For The Love Of Port

I just recently tried an 84 Grahams VP, and paired it with a really nice Stilton blue cheese. Wow, what a wonderful combination.

I'm just curious what people like to pair their port up with (when and if you pair it with anything).

The best pairing with Port is my wife, brother or good friend(s).

Food wise, I prefer to drink Port after everything else has been consumed, including dessert.

Chocolate does not work for me with VP. Like with a cigar, I prefer pairing chocolate with a Tawny Port.

For cheese pairing, I enjoy Stilton but my favorite with ANY cheese is Serra de Estrella when it is ripe enough to serve with a spoon.

Keep the walnuts, almonds, grapes, pear and apple slices ... and please pass the decanter!

Touché Roy

I definitly agre. Port, and any wine in general, is best served with a good friend.

I havent ever tried Serra de Estrella. I'm going to have to walk down to DeLaurenti at the Market and see if they have any. I look forward to trying it.

John,

You won't find it there. On rare occasions, Catherine at the Spanish Table, brings it in. It is circa $40 per lb. There are shops in NYC and CA that do bring it in directly and their pricing might be more advantageous. The cheese, is to die for. Outrageously decadent!

Port is best served with, well, port: of the same house and different vintage; or same vintage and different house; or of the same house and same vintage and different bottle size. Or, needless to say, all of them.

I'm probably doing something wrong, because I tried LBV's VP's and tawnys with Stilton cheese and good quality 70% chocolate, and I couldn't say it added anything much to the experience..

Drinking them by themselves has been just as satisfying..

But I'll keep at it..

I've tried various ports with cheese, apple, chocolate... don't feel bad, it doesn't really do anything for me, either.

I prefer it on its own.

Mike.

I agree, I'm not a big fan of having port with other snack type foods. Although, I've had port with dinner and it goes just as good as any other wine, if paired correctly.

I don't know about that..

Too sweet to be paired with any kind of main course, in my opinion..

I have been here ten days and not one speck of Serra de Estrela cheese has passed my lips. Very odd! On most trips, I have had this with nearly EVERY lunch and dinner.

I am in the camp (as previously stated) of keeping my Port and food/dessert seperate, but an occasional Serra is always welcome.

What is going on here?

I recently talked with Catherine about the Serra de Estrela. Unfortuantly she didnt have any on stock (and probably wont for a while), but said that she is trying to get a few other types of cheese that are very similar in texture and flavor, but no where near as expensive.

While I was there she introduced me to several Spanish cheeses that she did have on stock, which were fantastic! So much so that for the past 3 weeks, the cheese tasting I put on at work (Cheese Thursday) has covered nothing but Spanish cheeses!

Thanks for turning me eye on TST!

Glad you are enjoying The Spanish Table.

Stranger than fiction:

Serra de Estrella in the USA normally sells for about $40 per pound.

I saw plenty of it being sold in Porto for an average price of about 18 Euros for a kilo (2.2 pounds). I am in the wrong business. 8)

Does Spanish Table get Serra de Estrella at all of their stores? They just opened one a few miles from where I live, in Mill Valley, but I still haven't been by there.

Peter

We like Port (LBV, VP) with long aged Gouda cheese.

Michael

Does Spanish Table get Serra de Estrella at all of their stores? They just opened one a few miles from where I live, in Mill Valley, but I still haven't been

When I talked to them, it sounded like you could special order it at any time, though there might be a minimum weight requirement (cheese weight that is ). It didn't sound like they carried Serra with any regularity.

We like Port (LBV, VP) with long aged Gouda cheese

Yea, I know this is a Port forum, BUT since you brought up aged Gouda OH MAN do I have one for you. I just tried two last week that you have to try.

Roomano. This is a cow's milk gouda, aged between 3-5 years. Its dry, crumbly with crystalline texture, with a nutty reggiano like flavor, and strong hints of caramel. This one is absolutely amazing!

The other is Ewephoria. the one I tried is a 4 year aged sheep's milk gouda. Not as dry and crumbly as the Roomano, but even more of a crystalline texture. An amazing flavor, that I was hard pressed to break down into individual components.

John, you seem to be a cheesegeek! Roomano should be very rare, also in the Netherlands as wikipedia says. I did'nt taste a sheep's milk Gouda until yet. It sounds very interesting. I will have to look for it. Not perfect with port (at the most with a white one?), a bit rustic but nevertheless delicious was a young Gouda with caraway on the one hand and with nettle on the other hand. We bought it from a dutch cheesemaker, producing organic cheese.

Michael

Ok, so I love Port and a good blue cheese together. I also love a good blue cheese mixed in a hamburger.

So, if I follow the Transitive Property of Equality (if a=b and b=c, then a=c) then port and a good blue cheese mixed into ground beef, logically will make one hell of a good burger, right?

I decided to put this theorem to a test this last weekend. With enough ground beef for two burgers, I added 3 tablespoons of port (1995 Quinta do Crasto), about 2oz of crumbled Stilton, a tablespoon of bread crumbs to hold it all together, and a bit of cracked pepper. Mixed it all up by hand and made two burger patties, then grilled them.

I have to say, that was one of the best burgers I've ever had! Definitely worth a try!

Jeez, another great way to ingest more Port. Thanks John, just what I need to lose some weight.

Anyone who's been reading old threads on the forum will already know about me and my quirky habits - here's my most recent Port 'n' Food pairings (notice I did NOT say favourite pairings):

Tuesday - My wife's home made Lasagne with a green salad and a glass of Petre's 1995. This was OK. Not something I would rave about but the wine did go nicely with the tomato flavours from the pasta. Which triggers in my mind that tomato pastas and port are a combination I do quite often and which seem to work quite well.

Wednesday - Grilled rashers of belly pork with baked beans, accompanied by a glass of Petre's 1995. Amazingly, this worked well. The fruitiness of the port matched the weird combination of flavours in the baked beans and the acidity of the wine cut nicely through the greasiness of the pork.

Thursday - Chicken and Bacon Risotto with the last glass out of the bottle of Petre's 1995, not a good mix as the creaminess of the risotto clashed with the acidity of the port.

But now I'm wondering when I can next make myself some burgers.....

Alex

Roy:

Serra de Estrella in the USA normally sells for about $40 per pound.

I was in a Portuguese market in Fall River, MA and they were selling Serrinha for $7 a pound. It tasted very similar to the Serra da Estrella. Are you familiar with this type of cheese?

I also stocked up on marmelada. I will have enough to last me quite a while.