carinab Posted February 15, 2006 Share Posted February 15, 2006 Wow. So Valentine's day is winding down. I got the loveliest of cards from both my daughter and hubby, some very nice flowers, and a spectacular lunch at a local sushi restaurant today (quit wincing EricW - sushi is tasty). I made some nice steaks for dinner accompanied by a spinach salad and broccoli brown rice. To top off a wonderful day of celebrating the loves in my life, I tried a suggestion I found in a local paper; ruby port wine paired with dark chocolate. Adjectives fail me at this point. It was amazing. I've heard the usual wine snobs talk about pairing cheese with certain wines but that image usually only evokes things that are aged and decaying for me. I'm more of a Beer/Nuts versus Champange/Caviar kind of person - I've not delved into the world of wines as it strangely gets me drunker than straight liquors. But I am here to tell you, dark chocolate and ruby port wine is pretty damn fine. If you decide to try it, don't pair it with some loser, common everyday hershey bar (apologies to those in PA). Get some alkalai processed european or specialty american dark chocolate. Put the crow bar to your wallet and pony up the $4.00 for the good stuff. There are two types of port, Ruby and Tawny. Supposedly tawny port wine tastes of caramel so perhaps it would pair better with milk chocolates if that's your druther, I'm not sure. But next time I stop by the liquor store, I may have to buy a bottle just to see. Hmm....time for another glass and tidbit of chocolate..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ima45dv8 Posted February 15, 2006 Share Posted February 15, 2006 I've never really had an urge to drink port. Nothing against it, it just never occurred to me. Now you've got me thinking about stopping by the spirit store first chance and picking some up. Is there a particular brand of chocolate you can recommend? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
outerlimits Posted February 15, 2006 Share Posted February 15, 2006 1970 Dow Port, but the 1955 is still drinking fine-with dark chocolate, i might add... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AikiDale Posted February 15, 2006 Share Posted February 15, 2006 Or if you are on a budget a nice 20 year old Cockburns Tawny Port is very nice and I would recommend Hoffmans dark Meltaways for the chocolate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SiG Lady Posted February 15, 2006 Share Posted February 15, 2006 Expensive dark chocolate + high-end gourmet coffee..... Mmmm..... Double-mmm..... Super-unspeakable-mmmm...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kimel Posted February 15, 2006 Share Posted February 15, 2006 Ah yup! And don't forget that a well aged quality cabernet or merlot is also killer with chocolate. We have been getting a lot of "Green & Black" organic chocolates of late. Outstanding stuff. There seems to be a real resurgence in chocolate of late. There is some wonderful stuff coming up direct from central america (don't have one right now so can't come up with the name) that includes some hot pepper in the mix. Incredible. A tawny port does go very well with the lighter chocolates. I tend to go tawny port with a fine cigar and ruby port with dessert though. A number of the Washington wineries are now doing ports. I have a wine tour coming up this fall due to a most awesome V-day present from my sweetie...winery tour plus pro landscape photographer guiding us around the Yakima valley wineries...I can't wait!. Anyway, ports will definately be on the shopping list. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vlad Posted February 15, 2006 Share Posted February 15, 2006 Tawny ports are wonderfull indeed. Just make sure you get a 10year or older bottle, Portugues. The "real" ports all come from a fairly small area of Portugal, and unlike champane, it does make a difference. A lot of the American tawny ports are actually a blend of ruby and white, while real tawny port is ruby port aged for 10+ years in wood barrels and the color naturally lightens. You will find tawny labeled as 10, 20, 30, 40 years old, and it doesnt really mean what its age is what is on the bottle, it means that the port "council" has decided that it taste as if it was at least that old. Its odd, but in reallity tawny ports with age labels are at least 10 years old , the rest of the date is about flavor. You should try a bottle rated at 20 years or so, its isa good price to flavor compromise, as the 40s can ran $100+ per bottle. And yes .. port and chocolate are yummy. So are port and berries. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carinab Posted February 15, 2006 Author Share Posted February 15, 2006 I've never really had an urge to drink port. Nothing against it, it just never occurred to me. Now you've got me thinking about stopping by the spirit store first chance and picking some up.Is there a particular brand of chocolate you can recommend? Dow port is what I picked up as it was middle of the price range. I'd nod to Vlad as he seems to have experience with the wines. As for chocolate, Lindt Excellence (85%) is what I bought from World Market (at the same time as the port). Lindt isn't my favorite but the quality is good and it's one of the few bars with that much cocoa. The percentage defines the cocoa level and most bars have either 70% or 58.5%. El Rey (intense lingering flavor - my fav), Green and Black's are also good choices. I've tried Scharffen-berger but I wasn't impressed. Valrhona is another brand I've seen but haven't yet tasted. I've heard from others it was good. But chocolate is like love - very subjective! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick Sweeney Posted February 15, 2006 Share Posted February 15, 2006 If you love chocolate then get thee to Belgium. I'm not sure they know about port (it's a beer kinda place) but they make chocolates to die for. Every little town has a chocolate shop, where they make it fresh each day. The Belgian laws concernign chocolate are very strict and closly defined. As one example, they use fresh cream, so you can't stash a box away for next year's b-day. Buy it, eat it, relish it, remember it. Then get more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hey QuicksDraw! Posted February 15, 2006 Share Posted February 15, 2006 I like fried sushi. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carinab Posted February 15, 2006 Author Share Posted February 15, 2006 If you love chocolate then get thee to Belgium. I'm not sure they know about port (it's a beer kinda place) but they make chocolates to die for. Went there on a business trip in 2000 (?) for a week - and you are very right! I drank lots of beer and ate lots of chocolate - Then got on a plane, landed in DFW, grabbed my gear, and drove to Louisiana to shoot A4 the next day - felt like I was in another dimension between the chocolate withdrawl, jet lag, and hangover. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vlad Posted February 15, 2006 Share Posted February 15, 2006 I'd nod to Vlad as he seems to have experience with the wines. Oh I know next to nothing about wines. I do like port (which is not quite wine) so I did some reaserch. Thanx to Al Gore, its amazing what you can learn about obscure topics (like the history of port) by asking the internet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SiG Lady Posted February 16, 2006 Share Posted February 16, 2006 Yes, the south-of-the-border chocolates bring new meaning to the term "Hot Chocolate." Yum... yum.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kimel Posted February 16, 2006 Share Posted February 16, 2006 They make a hot cocoa mix with the chili pepper in it...now that stuff is AWESOME! A mug of that with a shot of bourbon thrown in is realllll close to nirvana. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
n2ipsc Posted February 16, 2006 Share Posted February 16, 2006 Tawny ports are wonderfull indeed. Just make sure you get a 10year or older bottle, Portugues. The "real" ports all come from a fairly small area of Portugal... And - surprisingly - Australia. If you ever try Galway Pipe (good luck finding it in the States - rare as a pro-gun Dim-o-crat), you'll never go back... (Pretty tough to beat Warre's Otima Tawny if you're in a pinch, BTW...) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SiG Lady Posted February 16, 2006 Share Posted February 16, 2006 Whoa... Chili'd chocolate with bourbon!... I'll be right over!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tightloop Posted February 16, 2006 Share Posted February 16, 2006 Thanks for all the good suggestions for Port...I love wine but am new to Port...I have gathereed enough suggestions in this thread to last thru the first quarter of the year... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geezer-lock Posted February 16, 2006 Share Posted February 16, 2006 All you folks in the Austin area can get over to Whole Foods and get a couple of bars of Blanxart Chocolate Negro. Imported from Spain, 62% cocoa! I'll bet they carry the port to boot. David C Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carinab Posted February 17, 2006 Author Share Posted February 17, 2006 I'm surprised that this thread has such legs that it's still walking. Speaking of which, time to go polish off the last of the port and enjoy a little more chocolate...Of course that'll be another 15 minutes on the tread mill. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlamoShooter Posted February 17, 2006 Share Posted February 17, 2006 All you folks in the Austin area can get over to Whole Foods and get a couple of bars of Blanxart Chocolate Negro. Imported from Spain, 62% cocoa! I'll bet they carry the port to boot.David C Yeeaaa ... Thaatss the Ticket.... The Austin crew can bring it to Double Tap for the Friday night BE fling. in Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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