Our favorite time of the year is coming – Christmas in Porto! This wonderful season brings family and friends together and includes an endless array of parties. The whole holiday season offers us countless reasons to open a good bottle of wine and make a toast!

Portugal, being a country where nature and skill blend beautifully together, has an impressive gastronomy that truly shines during Christmas in Porto. This is most evident on a traditional Portuguese Christmas table. We now invite you to join us on a short tour of our favorite Portuguese wines and delicacies for this special season.

Pssst… If you happen to be in Porto for Christmas, join our Food & Drink Tours and discover a side of Porto that most tourists rarely see »

Christmas in Porto

The holiday season in Portugal often involves visits to friends and family members’ homes. Sometimes, these visits are spontaneous or unplanned – but fear not! Portuguese sausages and cheeses are the perfect ready-to-go meal for unexpected, yet cherished, guests.

Preparing a charcuterie board for Christmas is simple with a delicious selection of thin slices of salpicão, chouriço, ham, and my favorite, alheira– a smoked sausage made with pork (or game, boar, poultry), bread, olive oil, salt, garlic, and paprika, usually grilled.

Equally easy to prepare for your Christmas in Porto is a delicious cheese board. Select an exquisite Terrincho sheep cheese and a Serrana hard goat cheese, both from Trás-os-Montes, a melting cheese from Serra da Estrela, and a spicy São Jorge from the Azores for the perfect combination. With their strong aromas, these Portuguese cheeses pair wonderfully with rye bread.

These intense flavors must be paired with a nice wine. A Quinta de Arcossó Colheita Red from the amazing region of Trás-os-Montes is one of the options. This wine is austere, robust, and full-bodied, with beautiful spicy notes that enhance the flavors of the smoked foods. The Quinta de Arcossó Colheita White is round yet crisp, making it an excellent match for the cheeses.

In Portugal, we take Christmas Eve dinner seriously. The table is carefully dressed for a celebration, and it’s filled with traditional dishes like octopus and codfish, accompanied by all the trimmings: potatoes, carrots, radishes, kale, and eggs. These are simply boiled but always generously drizzled with extra virgin olive oil.

By the way, we invite you to join our Vintage & Port Wine Food Tour to help you catch the Christmas spirit while staying in Porto.

And what is the perfect wine pairing for this special Christmas in Porto dinner?

A few years ago we would have said that the answer is obvious! And we would have recommended a full-bodied red wine, soft and tannic to combine with the salt and butter flavors of the dish. But Portugal has begun producing exquisite white wines and these are certainly a beautiful pairing option. One can try a mouth-filling white wine, slightly oaky and unctuous, like the Aneto Reserva White from Douro. Or a Vinho Verde, Quinta de Carapeços Alvarinho Reserva, which is rich and complex with hints of sweet wood, citrus, and tropical fruits.

Also at the top of our list is Caminhos Cruzados from Dão, our favorite Portuguese white variety. However, this one is reserved for Christmas lunch, to match a delicious farrapo velho, made from the leftovers of Christmas Eve dinner.

These are just a few of our options, which we know our family will love. But we have one more secret: Quinta de Arcossó Bago a Bago 2009. We would probably reserve it to pair with a succulent turkey, which we normally prepare on December 26th.

Pssst, if you are on the search for a last-minute gift, these are some of the best Portuguese wines for gift-giving »

And what would Christmas be without desserts and sweet wines to match?

Some family members often enjoy savory foods more than sweet ones, but there is a special place in every Portuguese heart for two of the many desserts that adorn our Christmas table: Bolo Rei and Rabanadas (french toast with cinnamon and sugar), freshly made just before dinner and still hot when they come to the table.

But the cherry on top is the DouroAneto Colheita Tardia, one of the most distinct late-harvest wines we know. It is made with Terrantez (also known as Semillon). Any equally enjoyable wine is the Quinta do Javali 20-year-old tawny Port, with notes of fig jam, dried fruits, exotic wood and lovely hints of orange. Ideally served slightly chilled, all these flavors will blend perfectly in your mouth.

These delicious treats are even better when shared with loved ones around Christmas in Porto!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Your Foodie Friends at Taste Porto