Drinks advice

Baked figs and cinnamon with Vista Alegre Colheita Port 1985

Out of the oven come eight figs folded open like flowers, with honey that has soaked into the fruit, a knob of butter and a pinch of cinnamon, and coarsely chopped pistachios over them. Set against this, the port is a colheita from 1985, in which the same fig returns in dried form.

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Roasted figs and cinnamon
Photo: NoSoma, CC BY 2.0

From the shelf

The bottle

Vista Alegre bottles port from the Douro and this is a colheita from the 1985 harvest. According to the Instituto dos Vinhos do Douro e do Porto, a colheita is a tawny made from the grapes of a single year, which must mature in cask for at least seven years; in those years colour and flavour slowly shift towards dried fruit, wood and spice, and the longer the wine stays in cask, the further that shift goes. The bottle is at 20 percent alcohol and holds 75 centilitres. For tawny the institute uses a serving temperature of 10 to 14 degrees.

Vista Alegre Colheita Port 1985

The combination

Why this works together

Here the same fruit is on the table twice, in two stages. The fresh fig from the oven is soft and juicy, with honey drawn into the flesh; a colheita from 1985 has, after decades in cask, an aroma of dried fig, raisin and nut. The plate therefore gives the fresh form and the glass the dried one, and the connection arises between them. The cinnamon lays a third layer over it: spice is what an old colheita develops by itself over the years, and a pinch of cinnamon on the fig draws that note in the glass forward. The butter and the pistachios bring the fat that lets the 20 percent alcohol come in softly, and the fruit acid of the fig keeps plate and glass from becoming too syrupy together. The plate is also deliberately small: against such an old bottle belongs not a heavy cake but a fruit.

At the table

The dish

  • For 4 people
  • Ready in 15 minutes
  • Type dessert

What you need

  • 8 ripe figs, stalks removed
  • 3 tablespoons clear honey
  • 15 g salted butter, cubed
  • a pinch of ground cinnamon
  • a handful of pistachios, coarsely chopped
  • dairy ice cream or whipped cream to serve alongside

How to make it

  1. Gently squeeze the figs at the bottom so that they fold open like a flower. Place them in an ovenproof dish and drizzle the honey over them.
  2. Distribute the butter cubes over and between the figs and sprinkle everything with the cinnamon.
  3. Put the dish in a preheated oven for 8 to 10 minutes, until the figs are soft; on the barbecue it works too, with the lid closed and not over direct heat.
  4. Sprinkle the chopped pistachios over the top and serve the figs warm, with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or a splash of whipped cream.

In the glass

Serving

Serve this colheita at 10 to 14 degrees. Use a roomy glass: for very old port, the institute advises a large glass in which the aroma can develop. Fill it no more than a third. Decanting is not necessary, because the wine was aged in cask and fined at bottling. According to the institute, an opened bottle of colheita keeps for one to four months, so this bottle does not have to be finished in one evening; store it upright in a cool place.

All about Vista Alegre Colheita Port 1985Back to Drinks advice from ’t Bockje

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