For The Love Of Port

Dear all, This is a subject that has not been researched well at all, and I would be extremely hesitant to make any pronouncements on the beneficial or deleterious effects of decanting, whether this is to oxygenate or get rid of bottle stink. As the above thread amply show, we have all had good AND ...

Dear all, Merry Christmas and a happy New Year. May your gifts be large and plentiful and your (no doubt Port-induced) hangovers be modest. I once had pan-seared turbot with a red wine and port sauce in a Michelin two-star restaurant in Copenhagen. The sauce was made with fish stock, a bit of (light...

Hi Bjoern, I am indeed Danish, and I live and work in Kazakhstan (check http://www.maxpetroleum.com for details on my work place). The local wine unfortunately is not very good, even though they actually make a Port type that the call "portvein". All wines tend to be unintentionally oxidis...

Dear Roy, Good point. They also do really good PX near Montilla. By the way, the Montilla style of dry, oxidized white wines is what has named the Amontillado style of Sherry. I had a fantastic dish in the wonderful town of Cordoba once (if you have not been there, you are missing out on one of the ...

Hey Moses, I thought you Americans had laws against Cuban cigars?

Dear Marco,

I think you are spot-on.

I don't smoke at all, but on the couple of occasions that I have tried smoking a cigar, it coated my tongue with an acrid taste that lasted for a week. My sense of taste was completely skewed. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that if you smoke a cigar and taste wine at the same time, what lit...

I have promoted this one before, but mostly drew negative reactions: Really young peppery and tannic VP is the only match I know of for pepper steak with green pepper sauce. Try it.

For me the choice comes down to matching with food. Port is lovely with blue cheese, desserts containing nuts, etc. However, if the desserts get overly sweet and/or cold (ice cream is a prime example, but chocolate cake is also a killer), Port will lose out, and this is exactly where the PX comes in...

Dear all, I must agree with Kris, and if I could just add that - in principle - Colheitas are your best tawnies. The better wine will normally taste fresher at a certain age than the lesser wine, all other things being equal. As to the "freshening" process, I can't work up any great sentim...

Port-style wines are being made with great success in South Africa and Australia, both from Port grape varieties and from others (typically shiraz and grenache in Australia). Tinta Barroca is fairly wide-spread in both countries, and is also being used to make excellent, characterful table wines. Ve...

I am at about 10% out of some 1200 bottles. I'd like it to be more, but I keep drinking it..... The rest of my cellar is around: 45% Italy (predominantly Piedmont - Barolo/Barbaresco, then Tuscany, then rest of Italy) 35% France (predominantly Burgundy, then Alsace, then Bordeaux - mostly '86, then ...

Dear all, A range of questions here. Let me try to answer a couple of them: For really good Sherries at not too high prices, try to go for Lustau's range of Almacenista Sherries. These are Lustau's top of the range, hand-picked single batches of Sherries, complete with indications of size of batch i...

Dear all, I frankly think Sherry is the most underrated of the great, classic, civilized wines of the world. I am a great fan of Port, but (almost) equally in love with Sherry. The range of flavours in Sherry is probably unequalled anywhere else, from bone dry and light (e.g Manzanilla Pasada) to ex...

Dear Tom, The 1863 I had was at a wealthy friend's place a few years back. I have no idea what it had originally cost, but I believe it was purchased at auction (Christies). My lucky friend was not in the habit of divulging prices of wines, lest this get in the way of enjoyment...... I have not had ...

I have had it with the cream sauce, several times. My own way to make it work best with port is to base it on a really good, well reduced dark beef stock (homemade, no salt). Start with simmering some finely chopped shallot in a bit of butter (most not colour, just soften), then add stock, then a bi...

Dear Derek, Many thanks for your reply. I would agree that port is probably best tasted in a serious manner on its own, however, port is also a perfect conviviality wine, and downing it in good company, and often with food on the table, happens to us all rather frequently, I suspect. Besides, port w...

Dear all, I felt the need to start a discussion on food pairings. Most discussions center in very strict port issues (vintages, quality, price etc.), but for me port is also very much a matter of sharing with others, enjoying good company (as mild to severe intoxication overtakes you), and having gr...

I personally think that vintages have little relevance when it comes to colheitas. The best colheitas invariably stay for long periods in wood, and it is my contention that it is common knowledge in the wine industry that wines based on exactly the same raw materials develop very differently in thei...