What do you do when you've just sold your winery? If you're John Sharffenberger, you help your friend start a gourmet chocolate business. In 1995 John Scharffenberger sold Scharffenberger Cellars, and was looking for his next project. He ended up teaming with Robert Steinberg to form Scharffen Berger Chocolates in 1996.

A few years back, Lori and I had the opportunity to meet and listen to John Scharffenberger at a History of Chocolate seminar organized by the University of California, Berkeley Anthropology Museum. It was interesting listening to John talk about needing to know the growers, and motivating them to grow the specific cacao plants Scharffen Berger was interested in. Seemed quite similar to how important the grapes are to wine.

The Scharffen Berger factory is in Berkeley, and offers tours daily. During the tour you get to learn about the different steps in making chocolate from cacao beans, and you get to taste the chocolate at the steps and relate tastes to process. You get to go out on the factory floor and see the machines in action, provided you wear the appropriate sanitary coverings. Lori and I took the tour this past summer, and really enjoyed it.