Porto/Chocolate Pairing?

[D. Martinez]

Hello fortified lovers -

I have been reading this forum for a while and have been learning a lot from all of you.

This is my first post so here we go :)

I am hosting a porto tasting this Friday, I will basically have a tasting of a ruby, a standard tawny, 20 year tawny and a 1980 vintage.

I have not been able to find good info about recommended chocolates to pair with porto. If there is already a good discussion in this forum, please point me to it.

What I have found in general is that dark chocolate is the way to go. I don't completely agree with this since me and my wife have found that good milk chocolate truffles taste better with porto than dark chocolate ones.

Good results so far:

- Milk chocolate truffles filled with nougat
- Milk chocolate truffles filled with caramel

Please let me know about your recommendations and experiences. We have good places around to get truffles but the variety is too much and need your input on this.

Thanks so much.

Cheers!

[Moses Botbol]

I would expand your food pairs beyond just chocolate. Have a sampler of milk & dark chocolate. Also have on hand some cured meats, dried fruits, nuts, and cheese. Port and chocolate are two of my favorite things, but not necessarily together...

[John M.]

I find chocolate pairs up best with fresher rubies (basics, reserves and newer LBVs)...usually without carmel/toffee etc. Just plain.

Agree with Moses on cured meats. Fig spread is excellent. Sharper cheeses are better than milkier ones. Some of our favorites are cave aged cheddar & smoked cheeses. Keep in mind the pairings with rubies is a different than tawnies (there is cross over). Mixed nuts work with both, but especially the tawnies.

[Tom Archer]

I'm not sure who first suggested pairing port with chocolate, but I really don't think it works at the quality end of the port spectrum. Like Stilton, it works well with low-end ports, but where there are delicate flavours to appreciate in the wine, it only serves to blind and corrupt the palate.

What does pair well with good VP is fillet steak. Lesser cuts have an abundance of fats, which, whilst tasty, are also palate corrupting. Fillet is not only the finest of meats, but is also neutral on the palate.

[D. Martinez]

Moses, John & Tom, thanks a lot for your replies! I will experiment with your chocolate and non chocolate suggestions.

I will be careful while paring the vintage and weaker ports.

Tom, that's an interesting one about steak. I have never tried port with steak before as I have not seen that one as a recommended one. I will def try it soon. I have found that following recommendations in books and websites does not always get you your best pairing. I know folks that really dislike chocolate and port pairings, but then some others say it's the perfect pairing and nothing else pairs better with chocolate. One friends finds that the best pair for Riesling is Apple Jack cereal! Go figure, that's the beauty of pairings, you love what you love

Once I had an interesting tasting with a port style wine (fortified pink wine made in Washington State), the wine house had a truffle pairing, they did not know the exact recipe of the truffle but they said it was milk chocolate and the filling was some sort of cheese, one of the best pairings ever!

Cheers.

[Moses Botbol]

I know folks that really dislike chocolate and port pairings, but then some others say it's the perfect pairing and nothing else pairs better with chocolate.

I like Champagne with Chocolate better.

[Glenn E.]

I'm not sure who first suggested pairing port with chocolate, but I really don't think it works at the quality end of the port spectrum. Like Stilton, it works well with low-end ports, but where there are delicate flavours to appreciate in the wine, it only serves to blind and corrupt the palate.

What does pair well with good VP is fillet steak. Lesser cuts have an abundance of fats, which, whilst tasty, are also palate corrupting. Fillet is not only the finest of meats, but is also neutral on the palate.

Tom's pretty much captured everything. I suspect that much of the reason is that chocolate is usually sweeter than Port, so the pairing makes the Port taste sour (at least for me). So I prefer very dark chocolates in the pairing so that the Port is at least as sweet (if not sweeter) than the chocolate.

All I would add is that Tawny Ports often go better with cheese than Ruby Ports, especially milder cheeses such as comte, gouda, swiss, manchego, and white cheddar. You might want to have some of those handy to go with your 20-yr old Tawny.

I drink LBVs with red meat such as steaks all the time. They pair very nicely.