There's a small village in rural Perthshire where a man creates truffles that drop on your tongue like chocolate raindrops and melt like silk.

Known as The Highland Chocolatier, Iain Burnett spent three years creating the perfect "Dark Sao Tome" velvet truffle that judges from 40 countries wept over and called "best in the world".

His second white chocolate entry, with caramel and a twist of liquorice, just took home the same accolade.

"Not everyone likes liquorice, even I'm not a big fan," he muses. "But I like it's subtle notes, especially when added as a twist through caramel."

Iain, 43, is the leader of a small team of gourmet chocolate chefs in his "tiny wee village" who have produced an estimated one million handmade chocolates this year.

He's also, perhaps unsurprisingly, a perfectionist. His first "World's Best" creation went through 350 versions before he was happy with it.

"Maybe that's why other people don't do it," he says reflectively. "Truffles are tricky. They're really hard to make.

"You don't want that crunchy big shell like a gobstopper on the outside."

Instead, Iain happily admits to breaking all the rules of what you can do with chocolate to create something that has made it onto first class on British Airways flights and been approved by Michelin star chefs.

"When you pick one up it's almost like a liquid, so when you drop it in your mouth it pretty much dissolves on your tongue," he says.

"You can make one at home in a few hours by rolling it around and making something squishy.

"Or you can do what we do."

Working out of the small village of Grandtully, population 750 people, Iain composes chocolate melodies with the detailed precision of a brain surgeon.

The slightest thing can affect the outcome of a truffle. If the sun shines, for example, then the cows he gets his cream from eat a juicier type of grass and the entire flavour of his chocolate changes.

If the rare cocoa beans he gets sent from an island off the coast of West Africa grow bigger or smaller, then the hints of candied fruit he is used to tasting could fluctuate. Every six months the cocoa harvest changes and with it, Iain's recipes.

Truffles, it seems, are highly temperamental.

"But that's what makes it special," says Iain. "Things go wrong and it can be so stressful, but experiencing the chocolate is a really special moment.

"When you get to see someone try your creation and you see their eyes light up - that's special."

Iain and his team have been specialising in gourmet chocolate for the past 10 years and say it is Scotland that makes their chocolate what it is.

More commonly known for whisky and shortbread, Iain is openly delighted about bringing chocolate into the fray.

"We're not that known for it but really, we produce some of the best ingredients in the world," he says.

While we may not grow our own cocoa, Iain and his team have blind tasted dairy products to find the perfect cream for his chocolate.

"Some had a sour milk taste, those were from the supermarkets," he says. "Then there was this one that tasted like Greek yogurt with honey in it which turned out to be from a herd of cows just over the hill from us."

His cocoa, he adds, from the tiny African island, has "red, candied fruity notes" which transform into a "black pepper flavour mixed with gingery spices" and then there's "this great smoky after taste" after you've let it dissolve on your tongue.

Though even Iain laughs at his own descriptions.

"Maybe if you're a chef you'll pick up on all of these," he admits.

"Or, if you're a connoisseur you'll pick up on hints of lemongrass - or you can just eat it and think it tastes delicious."

Apparently cocoa sourcing is akin to wine tasting with the similar ultimate goal of creating a great vintage.

"I guess you could say we're trying to create the malt whisky of the chocolate world," says Iain.

"Which is why, when you receive an award like we did this week it's so great for our team.

"I mean, I know they're good, but it says to them - look, that thing you work so hard on day after day? The rest of the world thinks you're good too."

Though he says his most picky critic remains his young daughter Maya.

"She will actually refuse some of my creations over others," he says. "Though she'd probably still happily eat a packet of chocolate buttons."

Next year, Iain says he has a few more things up his sleeve and aims to continue working with his team to create more Scottish chocolate delicacies.

"You're standing on the soldiers of giants," he says. "I'm benefiting from the team, the chefs I work with. The team is fundamental to what we do.

"We're not trying to produce all the chocolates in the world, we just want to make something special.

"Chocolate may not be an essential part of life but it does make people smile and I wouldn't be satisfied unless I did the best I could to make that happen."