Forum Activity for @Pierrick marie Chouard

The WORST "Article" About Chocolate - EVER

Posted in: Opinion

Good Comment Clay. Thank you for setting the record straight.Pierrick ChouardVintage Plantations Chocolates.

Chocolates of Ecuador -- Arriba, Nacional, CCN51

Posted in: Opinion

Hello jeff;

We tried three different kind of partnerships in Ecuador at the beginning ( late 90's). At the time, no one was making high quality dark chocolate in Ecuador. (Tulicorp was just cleaning their first second hand conch , and we also did some sample run with them) we wanted to leave as much money as possible in Ecuador and make the first farmer's chocolate right there. We were proud of doing everything in country., Ecuacocoa was only making liquor then , Republica de cacao did not exist, kallari was busy grafting and expanding their replication center.( which we visited at the inception of the project: impressive) , and we wanted to make the chocolate in Ecuador . Ecuacocoa agreed to work with us and transform our cocoa beans into liquor, then chocolate at the conditon we would provide the missing equipment. The first batches made us realize; the machines were not conducive to reach the flavor profile we wanted , and we had heat and blooming issues,( due to the constant humidity ) later compounded by a product recall for traces of milk in a chocolate. So the trial was not conclusive . You probably visited Ecuacocoa at that time. and you stand correct for having seen the initial phase. Being the Pioneer, we had to explore all possible avenues in country, This took time, missteps and personal frictions. We learned from our errors and concluded we had toredesign in house the bean to chocolate process according to flavors and not volume or speed. This is what we do presently in our mini plant in the USA . We kept working with our Ecuadorian farmers, and the commodity chain,( printers etc), we developed more than a decade ago. I hope this clarify all rumors and misconceptions about Vintage Plantations: You post could mislead chocolate connoisseurs into thinking we are presently making chocolate in Ecuador, and that's what we are trying to correct.

Sincerely;

Chocolates of Ecuador -- Arriba, Nacional, CCN51

Posted in: Opinion

Hello jeff;

Please see my reply to Lars above .It would be a good idea to check with us prior to posting this kind of statement.Many of our friends have been here in Newark processing cocoa beans with us. You may meet with Jenny samaniego which is our Managing director and is visiting her parents in Quito presently until January 2012. just email her at Jenny@vintageplantations.com. She will be happy to meet with you and show pictures of the cocoa beans we bought from the farmer 4 days ago. they are presently being shipped to our collection point for further shipping to the USA.

Wishing you a great year 2012.

Pierrick Chouard and Allan Suarez

Founders

Vintage Plantation Chocolate

Chocolates of Ecuador -- Arriba, Nacional, CCN51

Posted in: Opinion

Hello Lars;

One of our friend mentioned your comment about Vintage Plantations Chocolates. I am correcting your statement.

Vintage Plantations is owned by us: Allan Suarez and Pierrick Chouard. Allan is 2 nd generation Ecuadorian. Mr Crepso was never the owner of Vintage Plantations chocolate. he was hired to collect cocoa beans from three cooperatives nearby whcih were rainforest alliance certiifed. he did not work out. We partnered briefly with mr. crespo , and created Vintage Plantations Ecuador. Mr Crespo was the representative in charge of managing the local business until we were proven wrong.

We currently purchase cocoa beans from small farmers from the Los rios area. These cocoa beans are being shipped back to the USA in order to re- establish complete control of the process from beans to chocolate. After our rupture with Mr. Crespo, This individual kept on using our ressources to sell chocolates using our molds and other equipment we could not retrieve from Ecuador.

Chocolates of Ecuador -- Arriba, Nacional, CCN51

Posted in: Opinion

Hello Casey;I just became a member on chocolate life Upon receiving an email form a friend mentioning there was comments on our chocolate" Vintage Plantations" which were not true. Comments posted by lars Klassen .Vintage Plantations is not owned by the Crespo family. Vintage Plantations does not say " Arriba" on its bars.We do not use cocoa beans from the Crespo family. We partnered with this family in Ecuador, in order to have a collection point for our nacional cocoa beans coming from the Luz y Guia Cooperatives and la Florida cooperatives. The Crespo family could not collect enough cocoa beans from the cooperatives and we started to use a mix of CCn51 with the nacional. It appears The Crespo family goals diverged very quickly with our goal. and we no longer work with this family. As klars Klassen says, we work with small farms group of 12-15 families growing exclusively old "nacional antigua" Not the new nacional. ( another pandora Box). Upon trying many different model for sourcing only the old varietals from Ecuador , we have concluded , considering the constant hybridations of cocoa genotypes, that it was more accurate to talk about the Location and how it was fermented. The company is owned by Allan Suarez, and Pierrick Chouard by the way. We started sourcing cacao in Ecuador upon visiting Alaln suarez extended Family in the barrios of Guayaquil and bringing them clothes and others ustensiles from the USA. We have been Teaching about cacao post harvest process in Ecuador with my college friends from CIRAD. I Hope it dispells the misunderstanding. On a personal note: very good Chocolate was made using very mediocre Cocoa beans: When I launched Michel Cluizel chocolates in the USA , prior to pursuing my sustainable goals with Vintage Plantations chocolates, we sourced cocoa beans from a family in Dominican republic. This family benefited from students from Holland who were doing their PHD's on Post harvest process. Upon meeting these students and tinkering with their system, it appears they had excellent results, which were fully exploited by Michel Cluizel into a Good chocolate bar. My point ; The discussion of origins or genotypes is not a guarantee of quality in chocolate. and using "origins" as a marketing tool is premature until there is an independant international Audit controlling and certfiying : the entire commodity chain. We are a long way away from the wine and I am not sure this is the way to go. I would recommend: against making your choice of buying chocolates according to origins, or genotypes today.The Word" arriba" Is not on our chocolate bars precisely for these reasons.
updated by @Pierrick marie Chouard: 09/07/15 12:07:45