Box Chocolate Review

Dalloyau

Info Details
Country France   (Paris)
Style Classic      
lo
med
hi
CQ
Sweetness
Intensity
Complexity
Impact
Blasé faire
Presentation   3 / 5
pragmatic: pump in / ship out; snug seal on the lids
Aromas   3.2 / 5
MC-cloy cut by nuts
Textures/Melt   7.6 / 10
Shells: semi-thick armor
Centers: a close match to their shells
Flavor   37.3 / 50
neutral; other than the Champagne, nothing strikes
Quality   21.8 / 30
Started in 1802 although the house traces its lineage another hundred years before then. In a word: ‘traditional’ (or, less politely, ‘aged’).
Selections
Couverture: basic
Pistache - a tri-plex (pistachio layered atop a praliné base then enrobed by Dark), quad including the sugar (& quite a bit of it); pantry quality... substantial grain & extracted flavorings
Dalloyau - a Palet d’Or utilizing 70% Venzy; good opening cocoa frame, followed by tannic grip, then cream ganache causes mild caramel at the tail; solid
Ganache Lait - Milk Choc version of the above in reverse (call it Palet d’Argent using Côte d’Ivoire cocoa); caramel slowly yields to candy corn syrup glucose & its cloying tannins with just a mite cocoa at the back; pretty standard
Café - segragated, disjointed, & ultimately bland
Champagne - light-breaking bubbles nicely evolve with support from cocoa of good backbone; simultaneously grounded & airborne

Reviewed March 2011

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