The Oenophiliac, J.M. Garcia III, schools us on pairing fine port with cigars

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Whenever a cigar devotee fires up and chooses a tipple of choice, it’s usually the distilled members of the potable squad who get called in. Frequently it’s the Scotch clan that is sent into the arena, because those have a notable smoky note which, you know, goes with something being smoked. But it needn’t be so. Those of us who prefer something less, er, ardent with our Churchills or Lonsdales can find comfort in the fortified wine section of our cellars. (“Regular” wines are, alas, very difficult to pair properly with something which is not only “smoky” but also aflame.)         

The Cliff’s Notes of fortified wines 

There is a tradition in the Uppah Reaches of cigar consumption of pairing cigars with port. You see it in all those drawing room comedies and in half the Merchant-Ivory films; the women saunter off after dinner and the men loiter behind sipping port and smoking cigars and bemoaning the fate of the civilized world under Gladstone or Disraeli. Like all traditions, there is a reason borne of merit behind reason.     

For the moment, let’s concern ourselves with only the loftier percentiles of both the cigar and the fluid accompanist. They share many similarities when you get to these strata. There is often an underlying sweetness once you get past the initial hotness (of ethanol in, say, the port and of smoke in the cigars), and often the same notes appear: sweet spices, caramel, coffee or chocolate. This doesn’t mean, naturally, that you may unscrew the Almaden port and fire up that Hav-A-Tampa and have yourself a sublime experience, ringing for Jeeves and telling Lady Bracknell to bugger off. Because you won’t.

Mind you, what lies before you is a delightful minefield, but a minefield nonetheless. When pairing food and wine there is only one true variable, the wine. (After all, there won’t be material – dear foodies, no nasty/nitpicky emails, please – differences between one cow’s onglet and the next’s, or wild variations in texture from one spinach leaf to its neighbor. If there were, you could just light a massive bonfire with all the cookbooks ever writ.) But when pondering the pairing of cigars and wine you have two wildly variable items at play. Even worse, cigars are items handmade individually. This is like having one guy crush three bunches of grapes and putting the results into one bottle. Then doing the same with another three bunches and another bottle, etc. So, therefore, we have no choice but to deal in glittering generalities. See to it that you have the coping skills to deal with this fact.

In terms of cigars, you have in decreasing order of “strength” the Cuban, Nicaraguan, Honduran and Dominican. Yes, there are others. Yes, these are broad generalizations. Just play along for now.

Snob Tip No. 1: Never, and I mean never, dip your cigar in your port. If you dip the lit end, you’ll put out the cigar, and if you dip the other end, you’ll just make a revolting mess.

Snob Tip No. 2: Unfortified wines simply cannot stand up to a flavor bully like cigar smoke.

The basic flavor components of good cigars (besides the smoke, duh) tend to be along the coffee/bittersweet chocolate corridor, possibly veering off into the sweet-spicy or the caramel-ish end of things. This is vital to keep in mind.

Given these very rough, very drawn-with-crayon parameters, one champion emerges: Port. As stated before, port is traditionally paired with cigars for a reason. Of course, not just any ol’ port will do with any ol’ cigar. There are subtleties and nuances that enhance the pairings.

Some basic guidelines

If a cigar has flavors which tend to the caramel end of the spectrum and it is medium-bodied or lighter (think most Dominicans/Jamaicans and a few Hondurans), you’re really after Tawny port. Depending on the fabulousness of the cigar, you may want to go as far as a 20 year old Tawny (I especially enjoy Dow’s), but beyond that the delicate aspects will be lost as the smoke pushes these more ephemeral components off-screen. If this is your standard for cigars, stick to a solid 10 year old Tawny port (Graham’s is my favorite in this class) for all but the most outstanding smokes.

If a cigar is a bit stronger in flavor, if those flavors are pretty solidly of the coffee/cocoa variety and there is a bit of body to the cigar (think most Hondurans and a few Nicaraguans) you’re after a Late Bottled Vintage or “Vintage Character” port. Both of these give a very good indication of what is going on with their respective Big Brothers on the spectrum, and give nothing away in terms of enjoyment. Try Fonseca Bin No. 27 (which is, incidentally, an outright steal) or Rozes LBV.

If, however, the cigar is clearly flavorsome, if those flavors are clearly nutmeggy/cinnamony/nutty and they are full bodied (think most Nicaraguans and almost all Cubans) you are after a “Nimrod.” The Warre’s Nimrod is ideally suited, with sweet and sweet-spice notes that, frankly, hit you where you live.

Learn more about port, visit Vinapedia’s Port & Sherry page.

Post Links from Wine.com:

Cockburn 20 year old Tawny - Port Dessert Wine

Graham’s 10 Year Old Tawny Port - Dessert Wine 

Fonseca Bin No. 27 Port - Dessert Wine

—J.M. Garcia III

Photo Credit: Muffet via Flickr