Port and Chocolate Cake

So here I am, with a couple of bottles of port wine in my cellar, and summer is well on its way. What's a girl to do? Port, a fortified red dessert wine, is definitely the kind of beverage you think of sipping in front of the fire place rather than by the beach fire pit... But much of this spring has been cold and rainy, and I just could not wait to open the Sugar Creek Vineyards Signature Port which I had picked up on a recent trip to Missouri.

Yes, you read right, Missouri. They do make wine there. Even port! Even more interesting is the fact that this ruby port is made from a grape called Cythiana, also known under the name Norton, which is Missouri's state grape, by the way, and is only grown in North America.

But back to my dilemma. I just had to use up this bottle before the hot summer days, and the folly did not end there, but I also decided to pair it with a decadent chocolate cake. Do I even have to mention that said cake had a buttercream frosting? Well, you probably guessed it by now.

As expected, the combination was just decadent. Port and chocolate are perfect pairing partners, in my opinion. The wine has flavors of black cherries and dark chocolate, and you can definitely tell the higher alcohol content typical for port.

If I had to sum it up, it's "Mon Chéri" in a glass. What is "Mon Chéri"? It's a chocolate candy available in most of Europe, chocolate on the outside, a whole cherry floating in liqueur on the inside. My mom's favorite, by the way. If we didn't know what to get her for Mother's Day, a box of "Mon Chéri" would always do the trick. But I digress... Personally, I'd go for the glass of port with chocolate on any given day... Final verdict: a good combination!