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White Port

StephenT

By StephenT
in Wine

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StephenT

StephenT

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My wife recently returned from Portugal and brought me a bottle of white Port (Fonseca Siroco). I assumed it would be a dessert wine but upon reading the label and noticing that it said "Porto Aperitivo" I realised otherwise. Having a quick look on the net told me that it was indeed an aperitif and should be served chilled.

My immediate reaction was that I'd expect it to be similar to Sherry but of course have no idea. Its alcohol level at 20% is somewhat higher than the dry sherry I usually drink at home (15.5%). Has anyone had much experience of white Port? I could find out by just opening it and drinking it but was planning to keep it to drink with some friends for its novelty value.

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Fat Guy

Fat Guy

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The French seem to like it as an aperitif. I don't get it. It's very sweet and seemingly inappropriate for such a purpose. Not the slightest bit Sherry-like, unless you're talking crappy-ass wino sherry.

Steven A. Shaw aka "Fat Guy"
Co-founder, Society for Culinary Arts & Letters, sshaw@egstaff.org
Proud signatory to the eG Ethics code
Director, New Media Studies, International Culinary Center (take my food-blogging course)

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  • 1 month later...
Fat Guy

Fat Guy

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I wonder if the concept of white balsamic vinegar is related. Now that's nasty stuff.

Steven A. Shaw aka "Fat Guy"
Co-founder, Society for Culinary Arts & Letters, sshaw@egstaff.org
Proud signatory to the eG Ethics code
Director, New Media Studies, International Culinary Center (take my food-blogging course)

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Bux

Bux

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The French seem to like it as an aperitif. I don't get it. It's very sweet and seemingly inappropriate for such a purpose. Not the slightest bit Sherry-like, unless you're talking crappy-ass wino sherry.

Not having had white Port, I can't comment on the particular bottle or the genre, but the French often drink sweet aperatifs. Muscat is a common choice for before dinner. My guess is that in France, more muscat is drunk before dinner than with desert. A sweet aperatif is an acquired taste. As it's French, I'm sure others here could explain why it's a taste worth acquiring.

:biggrin:

I assume you are not saying all sweet sherries are crappy ass, either.

Robert Buxbaum

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Niall

Niall

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Theres some good aussie white ports around; but I generally don't drink them as aperitifs; More usually as a less sweet dessert wine, or just with a nice cheese platter; my two favs are the plantagenet and Gralyn versions; both from Western Australia.

'You can't be a real country unless you have a beer and an airline - it helps if you have some kind of a football team, or some nuclear weapons, but at the very least you need a beer.'

- Frank Zappa

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britcook

britcook

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The French seem to like it as an aperitif. I don't get it. It's very sweet and seemingly inappropriate for such a purpose. Not the slightest bit Sherry-like, unless you're talking crappy-ass wino sherry

Clearly a man who has had very little, if any, white port. It is not "very sweet" and doesn't aim to be Sherry-like, although some people might like to compare and contrast. Like Madeira, another Portuguese product, Port comes in varying levels of sweetness with the white Ports definitely at the drier end, probably nearest to a decent Sercial.

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Fat Guy

Fat Guy

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Note I didn't say it's Sherry-like or that it's supposed to be. I was answering someone else's post. It's true I've had very little, and that's because what I've had has been so unappealing. When I was in Oporto (I should say Vila Nova de Gaia) I tasted probably six of them -- Taylor, Calem, Sandeman, some others but by then I was too drunk to focus -- just in the normal process of visiting the houses and they were all what I'd characterize as sweet wines. In France I had a terribly cloying example from Ramos Pinto. The only one I've had that was dry as you're describing is the Messias, which is the only good one I know of. But if you have additional bottles to recommend I'll try them if I can get hold of them.

Steven A. Shaw aka "Fat Guy"
Co-founder, Society for Culinary Arts & Letters, sshaw@egstaff.org
Proud signatory to the eG Ethics code
Director, New Media Studies, International Culinary Center (take my food-blogging course)

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nightscotsman

nightscotsman

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I have a bottle of the Prager white port that tommy mentioned. After a quick taste test I can say that though it is sweet, it's not as sweet as the Dow ruby port and does have some similarities to a Hartley & Gibson amontillado sherry - particulary a yeasty flavor. Of course this is just one domestic white port, so I can't make any generalizations or comparisons to European white ports. I would drink this as a chilled aperitif, since I don't find it sweet enough for a dessert wine. Definitely nice with cheese.

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Tonyfinch

Tonyfinch

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Can't agree that white port is hard to distinguish from red port with eyes shut.White port is a clump of a drink compared to any red port above the very basic level.

It's best drunk ice cold mixed with soda or lemonade and a twist of lime as a thirst quencher on a hot day, which is how its mostly consumed in the Douro.

It's also good in cooking when you don't want a dark finish to a dish.

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tommy

tommy

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I got it at the Prager winery in Sonoma. Funky, funky tasting room in an unheated shack, but great people and really nice port. I wish I had gotten more  :sad:

was jim prager there? we spent about an hour with the guy. he's pretty cool. great job if you ask me.

ediot: the man's name is jim, not john. :wacko:

tommy:eats.com
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nightscotsman

nightscotsman

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was john prager there?  we spent about an hour with the guy.  he's pretty cool.  great job if you ask me.

Couldn't tell ya. I was way completely ignorant at the time, so I wasn't even sure of what I was tasting. I am glad that I waited a few years before opening the bottle I bought, since now I think I can appreciate it.

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tommy

tommy

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was john prager there?  we spent about an hour with the guy.  he's pretty cool.  great job if you ask me.

Couldn't tell ya. I was way completely ignorant at the time, so I wasn't even sure of what I was tasting. I am glad that I waited a few years before opening the bottle I bought, since now I think I can appreciate it.

did he look like santa?

tommy:eats.com
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chopjwu12

chopjwu12

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I have had soem experience with white port since i am portuguese i kind of always had it around the house. I agree with most people when said its best served chilled with cheese. But thats how i like it. We did sweet breads with it at the restaurant however. Very good.

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malarkey

malarkey

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aggghh! I must resurrect this thread. I went to Prager Port Works in early September. I loved this place. Jim Prager was there running the cash register, the showroom guy was there conducting the tastings (great glasses you got to take away from the tastings, eh?) and the artist who designed a few of his labels was there signing bottles. Way cool. I tasted the white port, but to tell you the truth, it didn't blow me away. I think I need to taste it by itself, not alongside a bunch of other ports/dessert wines. What they did have that blew me away was an muscat, and I brought home a couple of bottles of that. Also brought home the Madeline, signed by the label designer!

now that I'm back, I wish I'd bought more of that muscat. I need to look around here and see if I can find it...

Born Free, Now Expensive

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