spencer’s father, and founder of St. Amant Winery with his wife Barbara), who was a big, happy-go-lucky person. He was a true rebel, always thinking outside the box. The Chocolate Salad is a perfect homage to Tim!             

Bottles of Lodi's classic St. Amant Zinfandels.

Never mind the seemingly wild contrasting sensations in the salad. When done right, this salad balances its sweet, tart, bitter, salty and savory (i.e., umami) sensory ingredients with the luscious fruit, tannin as well as savory components in fruit-forward style Lodi Zinfandel.  

As it turned out, Chef Lawrence's Chocolate Salad was a huge hit—not just because it was so unusual, but also because it was so delicious with the St. Amant Zinfandels poured at the same table... and "delicious" is the only thing that matters!

Tony Lawrence’s Chocolate Salad 

(Serves 12)

14 oz. package of spring mix salad
8 oz. package of baby spinach leaves
8 oz. Gorgonzola cheese, crumbled
8 oz sun dried cranberries
10 oz. brownies (or good store-bought brownie), cut into "crouton" sized squares for toasting

Dressing: In a blender add 2 cups of olive oil, 6 oz. of good dark chocolate syrup, 6 oz. raspberry syrup and 3 oz. rice wine vinegar (note: balanced by taste on acidity and the fruitiness of the Zinfandel).

This salad should be dressed when you are really to consume it. To dress salad, in a large bowl place both salad greens and drizzle dressing to coat evenly. Add and toss Gorgonzola, then drizzle a little more dressing and plate with topping of sun dried cranberries and the lightly toasted, bite-size brownie "croutons."