I usually like to pair my un-birthday cake with a nice, dry French champagne. After all, if you only have 364 days of the year to celebrate the day on which you were not born, you really should do it up right. But on this occasion, I was seeking a sturdier vino to stand up to my lusciously rich chocolate cake, which was layered with chocolate mousse and frosted with thick chocolate frosting.
I love the way a robust, dry red pairs with chocolate. This 2008 Durigutti Malbec from Mendoza, Argentina was a smashing success. The dryness of the wine blended with the creaminess of the chocolate mousse, creating an exquisite texture. The Durigutti also had faint notes of semi-sweet cocoa that played up the dense chocolate flavor of the cake. Each layer of the decadent cake was almost cloyingly sweet, so a big gulp of the tart Malbec made the pairing that much more palatable. Malbec, chocolate mousse cake, fresh raspberries...luckily, just about every day is my un-birthday.