Wine and cheese tasting with a twist — chocolate

Published 6:30 am Wednesday, February 5, 2020

Looking to bring flavor and in the spirit of Valentine’s Day next week, A Spot for Tea in New Iberia hosted its wine and cheese event Tuesday evening, with a twist — chocolate.

Each wine and cheese event is served with four different cheese and four different styles of wines, all connected to the month’s theme.

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According to owner Dana Romero, the four wines for the chocolate event were all Sauvignons because the Sauvignon wines take away from the bitterness of the grapes.

“It makes it a little more palatable,” Romero said.

“Typically you would serve a red wine at room temperature but for the special occasion, the four different chocolate-infused wines will be chilled so it will be a little more pleasurable for our guests.”

Romero said A Spot for Tea was able to get more creative in bringing the flavors of chocolate to the table, so to speak, by grinding cocoa powder straight into the cheese.

“We took a cheddar and enrolled it in Ghirardelli chocolate,” Romero said.

Romero said A Spot of Tea hosts a monthly wine and cheese event to help introduce wines to New Iberia.

“So people can try a little bit before they buy it,” Romero said. “They can buy it everywhere from Bi-Lo to Rouses to Walmart.”

Lauren Fontenot, a regular wine and cheese enthusiast at the establishment, said she attends almost every monthly wine and cheese event.

“I love wine and I love charcuterie boards with a lot of cheese and wines,” Fontenot said.

Fontenot said she enjoys coming to A Spot for Tea because she thinks she’ll find a new wine that she will like.

Fontenot said she’s excited to try chocolate-flavored cheese and wine because it’s something new to her.

“When you are relaxing and you just want to enjoy a good meal, (wine and cheese) digest well together,” Romero said.

Romero said there are a lot of oenophiles (wine lovers) in New Iberia.

“I think they are craving and wanting to know,” Romero said. “Everyone has a different palette and they grow into wines and are trying to discover new wines and I want to provide that for the community, a place they can go and come and try it.”

At the end of the day, Romero wants to bring not only culture, but convenience to New Iberia.

“Here at A Spot for Tea, we say, ‘Why drive all the way to Lafayette when we can do it here?’” Romero said. “We can do it here in our community and team up with other businesses … and we can better our community.”