Welcome to our Featured Wine series! Each month Damian will profile a Doffo wine, giving you a little bit of back story about the winemaking process, what to expect when you taste it, and what kinds of foods to pair it with. We hope you enjoy and visit us soon to learn more about our handcrafted wines! Our Featured Wine of the Month for February is our Doffo Port.
As a winemaker that also works in the tasting room I’m always asked for opinions and food pairing recommendations. I find it interesting that on a majority of the tastings, I hear the same comments time again right before I pour the Doffo Port:
“Oh, I don’t like port.”
“I like port, but I don’t know what to pair it with other than chocolate.”
I hope to shed some light on the process behind this delectable wine and how you can further enjoy it. First of all, it’s good to understand that Port is the king of shelf life. Due to the high sugar and alcohol content, Ports can withstand the test of time even after opening the bottle. This is convenient because as a sipping wine, you won’t be going through a bottle very quickly.
On the technical winemaking side, the production of a port is very interesting. We stop fermentation by adding brandy, leaving the desired amount of residual sugar. With our Doffo Port we use a modified “Solera” style when it comes to aging. This means that we only bottle a fraction of what is produced while continuously blending the older vintages with the more recent. Our current Doffo Port is made from Zinfandel grapes and is composed of 7 vintages. The result is layer upon layer of flavors, deep oak tones and a rich, full mouthfeel not found in ordinary wines.
Ruby Ports are the ideal partner for an after-dinner cheeseboard or chocolate dessert. Full flavored cheeses such as a good Cheddar or Red Leicester will nicely contrast the sweetness of the wine. If you enjoy the Port and Chocolate pairing, we highly recommend our Doffo Chocolate Bon-Bons, which are actually filled with Doffo Port. It’s an all-in-one-wine and food pairing.
Port is very useful and extremely versatile in cooking because of its strong, fruity flavors and of course its sweetness. Port lifts game dishes to heavenly heights and makes a wonderful reduction or gravy for roast meats. I highly recommend a port wine reduction drizzled over venison or filet steak, or for you dessert lovers, over poached pears or even ice cream!
I hope I helped shed some light on this great wine! Salud!
Try this. Pair Doffo Port with your favorite French macarons. The flavors will compliment each other and the wine will not overwhelm the sweetness of the macarons.
Loved reading this,,, I do love PORT…. and love Doffo’s PORT… but this was a very interesting information to read and learn… thank you