The 24th annual Port and Chocolate Tasting in Vancouver hosted by Liberty Wine Merchants at Vancouver Rowing Club featured an array of ports and local chocolatiers from Vancouver. Tickets cost $29.99 and all proceeds went to the Vancouver Rowing Club to benefit amateur sports.
I was invited by Liberty Wine Merchants to enjoy the delicious port and chocolates they had to offer. I thought it would be fun to try all the different varieties of port since I just came back from the Okanagan.
[one_third last=”no”]
Featured Ports from:
Gonzales Byaas
Backyard Vineyards
Elephant Island Orchard Wines
Hester Creek
Rollingdale Winery
Gambrinus Elisir
The View Winery
Niepoort Vinhos
Heitz Cellar
Chateau Aydie
Dacalada Clemente
Smith Woodhouse LBV
Quinta
[/one_third]
[one_third last=”no”]
Decadent Chocolates by:
Koko Monk
Zimt
ChocolaTas
Euro-Excellence
Eat It Up
[/one_third]
[one_third last=”yes”]
Representation by:
Andrew Peller Imports
Appelation Wine Marketing
Bacchus Group
Liberty Wine Imports
Lifford Wine & Spirits
Pacific Wine & Spirits
Mark Anthony
Peacock and Martin
Rollingdale Winery
Vino Allegro
and Vintage Corks LTD
[/one_third]
Port Wine is typically a sweet red wine served as a dessert wine, though it also comes in dry, semi-dry, and white varieties. In a sense it’s kinda like ice wine but originating from the Douro Valley in the northern provinces of Portugal. Of course it doesn’t need to come from Portugal since more and more countries are producing it like Canada, Australia, and other places.
I found the event was a great way to taste the different kinds of ports plus meet those who are producing the wine.
The taste varied from booth to booth, but I found for myself that I enjoyed the white varieties a lot more. Rollingdale Winery from BC, had 5 different ice wines and a Rollingdale Port.
To go with all the Port, chocolate seemed fitting and they brought together some cool chocolatiers like Chocolatas with their samples of salted caramels.
Their chocolates are quite pretty too.
There was a lot more Port booths than chocolate booths, but that was a good balance as you only can have so many sweet things after dinner.
There was even Hot Masala and Pink Pepper chocolates. Pretty cool varieties.
There was definitely no shortage of alcohol here. One of my favourites was the Quails Gate Optima for a dessert wine.
Koko Monk Chocolates had a lot of beautiful chocolates and the owners did a taste test by giving attendees a mysterious ganche and made us guess the flavours. I thought this was interesting since you are making your taste buds do all the work.
Overall, it was a good night for trying different ports and chocolates. I’m a newbie when it comes to wine, so this was a good chance to try a variety of them in one place. I went with my sister who really appreciates wine and she was so busy making sure they were available at the nearby liquor stores.
Website:
http://libertywinemerchants.com/
