CANFIELD, Ohio – A quest for a healthier pairing for wine led a Canfield pulmonary and critical care physician to develop Brix.
Named for the unit of measure of sugar that determines when to harvest grapes for wine production, Brix is a rich, dark chocolate formulated to pair with red wine.
“Years ago, myself and three of my friends decided to teach ourselves about wine,” said Dr. Nick Proia. “So on the first Thursday night of the month, we used to each get a bottle of wine of a different varietal. We’d have the review as published in some magazine. We would pour a glass, and we would try and figure out what these people were tasting.”
Someone would bring cheese that paired well with that particular wine.
“And I’m thinking to myself, we’re supposed to be pretty bright guys, but we’re drinking the wine, hopefully to unburden our coronary arteries, then we’re eating cheese that’s doing just the opposite,” Proia recalled.
He started thinking about what else would pair well with wine after dinner. He did some research and learned that some people opt for chocolate with wine. His wife bought several varieties of the sweet confectionery for the couple to test.
“They were all really good chocolates,” Proia said. “But as we were struggling to find all these nuances that the wine writers are talking about – the pencil lead and the dark fruit – all of a sudden, we’re introducing a whole different flavor profile.”
He didn’t want to further confuse his palate. Plus, some of the dark chocolates weren’t consistent from one bar to the next. That’s because they were being sold by percentage of cacao rather than by flavor profile. Proia said the implication is that a higher percentage is better, though he contends that’s not true.
None of the chocolate in his wife’s haul fit what Proia was looking for. But through a friend, Proia found what he described as exceptional chocolate from a company called Wilbur Chocolate of Lititz, Pa.
He called the company, but a woman who answered the phone told him the company doesn’t sell to consumers and inquired where he got the chocolate and why he wanted to buy it.
Everything kind of fell into place from there. The woman on the other end of the phone was the vice president of the confectionary division at Cargill Corp., which owns Wilbur Chocolate. She set him up with a representative who helped him create his product.
After sampling many chocolates sent to him by the company, Proia selected one that comes from the Ivory Coast, Ghana.
“Now it was potent,” he said. “It was an 83% cocoa solids, but if you let it linger on your tongue, it left a little bit of red fruit, and that’s it. Everything else left 20 different other things, but this just left some red fruit, so it was inoffensive to the wine. It didn’t do anything to the wine but enhance it.”
Then he and his wife connected with a well-known packaging designer who has worked for brands such as Target and Walmart, who agreed to design for Brix at a fraction of his usual rate.
And he worked with a Cargill manager to develop four break points in wine, with a chocolate matched to four different wines.
“And, basically, the darker the wine, the darker the chocolate,” Proia said.
Brix’s 46% cacao variety matches best, for example, with port, ice wine, vin glacé, rosé or burgundy. The 70% cacao version pairs best with cabernet, bordeaux, barolo or malbec. A variety that pairs with spirits is under development.
After working with the brand expert to perfect the packaging, Proia took Brix to market.
The product ranges from 7-gram size featured in a store countertop display to 3-ounce bars that can be purchased individually or in packs. The bars are packaged so they can be slipped on a bottle neck as a topper for the appropriate wine.
Proia and Brix representatives travel to trade shows, marketing the product.
Brix is available at Mahoning Valley beer, wine and liquor stores, including Chalet Premier in North Lima, which has carried it for 10 years.
“Customers purchase it year-round, and in the fall and the holidays it sells very well,” said Carol Potter, who owns Chalet Premier with her husband, John. “Folks like to buy Brix for gifts to complement wine purchases. It’s yummy.”
Proia’s company also ships the chocolate via its website, Amazon and other online retailers. A Brix store on Market Street in Boardman opens during the holiday months. The product is also available at specialty stores.
In 2012, it was featured as one of television personality Oprah Winfrey’s annual favorite things, and suddenly every retailer had to have it. That provided a big boost to company sales.
“Product sales ramp up at the end of September and stop in mid-February – roughly 80% of our business,” Proia said.
That’s because it mimics wine consumption and because Brix is usually bought as a gift. The company lists customers in Australia, South America, Lebanon and Argentina, as well as companies in 18 countries.
Typical customers are women ages 35 to 45, and they don’t always buy it to pair with wine.
Proia recalled eating at a restaurant in New York City after a trade show. He was wearing a shirt with the Brix logo. A woman approached him, telling him she loves the product.
“She said, ‘I have a whole cupboard full. No one else is allowed to touch it,’” he said.
Proia asked if she paired it with wine. “She said, ‘No, I just eat it.’”
Pictured at top: Dr. Nick Proia, a Canfield pulmonary and critical care physician, sits behind a display of Brix, a smooth dark chocolate he developed to pair with red wine.