Pair Up with La Sommelierre - December 2011
All Port Dinner
The holiday season is the time to splurge. We buy expensive gifts, eat decadent food and drink special wines. This dinner features port-style wines paired with rich foods like roast duck and Chocolate Lava Pudding Cups. It will make any occasion special.
Port-style wines are named for their birthplace, Portugal. The style was created when Portuguese producers needed to prevent the spoilage of their wine on the long journey by ship from Portugal to England. The solution was to add alcohol to the wine before just before the sugar had all fermented out. Now, port-style wines are made all over the world and California creates some of the most delicious.
St. Barthelemy Cellars, located in the Vaca Mountains, produce only port-style wines, and they make it out of almost every red grape grown in California. I had never tasted pinot noir or barbera grapes made into port wine until I had St. Barthelemy wines. It is truly a winery to seek out and visit.
The best port wine to pair with a starter salad is barbera port because barbera is a high acid grape. As a port, it is the perfect balance of sweet and sour. But if you can’t find a barbera port, try a traditional Portuguese ruby port. Use arugula as the base of your salad and add morello cherries, a tangy blue cheese and dress the salad with the Sweet Walnut Dressing. The wine’s acid will stand up to the vinegar in the dressing, and the bitterness of the walnuts and arugula will be balanced by the sugar in the wine.
The tannins and alcohol in port are tamed by the fat and salt found in Roast Duck with Port-Cherry Sauce. Port-style wines made with syrah, cabernet or merlot are all good pairing partners. The cherry-port reduction will complement the sweetness and echo the fruit found in a port-style wine.
Rarely do I recommend chocolate desserts and wine, but port-style wines are the exception and zinfandel port is exceptional with dark chocolate. Try these Chocolate Lava Pudding Cups for just the right texture and flavor.
So, go on. Pair Up!
Find recipes online at www.lasommelierre.com
