Vosges Amalfi Bar

Posted by Edmund in Chocolate, Featured Articles, Gourmet Chocolate Bars, USA | 2 comments

Composition: Lemon Zest, Pink Peppercorn, 36% Cocoa Butter.
Region of Production: USA.
Price: $7.50 from Vosges’ site.

This bar is another beauty from Vosges, coming in an off-white and spotted with pink all over. While the chunks of peppercorn are rather large, the bar is almost completely smooth to the touch, except on the back, where a few pieces jut out. As always, I enjoy Vosges’ snap, but the bar is somewhat fragile. My bar had even broken into two pieces during the shipping process.

The aroma draws you in with an intense, fragrant burst of lemon as you open up the bar.

This bar’s focus is not to reinvent white chocolate by overshadowing it with different ingredients, but rather to clean up some of its more common problems. To that end, I think the chocolate quality itself is fantastic. It begins almost like milk chocolate, with that same type of cocoa taste, rather than a strong buttery taste. As you savor it, it becomes increasingly rich, but never overwhelmingly so, and it eventually picks up overtones of candied nuts and fruity marzipan, which play off very nicely against the tangy and smoky flavors. My one complaint is in the finish, where the chocolate picks up an almost goat milk-like wild, somewhat sourer finish than what I’d expect.

The ingredients only add to the balance of the bar. All throughout, an undertone of lemon zest helps to lighten the buttery load, adding in a subtle, but pronounced, tartness that leaves your mouth refreshed rather than overwhelmed with richness. That lemon is really the star, elevating this chocolate to a new level. The peppercorn, in contrast, adds in a unique smokiness—like ground pepper with a bit of smoky red berry—that blends and contrasts very nicely with the lemony tanginess. Unfortunately, that peppercorn is often so subtle that it’s easy to miss. When you do get a nice chunk, it hits you strongly and quickly, providing a nice burst of new flavor that lasts in the aftertaste. That aftertaste is, as with most white chocolates, very short, but the lemon and peppercorn do a good job of lengthening it.

The bar has a balanced melt, too—one that develops gradually and slowly, especially for a white chocolate. That’s mostly due to the thickness of the bar, which gives it a nice weight but makes it surprisingly tough to the bite. I also enjoyed the slight crunch and grittiness of the peppercorn, and the creaminess is just right. The bar goes down very, very cleanly for white chocolate. The peppercorn can be hard to swallow, though, if you leave a chunk in your mouth.

Disclaimer: This bar was a tasting sample from Vosges Haut Chocolat. I have tried to keep the review as fair and objective as possible. Take the scores for what you will.

Scores

Presentation: 3.0/5.0. More like a 4.0 if not for the large crack through the middle.
Taste: 4.2+/5.0
Texture/Melt: 4.2+/5.0
Flavor: 4.5/5.0. Phenomenal use of lemon.
Length: 4.0/5.0. Great for flavored white chocolate.
Value: 4.2+/5.0
Scores: 4.2+/5.0