This is one of my favourite parts of travelling: Wine tasting!
Porto (spelled Oporto in English) and its surrounding region is where the magic of Port wine came to life. We were lucky enough to get a taste of it. We initially planned on going out to the country side to see the actual vineyards but I got food poisoning for most of our time in Portugal so long distance trips were out of the question.
When I finally felt better, we went to Taylor’s to check out the wine cellars.
Was it ever worth it!
The lady giving the tour was great and extremely knowledgeable. I love when people are passionate about what they do!
Here are a couple of pictures taken inside the cellars. The size of the barrels is quite impressive!
After the very interesting tour, we went back to the wine tasting area. We were a group of about 8-10 and we got to taste 3 different ports; A dry white port, a ruby port (called ruby because of its colour) and a Tawny port, which has more of a caramel and nutty flavour. The Tawny was our favourite but we honestly loved all of them.
This was the view we had while tasting the ports. I know.
After talking with the tour guide, we had the option of walking around the property and enjoy what was left of our port testers. This is the spot we chose. Amazing view right?
When we were done, we bought a bottle of the Tawny (about 10 euros) and went back home to cook!
I was almost 100% back to normal after 10 days of sickness and this whole port experience got me all excited about trying a new recipe!
I sent Karl to get some fresh strawberries and Vanilla Bean Ice Cream while I was preparing my newest concoction; Port reduction!
Next time you are having last minute guests for supper, please give this a try! It is as simple as it gets!
The only thing to remember is to stay with your reduction until it is ready! Do not leave its sight because it might just turn on you!
Enjoy!
Alex
xox
Course: Dessert Yield: 2 servings Cook Time: 15 mins
Ingredients
- 1 Cup of port
- 1 Cup of vanilla beans ice cream
- 6 strawberries
- a bit of fresh mint to decorate
Instructions
- This recipe is really as simple as it gets.
- For 2 people, place 1 cup of port (if you like sweeter port, then go with a ruby, if not, try a tawny) in a heavy bottom saucepan.
- Place over medium heat and let simmer and reduce until is has a maple syrup consistency,about 8 to 10 minutes,depending on the heat of your stovetop. Remember that the sauce is really hot and that as it cools a bit, it will get harder so try not to cook it too much because it will do the same thing as overcooked caramel, it will get really hard as it cools down. It is always better if your reduction is a bit more liquid than it's supposed to rather than too hard :)
- Once your reduction has reached the right consistency, transfer it in another bowl to make sure it stops cooking.
- You can let it cool a bit and serve it while still warm on a bed of fresh strawberries with fresh vanilla bean ice cream and a bit of fresh mint for decoration!
- Making reductions like this is really hard because of the sugar content. You might not get it right the first time but don't give up! When you get it right, this stuff is like pure gold!
