#419 Port's Viagra - Graham's port & food lunch

Imagine the scene.  It is the 10th February, four days before Valentines day and every single florist throughout the land knocks their prices down to their cost price.  Roses are on a buy one, get one free deal and if you spend more than £20 on a bunch of posies, you get a third off.  It wouldn't happen would it?  Florists know that Valentines day is their boom period and they can make pots of cash, so indeed, they may even increase their prices at the beginning of February to make up for a lousy January.

Similarly, chocolate pricing doesn't go down just before Easter, and sunglasses don't go on promotion when the sun starts shining.  But in December, at the exact moment when people start drinking port, port pricing hits the floor.



I'm not going to get into an argument of whether it is the port houses that reduce the prices to try and dominate the market share, or if it is the supermarkets that decide making a £12 bottle half price will entice shoppers into their outlets, but the result is that the cheaper end of the market is, well, prostituted for turnover by some elements of the supply chain.  And it is a bloody shame.

Port isn't trendy, it isn't enjoying the promotion of independent wine merchants that sherry is, and, lets be honest here, red ports are not exactly easy drinking, with even the slightest of over indulgence leaving you with a crushing pain in your head the next morning.  Port's only apparent advantage over its fortified rivals is its vintage level wines, providing a simple to understand branding for emerging markets, longevity for collectors and supreme quality for the drinkers - all for very little money.  But selling higher end ports are all well and good, how do you sell the everyday drinking ports throughout the rest of the year and not just at Christmas or when the price is slashed down.  One option being investigated by Graham's is to pair their ports with food.  It is a trick being used with sherry, and has worked, and port houses are eager to get their product away from the reputation of being drunk at the end of a meal with cheese.  I was invited to a lunch to explore this further.

We started off with white port, and as it was a tasting, there was no point in showing a Port & Tonic, but the Graham's Extra Dry White Port showed a slightly nutty aroma, with some apple coming off, mixed up with a bit of honey and sea salt.  The palate was wonderfully dry, with some alcohol coming off, but with some honey flavour - though not sweetness - emerging.  It is a fuller style of white port, good, but a little imbalanced.  Tasty though.  84pts.  I do think that this wine, in a Port & Tonic, would work very well though, and could be an excellent aperitif with a selection of canapes.

What would you pick to pair with a Chicken Fillet with sweet balsamic vinegar and apple compote?  How does a late bottled vintage port sound?  The 2006 Graham's LBV had a sweet and savoury aroma, with some balsamic notes and a lovely hint of bramble and chocolate coming through.  A sweetness coming off the palate with liquorice flavours, spice and darker, earthier flavours.  Quite dry on the finish with a raisin flavour.  This is one of the wines that is usually price hacked, but it is a good tasty wine.  Maybe not quite worth the £14 that I saw it priced at my local supermarket, but certainly worth far more than it has been thrown out at in the past.  I was sceptical about the pairing with the chicken, feeling that the balsamic element of the dish was just a not to the sweeter aspects of the wine, but I was wrong.  The balance between both the port and the food was perfect.  Certainly, the balsamic sweetness partnered the LBV's sweetness, but the apple compote was inspired as it brought out the freshness of the wine, and the earthier flavours of the chicken engaged the savoury flavours of the wine.  Touches of spice from the wine added seasoning to the food - just perfect.

The second course was partnered with one of the Symington Group's red wines, but I tried it with the LBV again.  A Slow cooked wing rib of beef with celeriac and pear was the dish and again, the sweeter stickier elements of the food went so well with the sweet, jammier flavours from the wine.  The Celeriac worked beautifully with the spicy and dark elements but the pear didn't offer the lift that the apple in the previous course did, but this dish wasn't meant for this wine, so you have to forgive it.  This affordable port was, again, a fitting partner for the food, and I can think of numerous recipes found in celebrity cook books that anyone can make that would go well with this wine.

We then went up a touch in price for the ports and onto a trio of desserts.  The Graham's Six Grapes port paired with a dark chocolate and cherry pudding was a lovely couple.  The port was soft, with lush gentle fruit, a cinnamon spice coming through and some plum jam mixed with a touch of honey.  The palate had some heat, and then dark, spicy flavours with cigar tobacco on the back end.  86pts  The chocolate pudding brought out the cocoa elements in the wine, with the spice and fruit working well together.  If anything, the sweet liqueur cherry brought out the fruit in the wine some more, making it a delightful experience.  Next along was the 1999 Graham's Malvedos Single Quinta wine, a dark, damsony aroma with cocoa and chocolate abound.  A very sweet, leathery, dark palate, quite closed with mint and earthy spices.  It is a good port, but still too young.  90pts.  However, when eaten with a fresh strawberry dipped in dark chocolate, everything changed.  The fresh berry brought out the fruit in the wine, cutting the darker flavours and injecting a bit of oomph into the wine - basically, the strawberry was port viagra.

Finally, Graham's The Tawny.  Soon to be a 10 year old, we tried the current non-age-statement port.  Darker raisined fruit on the nose, with a lovely balance of fruit, spice and nutty elements, all coated in honey and with a sprinkling of salted caramel.  The palate is all about dried citrus peel, cashew nuts and more of the salted caramel, with just a little bit of alcohol heat.  I like this port a lot.  90pts.  It was matched with Creme Brulee, served in a dark chocolate cup.  To be honest, I could have done without the dark chocolate cup, as the creme brulee paired beautifully with this wine - creamy vanilla custard emphasising the fruit and calming the alcohol heat, and the salty, nutty flavours of the wine balancing out the caramel on the surface of the custard.  It really was a perfect food and wine pairing.

The one thing that disappointed me was the last course.  The wine served was a 1980 Graham's Vintage Port, a herbal smelling wine with light dried berries, cinnamon, nutmeg and a cherry menthol element too.  Baked berry pie was on the palate, lots of raspberries, blueberries and brambles mixed with a sweet berry syrup and some lavender infused through it all, finished off with a little cigar smoke.  Remarkably youthful, and a really tasty bottle of port.  93pts.  Sadly, but predictably, the wine went with a selection of cheeses.  Sure, it worked, and it was a lovely end to the meal, but I can't help thinking that, despite the LBV showing well in the starter and main course, if the vintage had been showcased with the main course, Graham's would have displayed that all ports, regardless of category and price, can be paired with food, and not just reserving the best wine to go with cheese.

The biggest surprise for me was the Malvedos paired with the strawberry, as the fruit managed to release the potential of the wine, and I believe that events like the one I attended could do the same for the port category.  Consumer's preconceptions of port need to be challenged, and a port and food pairing can be the sort of event that does it.  Lunches like this could prove to be the port industry's own type of little blue pill.

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Thanks to J.E. Fells & Wine Importers