Best white port wine for every occasion
Best white port wine for every occasion
Imagine yourself on one of those summer days when the sun insists on not going down, and the heat complains about those 90s coca cola commercials. Well, there's nothing like an excellent tonic port to refresh.
Tonic port? But what is that?
As its name implies, it is a mixture of white port wine with tonic water and a touch that can vary from spices to fruit peel. But here we go.
Living in a world of perfectionism and illusionism in the style of instagram, forces us to also dress the tonic port with a gala suit and make this thing something extremely complex. Don't worry, it's not my style. Let's get straight to the point.
Best white port wine to make tonic port
Any cocktail that fits to be drunk before or between meals should be dried, just for the sake of universality with the different possible pairings. Therefore, all dry white port wines are excellent for making a great tonic port.
Here is a short list with some good options:
Quinta Seara D'Ordens Port Extra Dry White
Vista Alegre, Dry White Harbour
Quinta De La Rosa Port Extra Dry White
Regarding tonic water, I refuse to make any value judgement, I am not an expert in water, my scene is really wine. As for that little touch of seasoning that we add to the tonic port, I personally like an orange zest or a little mint. Let's say that everything is allowed here, from strawberries to olives, creativity is the boss. As long as our palate is not run over, everything is fine.
The remaining white harbour wines?
There are indeed a few more styles. I will mention each of them by residual sugar level. Warning since this section is not recommended for people on a diet or with hypersensitivity to things that are too caloric, the numbers can be shocking.
Here it is:
Extra Dry (<40 g/L) - Extra dry white port wine is ideal for making a great tonic port, obviously it is used in many other cocktails. The fact that it has relatively little residual sugar makes it more versatile.
Dry (40 - 65 g/L) - As in the previous one, the tonic port is an excellent option, dry white port wine will have less versatility with regard to cocktails, although it is still widely used.
Medium Dry(65 - 85 g/L) - Sometimes it is difficult to find pairings with too buttery desserts or with high sugar indexes, we find in medium dry white port wine the best option.
Sweet (85 - 130 g/L) - Here we get into an impasse, white port wines with high sugar levels can be difficult to understand. It's almost like consuming a drinkable candy that sometimes becomes sickling. The best option will be to use it in sauces, especially in reductions and sweet and sour sauces.
Tear (>130 g/L) - When the words are left over to the white port wine, the answer is in the name itself. It's so sweet that it even makes us cry.
After presenting all kinds of white port wine, we can only try it to decide which one best suits our style of decay.
Prepare sauces with white port wine
It is true that one of the biggest difficulties for beginners in the kitchen is to understand how they should make a reduction of port wine without it becoming too bitter or simply not reducing it. In fact, the answer is simple, just use the white port wine that has the highest amount of residual sugar. Using a citrus or other element that refreshes the reduction we will get a velvety and flavour-intensive result.
These types of reductions are quite sinful but make an incredible pairing with meats such as deer and duck.
Can white port wine also age?
As in any good monarchical family, even if it is that heir with a tendency to disatise and create constraints to the family, says tradition that once monarchical forever monarchical. White port wine is exactly the most fearless and rebellious member of the family, so for many years it was almost forgotten, ageing and taking root in the depths of dusty cellars. Until someone remembered to bottle these poor forgotten princes and put a date on them. And then, everything changed. From renegades, assaulted and outdated, these wines began to have an intense demand that catapulted them to the international panorama.
Is it worth preserving these dated wines in my wine cellar?
Without beating around the bush, the answer is yes. They are wines with a lot of interest that reflect their time well. But it all depends on our priorities and also on the intrinsic quality factor of the producer.
Here are some more examples of these port wines:
Quinta Seara D'Ordens Port 10 Years White
Quinta Da Devesa, White, 30 Years
By way of conclusion, white port wine is a wine with some versatility. It allows us to explore the world of cocktails, desserts and even the suspicious and intriguing world of old wines. I warn you that it is not a trip for everyone, if I had to compare this type of wine, it would be like going on vacation to Kazakhstan. Nobody knows very well what to expect, but there is the potential to be at least interesting.
The truth is that like everything in life there is nothing like experimenting first. Embark on the trip without fear and enjoy the surprise.
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