Unforgettable food for port

By Fiona Sims

Gillyane Robertson sets down a craggy-looking loaf on the breakfast table at Vargellas. "It's made of grape must - you must try it." The steaming bread is devoured in seconds, its sweet, heady aromas provoking sighs of delight. The still-fermenting grape must of port is combined with flour, cinnamon, raisins and nuts. An unforgettable port-recipe experience, one of a number from Robertson's kitchen.

She is the grande dame of Taylor's Port. Married to its owner, Alistair Robertson, she tirelessly wines and dines an endless stream of chefs, journalists, trade visitors and faithful customers at Taylor's quinta, Vargellas, deep in Portugal's Douro valley.

Here, Gillyane demonstrates the versatility of port over dinner-party chatter, with her menus leading neatly to matching sessions and other recipe ideas dropped casually into conversation. This new-found knowledge trickles back to restaurant menus and wine lists all over the world, nudging sales upwards.

But if a lagar is not to hand - for a freshly-trodden spoonful of still-fermenting port must - then how else can chefs use port in imaginative ways? "Ooh, let's see - soak game in port for a couple of days, then cook it very slowly, with mushrooms, chestnuts and onions - delicious," she suggests. "And take soup - I add white port to most soups, we don't mix it in while it's cooking, we add it at the table, otherwise you burn off all that alcohol, losing its wonderful nutty flavour."

Produce in the Douro was limited in the old days. The journey from Oporto took far longer than the creaky four-hour train ride that edges the river today. "So I evolved my own form of cooking," she says. Now there's an impressive herb and vegetable garden, cascading in neat terraces down the hillside. Is that pumpkin? "I bought some seed in America," she confirms. "We slash it, then bake it with butter, brown sugar and Port - quite divine."

The Taylor's lodge in Oporto has a popular restaurant for visitors, with panoramic views up and down the Douro. It caters for around 24,000 diners a year and Gillyane oversees the menu.

"We do simple things like hollowing out a melon, making balls, then putting them back in with tawny port poured over the top, and a sprig of mint," says Gillyane. "We also mix port and raspberries and pour that over ice-cream," she adds.

Drinking port with food provokes equal enthusiasm. "Tawny and puddings," she sighs. "One of my favourites is tawny port with a sort of floating island dish I do - a soft meringue with almonds. Though a memorable match for me was at the Ritz in Paris once - I had seared foie gras with a 20-year-old chilled tawny. Magical.

"Then there's LBV with chocolate - it has the body and strength to deal with chocolate. It goes with game too, extraordinarily well."