For The Love Of Port

My wife and I tried Port with steak as I said we would. We began with an aperitif of 1994 Lajido (from Pico where we intend to live when we sell our present property). The fillet steak was accompanied by onions fried in butter, mushrooms and chips. The Port was a Burmester Extra Dry White. We gave i...

A ruby, as you suggested. In my case usually an LBV from the drier side of the spectrum. I've also found that a 10 year old white Port goes surprisingly well with a wide variety of food. I meant what else do you eat with your steak when you drink Port. I also tend to drink a young port when I eat s...

I do like a young VP, LBV or good Ruby with a steak. I think it goes quite well. I wouldn’t go heavy on the pepper though. I usually only use sea salt on my steaks. I agree with Andy about the pepper - some for seasoning is fine, but a "pepper steak" is probably too far. Black pepper can ...

Opened last week, but 7 days to drink them. Four Rubies. From last to first preference were Burmester, Cruz (Signature Reserve) and the back label says to drink with a peppered steak. Query that one, but anybody tried a Ruby with a steak? If not I will give it a go and report back. I much prefer an ...

Given the size of the islands, and the shape of the bigger ones such as São Jorge and Pico, it is somewhat difficult to get away from the sea. I suppose it all depends on how close you want to be. We certainly do not want to live at sea level or on the edge of a cliff. You know the problems with liv...

Mike, I keep forgetting to follow up on two points I mssed in my response to you- the first is that the coastal stretch of mainland Portugal is very crowded (at least by our standards where we have always lived in what some peope would consider isolated circumstances) and the other is that the price...

We have lived inland for most of our lives - 400 miles from the coast when we were farming in Australia. We have both always liked fresh water fishing (twice, including here, having our own stretch of river) but had a brief spell 30 years ago of doing some sea fishing from the rocks in NSW, Australi...

I do not post much, primarily because I have nothing of consequence to say. I do lurk from time to time. My wife and I still drink our 3 to 4 bottles of Port a week, but have given up on Vintage over the last few years. We find that Ruby suits our palates and food better. We only drink when eating, ...

I agree that some of the same label wines have changed in the few years I have been here, and for the good as far as my taste goes, but some appear to be using more Touriga Nacional than previously and I find that too fruity at young ages. The wines of the area I live in, Beira Interior, have genera...

Thank you all for your further comments on the Tesco VP. Sorry that it took the thread off topic a wee bit.

So we can assume that the Tesco 1997 VP is actually made by Symington, which is really all that matters. It has to be good quality. The cork is stamped only "1997 Vintage Port". I had hoped it would show a name. I knew they all bought in grapes from other landowners, but I was not aware th...

I find your comments on the tannins interesting. I came here in 2003 and began filling the empty cellar the previous owner left me - meanie. I will leave some for the next bloke if I get my asking price. If I die before I sell my son might leave something. Despite the size of my nearest town Castelo...

So does that mean Symingtons are buying in Port from other people and just bottling it, in which case I may have led my son astray. Or is it actually a deal that Symingtons have with the supermarkets (as I thought it was) and the Port is also made by Symington?

Quite a few, but the purpose of my post is that my son bought a supermarket own brand (Selected by Tesco) 1997 VP for £16. I have told him to buy everything he can find at that price because the label states that it is bottled by the Symingtons in V.N. de G. He said it was "surprisingly good va...

Any old Baga with Roast Beef (preferably Scottish) and Yorkshire pudding. Plus veg of course.

Intimidation.

Moses, One thing you can guarantee is that it will be a lot more pleasant than in Boston today. You have my sympathy. I like it on Christmas cards, but otherwise I do not miss it.

That's not so warm. SATA had great airfare deals for that time frame. What did you expect? It is lovely weather. I had some info from when we came here, but Googled and looked up a site http://www.accuweather.com after I logged on now and they say the historical averages are 17 and 8. 17ºC during t...

An informed guess is (in Porto) the mid-teens Centigrade during the day, possibly topping 20ºC, but only just, and overnight lows 8 or 10ºC. Sorry no idea about upstream.

Justin, Any particular manufacturer's pata negra? We have tried what we bought (the Madeira equivalent quality of Ruby Port at a guess) with Portuguese presunto and did not like it. We have found though that all three of them go exceptionally well with my wife's mince pies. US people might not be fa...