Drink Wine With Cake Like a Sommelier at New June’s “Girl Dinner”
At New June’s latest event, baker Noelle Blizzard and sommelier Alli DelGrippo show how cake and wine bring out the best in each other.

New June’s Girl Dinner / Photograph by Hannah Snyder
I love a glass of wine with dinner, but I almost never drink with dessert. So, when New June Bakery announces it’s hosting an event centered around pairing wine with cake, I’m intrigued.
Weeks later, I’m standing in New June’s Brewerytown bakery with a plate of cardamom pistachio cream and raspberry cake in one hand and a glass of Roditis in the other. After a few tastes, it occurs to me that not only can cake and wine go together — they can also bring out the best in each other.
It’s the first of four pairings led by sommelier Alli DelGrippo and New June founder Noelle Blizzard at their “Girl Dinner” event, held on a mild spring evening in mid-March. I’m joined by a group of women gathered around a table bearing a spread fit for Marie Antoinette. There are four vibrant cakes decorated in the bakery’s signature Lambeth style, a pyramid of grapes adorned with miniature bows, and an assortment of savory snacks from the new wine bar and market Supérette (which DelGrippo works with through her brand-building business Dearest Media).
DelGrippo and Blizzard often meet for girl dinners of their own and wanted to bring the experience to a broader group of people. For Blizzard, it’s also an opportunity to introduce New June fans to specialty cakes that aren’t typically on the menu and offer a different way for them to experience the bakery. She hopes people can interact in the space in “the way our team gets to enjoy it all the time, living and breathing and working in it,” she says, “rather than the more superficial experience of walking in and buying a slice of cake — which of course is lovely, and that’s what it was designed for, but I just think it’s capable of so much more.”
As for DelGrippo, it’s a chance to pour lesser-known wines and nudge people out of their comfort zones. The sommelier says the goal of her tastings is to “challenge some wine biases because in my career I’ve found those are my aha wine moments — the moments that I’m like, this is how I think about it, and then I taste something that makes me completely change my mind.”

A cake and wine pairing / Photograph by Chloe Pantazi-Wolber
As a New June staff member hands out cups of wine and pink paper plates of cake, the event kicks off. DelGrippo plucks a bottle from a bucket, standing before the group. But before she tells us about the wine, the sommelier talks a little about her unpretentious approach to tastings. On the phone the next day, DelGrippo elaborates: “Why does wine have this perceived sophistication, like you’re less of a person or you’re less intelligent because you don’t know about the thing in your glass? The goal of all my tastings is to eliminate that barrier to entry.” I appreciate this during the event, where there’s none of the formality of a traditional wine tasting. Instead, it’s more like a mixer for cool girls, sprinkled with wine talk from DelGrippo. The sommelier speaks about each wine the way your well-read friend might tell you about the book they just finished and loved, as she shares how the wine complements what we’re eating, while Blizzard talks about the flavors of her cake. And it’s refreshing when DelGrippo tells the group that it’s okay if a wine isn’t for you — if that happens, she says, just leave it in your cup!
I finish most of the wine we try, and I especially like the white we’re drinking for the first pairing: a Roditis from the Greek winery Sant’Or Wines, matched with New June’s cardamom pistachio cream and raspberry cake, made with a cardamom-spiced sour cream base, Italian pistachio buttercream, raspberry cardamom jam, and lemon and rose Swiss buttercream. Between forkfuls of cake, the Roditis has a crisp feel, dry but not too dry, with a slightly sweet and salty finish, and I like that it brings out the mix of fruity, citrusy, and nutty flavors in the dessert. DelGrippo chose a mineral-driven wine to go with the floral notes in the cake: “We were working with floral plus a waxy nuttiness from the pistachio,” the sommelier explains. “I wanted something that rode shotgun to those notes,” she says, adding that the salt in the wine helps heighten the cake’s citrus flavor while breaking up its floral tones.

Alli DelGrippo pouring wine / Photograph by Hannah Snyder
For the second pairing, DelGrippo pops open a bottle of Frankenstein grand cru, an Alsatian co-ferment that blends pinot gris and riesling from the French winery Leo Derringer, to serve with New June’s cookies-and-tahini cake. The dessert is a chocolate-lover’s dream, with tahini caramel, Oreo cookie whip, and a buttery graham crumble sandwiched between chocolate chip-olive oil and chocolate devil’s food cakes. It surprises me that DelGrippo has chosen a wine with a pretty strong flavor for this pairing, but it all makes sense when she explains that she wanted some acidity to cut the sweeter elements of the cake. Out of all the wines from the evening, this one is my least favorite on its own, but I like the taste when I chase it with some cake and can see how the two work together.
Next, we try a pét-nat rosé from Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley, made by Mersel Wine, with New June’s PB&J cake. A mix of Sangiovese and Merwah (a Lebanese grape), the wine holds its own against the strong flavors in the chocolate chip-olive oil cake, which features strawberry-rhubarb jam with a hint of cinnamon, mascarpone whip, sticky peanut butter pie crumble, and peanut butter and honey Swiss buttercream. “The reason I went with bubbles is because peanut butter can really stay with your palate, so I wanted something to clear the palate halfway through the tasting,” DelGrippo says, adding that the sparkling wine’s strawberry notes match the fruit jam in the cake. This wine is another I’d easily drink on its own. It’s also my first time trying a Lebanese wine, and I’m glad to have been introduced to a region that I’m not used to seeing represented in bottle shops.
The tasting ends with a carbonic carignan from the winery Two Shepherds, based in California’s Mendocino County, and a slice of Earl Grey brownie sundae cake, comprised of a tea-flavored base with Earl Grey mascarpone whip, chewy brownie bites, honeycomb pieces, and a citrus Swiss buttercream. Like the first cake, this one isn’t usually on the New June menu, but it’s a popular flavor when the bakery gets requests for wedding cakes, and after a bite, I can see why. With a unique, luscious combination of flavors, there’s so much going on in this cake that I don’t expect to be drinking red wine with it, but it’s a lighter red with a jolt of brightness and fruity notes that go with the flavors in the dessert. “I went carbonic because I picture Earl Grey as very flat in my head, and I wanted a little bit of a lift,” DelGrippo says, noting that the wine’s raspberry flavor complements the citrusy buttercream and pairs nicely with the brownie bits since chocolate and raspberry are a no-brainer together.
By the end of the night, I have an aha moment of my own. I’ve tried a variety of wines that I probably wouldn’t have reached for in the past and found a new favorite. And I’m starting to believe that cake and wine are a good idea together. It really comes down to figuring out the combination you like.

Noelle Blizzard setting the Girl Dinner table / Photograph by Hannah Snyder
Curious to learn more about wine and dessert pairings after the event, I asked a few other wine experts to weigh in. Kaitlyn Caruke, a sommelier who runs the wine programs at Superfolie and Supérette, says she loves to pair chocolatey desserts with a bright, crunchy red wine. For example, she pairs the chocolate mousse at Superfolie with pinot noir or syrah. Benjamin Kirk, the beverage director at Caletta and Bastia, also recommends those wines with chocolate and says to try medium-bodied reds with a cherry-forward or fruit flavor with something like a chocolate ganache. The same types of wine work well with olive oil cake, Kirk says, adding that they like to pair the one on Bastia’s dessert menu — made with lemon and Luxardo cherries and served with a pistachio gelato — with Monica wine (a medium-bodied Sardinian grape variety). For something fruity, like a rhubarb galette, Caruke suggests a brambly pét-nat rosé and a white Burgundy to go with desserts featuring lemon, custard, or almond. Michael Lancaster, wine director at Irwin’s, likes to pair anything with almond, orange peel, or citrus curd with Sercial Madeira to bring extra brightness and acidity to those flavors.
When I ask if there’s a rule of thumb for pairing wine with dessert, Lancaster says to look for something with some sweetness in it. At the same time, he says, “Having sugar in the wine is a boon, but not a requirement by any means,” adding that “Champagne is one of the most versatile pairing wines in the world.” On the other end of the spectrum, Caruke says she’d steer clear of full-bodied, “in-your-face” reds that can overpower desserts and advises asking the experts at specialty wine stores for their suggestions.
But ultimately, pairing wine with anything is a matter of trial and error. “There are all these wine rules and stuff, but at the end of the day,” Kirk says, the only thing that matters is that you feel good about what you’re having. “Rules are meant to be broken, and there are certain things that might not seem like they’re a match but end up being a match,” they add, noting that it’s worth “looking outside of the box and just trying new things.” Worst case, you don’t love a certain combination. When that happens, Caruke says, “Think about it critically,” and ask, “What would have made this better?” The answer will probably point you in the right direction.
New June Bakery has another “Girl Dinner” event slated for June 11th. Tickets cost $165 and will be available to book on New June’s website.