My First PR Event – Chocolate & Wine Tasting by Lily O’Brien’s

I was invited to attend the most amazing event ever. I’m sure you will agree! It was Lily O’Brien’s Chocolate and Wine tasting event!! It was a masterclass in matching Lily O’Brien’s chocolates with a selection of interesting and delicious wines and drinks. Jilly Goolden was tasked to match up the chocolates and truffles with wines that are available in UK supermarkets. It was my first PR Event and gosh guys it was really heaven!!!

I wasn’t sure what to wear as it was my first event but I decided to wear black which is always classic and elegant and if you combine it with another colour, like red for example, it can brighten up your whole outfit. I therefore wore a black sleeveless jumpsuit from H&M and accessorised it with red (earrings, necklace, ring, bracelet and scarf). I wore black ankle boots and a leather jacket. I also wore a bright red lipstick. I thought it all looked nice. What do you think?

The event was in Central London at the Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA). It’s very close to Trafalgar Square and is a lovely place. Travelling in by Tube it was really easy for me to get there – the nearest station was Charing Cross. The event was held in The Nash Rooms which were so pretty, there was a balcony with a great view. As soon as I arrived, I was greeted with a glass of champagne and a badge displaying my name and my blog name. After removing my leather jacket I went around to have a look at the presentation.

The whole decoration was lovely. As expected they had chocolates everywhere. However, it was not just chocolates but also amazing desserts. OMG, they were all so good looking that I was really looking forward to trying them all! So greedy right?

They had a small area where they were showing the look of their new packaging. It was really nice, I like the presentation. They had in display about different type of chocolates flavours. They had a good variation so you have a good selection to choose for. Excellent when you want to find something different for a present. You will always look good when you give this beautiful wrapped up chocolates to a friend or a family member for an especial occasion.

We all sat down ready to listen to Mary Ann O’Brien who is the founder of this delicious brand and Jilly Goolden who is one of the UK’s best known and most popular wine critics. We were lucky to be able to taste delicious chocolates that were paired with wines that can be found in UK supermarkets. There were 9 different parings.

Just a quick note to mention that I’m not a wine lover, which is very strange I know, but I tasted every wine we were given to try so I could have an honest opinion of these combinations. The interesting part was that I was very surprised with some of the suggested wines as I actually really liked them. I must admit that the ones I liked the most were the ones that were sweeter than the others as I have quite a sweet palate LOL!

Anyway, so here are the 9 pairings:

1. Lily O’Brien’s Zesty Orange Chocolate paired with Tesco Finest Dessert Semillon 2009 (South Eastern Australia)
   This was an interesting combination. I’m not a lover of dark chocolate and I don’t like orange on it so sadly it started bad for me with this one. The wine was okay but I didn’t love it. This combination was not one of my favourites but I guess that it will be great for other dark chocolate with orange flavour lovers!
2. Lily O’Brien’s Creme Brulee Chocolate paired with Offley Rose Port 75cl, Waitrose
   This combination was lovely!! I loved it a lot. The Creme Brulee chocolate dessert was delicious! I ate it in 1 minute LOL! and to my surprise the wine was super nice too. I liked it a lot!! For me this was my second favourite! A really good pairing. Who would’ve thought to combine Rose with Creme Brulee right? It was really good – try it at home! 😉
3. Lily O’Brien’s Praline Perfection paired with Sainsbury’s Asti (Italy)
   This combination was another winner for me if not the number one! I loved this chocolate. Praline Perfection was super yummy and of course Asti for me is a sparkling wine that has a special place in my heart because it is my mum’s favourite sparkling wine in the whole world, so I have grew up drinking this at all our family celebrations instead of a proper champagne. We used it at my wedding too of course. Therefore, for me Asti will go with any combination as I love it so much.
4. Lily O’Brien’s Creamy Caramels with Sea Salt paired with Morgenhof Estate Chenin 75cl, Waitrose (South Africa)
   I didn’t like this combination. I wasn’t a big fan of the creamy caramels with sea salt chocolate. The wine was okay but not one I would buy.
5. Lily O’Brien’s Stem Ginger Batons paired with Mavrodaphne de Patras 75cl, NV, Tesco (Greece)
   This was a dark chocolate again but to my surprise I actually like it and it maybe because of the ginger. I also got a bag of them to take home so Nick tried them and we both really like them. The wine was good too.
6. Lily O’Brien’s Raspberry Infusion Cup paired with Mount Difficulty Bannockburn Pinot Noir, 75cl,Waitrose (New Zealand)
   I like white chocolate so this chocolate was nice. The only thing was that it was a little messy when I wast trying it but I think it is because I was carrying so many things that it was difficult to keep it clean. I guess if I’m at home relaxed I wouldn’t have had that problem. Apart from that it was a lovely chocolate. The wine was fine too.
7. Lily O’Brien’s Key Limey Pie paired with Pointsettia Cocktail 
   This was an interesting combination. The Key Limey Pie chocolate dessert was really nice. I have tried them before and they have never disappointed me. It is part of their chocolate dessert range and they are always a perfect gift. The Pointsettia Cocktail was something new for me as I haven’t tried this before. It is a combination of Prosecco, orange liqueur and cranberry classic. This was lovely – another combination that I really liked.
8. Lily O’Brien’s Double Chocolate Truffle paired with Vin Santo di Montepulciano Crociani 37.5cl, Waitrose (Italy)
   This combination was okay, not one of my favourites. The chocolate was nice and I would happily eat it again. I didn’t like the wine though. As I said I’m not very easy to please with wines as I’m not a lover of wine I’m afraid.
9. Lily O’Brien’s Passion Fruit Posset paired with Seriously Plummy Grand Reserve Maury 37.5cl, Waitrose (France)
   The Lily O’Brien’s dessert collection is one of the best chocolate range that they have but within their desserts this one is not necessarily my favourite one. I like passion fruit but not mixed with chocolate. I didn’t like the wine – so this combination was not in my favourites.

After trying so many different wines I was feeling very hungry so I was delighted to find out that we would have some lunch.

We had a nice selection of tasty sandwiches and they brought all the chocolates and desserts that were on display during the masterclass too. It was really nice! I really enjoyed them!! 😉 Of course we had more wine and champagne – everybody was so happy!! LOL. The best of all is that we all got empty boxes to fill with the chocolates and desserts that were left to take them home! I thought this was a fantastic idea as I really enjoyed them later much more than at the lunch as I was already full! 🙂

After the lunch and before I was ready to leave I had the opportunity to have a photo with Mary Ann O’Brien and another one with Jilly Goolden. In the photos is also Lauren Morton, editorial assistant at LandLove magazine who I met there and she was so lovely. We both met since the beginning and we spent the whole event together. It was really nice to meet people and click so easily in events like this!

I would like to say that Mary Ann O’Brien is an amazing person. She is so nice and so easy to talk with and so down to earth – she couldn’t have been any more friendly with all of us. She really made a good impression with me, and of course her chocolates are super yummy.

They are all delicious. My favourites so far have been the Milk Chocolate Cocoa Cookie Crunch Sharing Pouch. I will definitely buy these ones again.

They are now promoting their latest Christmas Range which are so prettily wrapped, the presentation is lovely. Such a perfect gift for Christmas.

Just to conclude, this was a lovely event. I was so happy to be part of it and to be so lucky that this was my first PR event to attend. Thank you so much to the organisers and to the people at Lily O’Brien’s who invited me to such a beautiful event. All the people at Lily O’Brien’s are so lovely and super friendly. It is such a nice brand.

Have you been to an event like this before. Have you tried these chocolates before? What about the wines? Have you tried any of the ones I mentioned? Will you pair chocolates with wine at home for your guests? Or even for you and your partner as a treat? Leave me your comments as I would love to hear what are your thoughts.

*Disclaimer: I was invited to attend to this event but I haven’t been asked to write a post about it. I’m doing this because I genuinely loved the event, the chocolates are delicious and I had a great time!

Thanks for stopping by,

Love you all ❤️

Franca  💋