For The Love Of Port

I ran across an article on the Ramos Pinto blog .

Here is an article written by the journalist Johan Veenstra, about the fusion between East and West, between the cuisine of western and old world wines. The article was published in the Netherlands, reporting the success of the event organized by Casa Ramos Pinto, represented by its Export Area Manager, João Machete Pereira and Yujin Japanese Restaurant. At the end everyone was happy with this experience so interesting and delicious!

I am not sure if it was in the NYTimes or Washington Post where I was quoted mentioning Port and Sushi and the person doing the article thought I was out of my mind. He was right of course, but I'll stick to my guns about the pairing and glad to see others willing to try this.

Tawny and Sushi . . . can't be any worse than Port an peanut butter
Since my better half loves Sushi , I feel an idea in the works .

Luc or anyone else who tries this, please DO report back here!

I do believe that I'm going to give this a try later on this week. Normally I wouldn't even consider this combination, but I'm willing to give it a shot!

Marc J. wrote:I do believe that I'm going to give this a try later on this week. Normally I wouldn't even consider this combination, but I'm willing to give it a shot!

Please do try it and be sure to let us know how it goes.

So I tried a Burmester 10 Year Old with some sushi and I had mixed results. I found that the Port created was a nice accompaniment to the California rolls, but a bit much when paired with the sushi. The wine clearly overpowered the delicate flavors found in the fish. It was fun experiment, but there are far better wines, IMHO, to pair with a nice plate of sushi.

Marc J. wrote:So I tried a Burmester 10 Year Old with some sushi and I had mixed results. I found that the Port created was a nice accompaniment to the California rolls, but a bit much when paired with the sushi. The wine clearly overpowered the delicate flavors found in the fish. It was fun experiment, but there are far better wines, IMHO, to pair with a nice plate of sushi.

I wonder if a white Port may fair better? Maybe more of a lighter crisp dry style? Or maybe even a White Port and Tonic?

It seems to me that the title of this article is rather misleading. I didn't see any mention of the ports actually being paired with sushi or sashimi. It sounds like they were pairing the wines with richer Japanese dishes such as eel, fried items, and meat dishes with sweet sauces such as teriyaki. In that case pairing white and tawny ports sounds like a pretty logical and enjoyable choice. I can't imagine any port being subtle enough to not totally overwhelm raw seafood, though if I was going to give it a shot I think Andy's suggestion of a white port spritzer would be my choice.