The late Tim Spencer, winemaker for his family’s St. Amant Winery of Lodi, was pretty much a traditionalist when it came to making and marketing one of his favorite styles of wine, Port. He was one of the earlier if not the earliest California grape grower to cultivate Portuguese varieties used to make Port traditionally, in Portugal. And in selling his Ports, he went so far as to not include on his bottles the modern barcode. They didn’t use barcodes in Portugal and he wasn’t going to use them in California. That is, until wine merchants balked at stocking his Ports without barcodes. He relented.
Tim Spencer, however, wasn’t entirely a purist when it came to savoring Port. Time-honored accompaniments for Port run to walnuts, chocolates and blue-veined cheeses like Stilton. He may well have enjoyed all that with his Ports, but what he really liked was a Snickers candy bar, preferably frozen. Nothing topped that pairing, he swore.
Memories of Tim Spencer and his fondness for matching Port with Snickers resurfaced as we filled the jack-o-lantern candy dispenser with treats in anticipation of trick-or-treaters, a chore that can’t be done too soon, despite the risk of running out of candy before the first ghoul knocks on the door.
We began to wonder of Tim Spencer’s sage advice, and agreed to put it to a test. What’s more, if Snickers works well with Port, why not other popular Halloween candy bars? Thus, we rounded up several popular candies and lined them up beside the Snickers. I had no St. Amant Port on hand, but a bottle of the Meyer Family Cellars Port ($40) from Yorkville in Mendocino County was within reach. We cut off the plastic “wax” that sealed the neck of the bottle – more time-consuming, difficult and dangerous than carving a pumpkin – pulled the cork, poured a couple of tastes and began to rip open the candy bars.
The Meyer Family Cellars Port is a tawny-style port, lighter than St. Amant’s Vintage Port and Bootlegger Port, but still Port in its sweetness, plump but agile body, finely nuanced layering, and long tantalizing finish. Made solely from Zinfandel, it is a Port of serene composure, releasing suggestions of maraschino cherries, fresh prunes and raspberries. It is a warm and warming dessert wine, clean and silken, with more lift than heft.
The Snickers bar went well with the Port, sweet on sweet, the confection’s nuts, chocolate and caramel dovetailing easily with the Port; in short, Snickers is a modern take on at least two of Port’s customary accompaniments.
A pairing nearly as satisfying was with the Milky Way bar, the caramel of the candy picking up and amplifying a similar thread in the Port. The Almond Joy and the Port held hands tentatively, like a young couple on an early date, unsure of just how snug their grip should be, the coconut of the candy bar playing the role of wary chaperone, intervening in the courtship a bit too much. The Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup was too big for the Port, overwhelming it with its loud richness, complexity and graininess. The biggest letdown was my favorite Halloween treat, Butterfinger, which, like the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup, was too big and busy for the mannerly Port.
Tim Spencer was on to something with his fondness for Port with Snickers, but I don’t know that freezing the candy bar beforehand enhanced the match. As you wait for trick-or-treaters, and have Port and Snickers on hand come Halloween, savor them both at a relatively cool room temperature.