#Port

12 hours ago

WINE OF THE WEEK: Quinta do Noval Late Bottled Vintage Port 2016, Portugal

£19.95–£26.75, Master of Malt, Cheers, Cambridge Wine Merchants, Ocado, Bon Coeur Fine Wines, Oddbins Never mind saving this until Christmas, I can't think of a more comforting wine in this cold weather. Late bottled vintage ports simply don't come better than this. Sit by the fire or wrap yourself in a blanket (or both) and soak up its rich embrace of blackberry, fig and black cherry, dark chocolate and mocha, Christmas-pudding spice and velvet-smooth tannins. Like Quinta do

Dec 21, 2021

The Festive Sweet, Sticky and Fortified Wine Guide 2021

As ever, my annual sweet and fortified wine guide is the place to rummage for many of the wine world's greatest bargains. More than that, it’s a source of aperitifs and of restorative and comforting wines for long dark evenings (dry, medium and sweet); it's a place to research accompaniments or alternatives to puddings and cheese; and it’s a provider of inspiration for gifts. It’s divided into three: sweet wines, then sherries, where you’ll find dry wines for aperitifs as wel

Dec 18, 2020

The Festive Sweet, Sticky and Fortified Guide 2020

Sweet wines and fortified wines, dry as well as medium and sweet, are some of the wine world's greatest bargains. They're wonderfully comforting on long, dark evenings and come in a kaleidoscope of styles to suit every taste. They make ideal presents and sweet wines, unfortified or fortified, can be served not only with puddings and cheese but instead of them, when you're time-poor, ingredient-poor or simply don't want any more to eat. I've divided them into two groups below:

Dec 19, 2019

The Festive Sweet, Sticky and Fortified Guide 2019

‘Tis the season for sweet and fortified wines, for entertaining, for communing with quietly, or giving as presents. Fortifieds, in particular, are often bargains and the Riesling, Tokajis, Sétubal, Madeira and single quinta port I’ve chosen can all be cellared. So can the Noval LBV, but that’s not the norm. Deciding on the order of wines in this guide is always problematic and this year I have reverted to ascending order of price, but within three categories: Sweet, Dry Sherr

Dec 18, 2018

The Festive Sweet, Sticky and Fortified Guide 2018

SWEET WINE Domaine Cady Coteaux du Layon Saint-Aubin Les Varennes 2015, France Old-vine Chenin made from botrytis (aka noble rot) affected grapes. Lovely intensity and depth of honeyed peach, apricot and spice flavours allied to riveting freshness. Those with willpower could cellar it for a decade. Those without could drink it with a wide variety of puddings (but ideally not chocolate) and cheeses, or instead of them. 12%. for 75cl: £17, The Wine Society Château Roumieu Saute

Dec 20, 2017

The Festive Sweet, Sticky and Fortified Guide

Sweet and fortified wines come into their own at this time of year – for entertaining, sipping quietly and contemplatively, or giving as presents. With the exception of pale dry sherries and tawny ports, most can be kept several years (in cellar conditions). Fortifieds, in particular, are also often bargains. So here are my picks for this year, going from dry to sweet and/or fresher, lighter to richer, heavier (rather than in ascending order of price, as with my other Festiv

Apr 15, 2017

Wines to Pair with Chocolate – how to make it work

This an updated post from last year – wines, vintages and prices updated. Chocolate can be a tricky customer when it comes to matching wines, but it’s certainly not a no-go area. Believe me, after years of selfless testing, I’ve come up with winning combinations (below) for chocolate in all its forms. If you’re looking for pairings of your own, keep two things in mind. Firstly, even when it’s dark/bitter with a high cocoa percentage, chocolate is sweet. Secondly, it has a tex

Dec 20, 2016

The Festive Fortified Wine Guide

Fortified wines are the perfect, relaxing wines to sip when life moves into the slow lane in the evenings and over the festive period. They also make great presents. The Marsala will be a revelation if you've never had a really good Marsala; the Late Bottled Vintage port can be cellared like a vintage port, which makes it a bargain at the price; and I’ve also included a Vin Santo below because it’s higher strength than table wine and fits into that same meditative, close-of-a

Oct 29, 2016

Is co-fermentation the new black for Port?

Co-fermenting – fermenting different grape varieties together happened by default in the past It was a while since I’d been in the Douro when I went last month. The last time I was on a port mission it was to research the ageing and blending of Tawny ports, so I spent some time investigating casks of slumbering Tawny in the lodges in Oporto and spent even more time ensconced in a plain white tasting room with three blenders and hundreds of samples of Tawny port. On the recent

Mar 23, 2016

Wines to Pair with Chocolate – and how to make them tango

Chocolate can be a tricky customer when it comes to matching wines, but it’s certainly not a no-go area. Believe me, after years of selfless testing, I’ve come up with winning combinations (below) for chocolate in all its forms. If you’re looking for pairings of your own, keep two things in mind. Firstly, even when it’s dark/bitter with a high cocoa percentage, chocolate is sweet. Secondly, it has a texture that coats your taste buds, so you need wines that can power through

Feb 29, 2016

Boozy Food with Spirits: Tips and Extras

Fortify yourself with… A bottle of madeira and a bottle of Australian liqueur muscat or PX (pedro ximenez) sherry. •Use the madeira for deglazing pans when you’ve fried, grilled or roast some meat. Madeira is good because of its unique tang, but sherry , port and marsala also work. Sherry has the advanatage of being widely available and any style can be used as long as you take into account the sweetness/dryness. •Douse ice cream (choc, coffee, ginger, rum and raisin, vanilla

Dec 24, 2015

WINE OF THE WEEK: Graham's 10 Year Old Tawny Port

£16 (on offer), Sainsbury's Waitrose, Ocado, £19, Oddbins This is a bottle to pick up if you’re still rushing around buying last-minute presents, or if you want a port for cheese that doesn’t need decanting, or if you want something to serve with mince pies, chocolate, or dried fruit and nuts. In a stylish, clear glass, dumpy bottle to show off its colour, it’s a rich, luscious Tawny with flavours of dried and fresh figs, nuts, toffee and spices. To get the full effect, remem

Dec 18, 2015

Keep Up Your Strength: Festive Fortifieds

Fortified wines are among the wine world's great bargains. They make excellent presents and it's worth pointing out here that the rare Terrantez Madeira and the Pedro Ximénez (aka PX) can be kept for months once opened (although the need may well not arise...). I have also included, below the four fortifieds, a gem of a Canadian Ice Wine. It, too, is a bargain. The fortifieds are listed in ascending order of sweetness, starting with a dry sherry. Watch out for last-order date