Wine with flourless chocolate cake - should I fuggetaboutit?

Epicurean Exploits - Food and Recipes
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One of my wine mentors (in the business for 50+ years) swore that the only thing that goes with chocolate is aged Zinfandel. Never tried it myself.

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Thanks to all for the suggestions. You have helped move me away from fuggetaboutit. We have never had a Banyuls which was mentioned a few times, and so will take this as an opportunity to try one. Cheers.

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If you can find it, the Banyuls should be a vintage Grand Cru. There is a world of difference between them and the NV and lower end vintage Banyuls. They are inexpensive. A good vintage Rivesaltes will work well too.

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I donā€™t have a ton of experience with Banyuls, and most of the few Iā€™ve had have been lower end-ones (from a smattering of producers), so you should probably listen to Michael. I will say that even those that Iā€™ve opened all had a rich red-fruited character than plays really well with chocolate. Hope the pairing works out well for youā€¦please report back!

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I recently had Vin Jaune with a dark chocolate ganache with hazelnuts and walnuts. It worked. The nuts might have played a role though. And Iā€™m a sucker for Vin Jaune. But still, it was an unorthodox but successful pairing.

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Tesseron 29

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I like red Vermouth, particularly Muz by Patrida Creus.

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This. My most memorable pairing with a rich chocolate dessert was a Domaine du Mas Blanc Banyuls CuvĆ©e St. Martin (I think this was in 2007, thereabouts) - I canā€™t recall the exact vintage; but think it was a late ā€˜70s.

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Jim, Iā€™m curious to know what you paired and how it worked out.

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Brandon, plans sometimes go off course and they did with this one . . .

I settled on the Banyuls suggestion, and picked up a bottle of 2017 Chapoutier Banyuls Rimage and put it in the fridge in anticipation. As cake-baking day unfolded, my wife was concerned that the vanilla custard was not thickening. I was puzzled what role the the vanilla custard was to play with the flourless chocolate cake - a sauce perhaps? I asked. Turns out we had a lack of communication and she was preparing a glorified graham cracker dessert, not the flourless chocolate cake that I thought (or at least strongly imagined) that we had talked about. The custard remained soupy and the completion of that recipe was aborted. Rather than bring up the flourless chocolate cake again after her setback, I opted to serve the Banyuls as an aperitif, and also as a pairing for our dessert of . . . graham crackers. Oh well. https://www.wineberserkers.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=3321568#p3321568

Thanks for asking, Brandon. Cheers.

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Madeira and dark chocolate. I prefer Verdelho, Terrantez, or a not too sweet Boal.

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Even the best laid plansā€¦ [cheers.gif]

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Pineau des Charentes or Barolo Chinato

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Yes! Or Banyuls. I donā€™t think thereā€™s any other good answer.

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Haha, well, I hope youā€™ll try Banyuls or Maury with a chocolate dessert at some point. Classic pairing. Even other dessert wines (other than Bracquetto) taste terrible with chocolate to me.

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Ouch. You made the right call on not mentioning the cake.

Iā€™ve enjoyed both Banyuls and Brachetto dā€™Acqui with chocolate in the past but not to the extent that I went out of my way to repeat the experience.

My favorite pairings are still Armagnac or coffee.