Rich And Hot

This Shopping Season, Look for Chocolate On the Luxury Level

Once, it was enough just to unwrap a bar of chocolate and eat it. Now, you must understand it.

Note the glossy shine that indicates the strong bond between the cocoa butter and the cocoa mass, instruct the makers of Vosges Haut Chocolat on the packaging of their Barcelona Bars. Release its complex aromas by rubbing your thumb across the top, and savor the smell. Only then should you finally taste it, feeling the chocolate melt around your tongue.

Like coffee before it, chocolate is going complex and upscale. This holiday season, look for Tasmanian honey wrapped in dark chocolate from Godiva and custom-made boxes tied with double-faced satin ribbon at exclusive Manhattan specialty store Bergdorf Goodman. Christmas is the peak time for premium chocolate sales, and big candy companies and small chocolatiers alike are rolling out some of their most high-end products to date.

"Chocolate is not always about eating," said Laure de Montebello, co-owner and chef of Sans Souci Gourmet Confections, an independent chocolate shop in New York that fills those custom-made boxes at Bergdorf's with peppermint truffles. "Chocolate is a 'feel' business."

That may be why readers of December's Vogue opened the magazine to find a gorgeous model giving a come-hither look -- to a piece of Godiva chocolate. Godiva wants customers to feel like divas, a play on the company's name and the focus of an advertising campaign that began last year targeting women ages 25 to 40. That demographic is the most likely to buy chocolate, consuming roughly eight servings each month, according to a report on premium chocolate by consumer-research firm Mintel.

To help entice them, Godiva has introduced a line of "platinum" chocolate this year to go along with the new ads. The assortments sell for between $8 and $80 and draw their inspiration from fashion -- think mousse fillings as airy as chiffon, spokesmen say. Godiva also brought back its "ultra-premium" G Collection last week. At $120 per pound, it is the company's most expensive line ever.

Even mass marketers such as Hershey Co. are making moves into the premium arena. This summer, the company created a division called Artisan Confection and bought two gourmet chocolatiers, Joseph Schmidt Confections and Scharffen Berger Chocolate Maker. And Russell Stover recently launched its own line of premium chocolates. Dubbed the Private Reserve line, advertisements for it trumpet "elegant sculptures" of milk chocolate and dark chocolate made of up to 70 percent cacao.

At the Godiva shop in Tysons Corner Center, employee Maria Forselet said gift boxes of all kinds were flying off the shelves Friday. But customers were especially intrigued by the company's new lines, she said.

Forselet was interrupted by three women loaded with shopping bags and looking exhausted. They were looking for sweet pick-me-ups, preferably with caramel, before calling it a day.

"People who want to take a moment out and truly self-indulge want to do it in a way that's elevated," said Sharon Rothstein, vice president for global marketing and merchandise for Godiva.

Call it the Starbucks effect. The ubiquitous retailer introduced the word "barista" into the national lexicon and raised the bar for what customers would pay for gourmet coffee. Why shouldn't consumers do the same for a Michel Cluizel chocolate bar in which all the beans were picked at a single plantation in Madagascar?

"This is the Starbucks generation," said Suzanne McGrath, owner of the Curious Grape, a wine shop in Arlington that sells Cluizel's bars. "All you have to do is tell them about it, and it piques their interest."