Portuguese Wine Tasting Party with White Esporao Wines :: Part One

Fall is one of my favorite seasons. The color palette is beautiful, the air is warm during the day and crisp at night, and the grapes are ripe. It's the perfect season to host a wine tasting party. I was recently introduced to Portuguese wine producer Esporao Wines, so I thought it would be fun to invite a few friends over to have an impromptu wine tasting along with some Portuguese inspired nibbles, both savory and sweet.I have decided to break the posts into 2 parts, White and Red wine parings with recipes. However when you throw your wine tasting party, you can use all of the recipes from both White and Red wine blog posts.It's important to have both red and white wine choices at your wine tasting party. I even think it's fun to have a score card to hand out to guests. It makes for a lively discussion. Be sure to have extra bottles on hand to gift to guests when they head home. Eating when drinking is very important; it assures a great party and that guests are sober when they head home.The white wine choices at my wine tasting party were simply delicious, and honestly I did not have a favorite.Here are some great recipes to not only pair with wine, but also use the wine in the recipe.

Avocado Egg Salad Crostiniserves 10

This is my riff on the ever popular avocado toast showing up everywhere. I thought it would make a great crostini appetizer, and it does!You will need:- 1 loaf of french bread cut into 1/2 inch slices (makes about 20 slices)- 1/2 cup olive oil- 5 hard boiled eggs peeled- 2 very ripe hass avocados- 1/2 small red onion finely diced- 1/4 cut of pimentos chopped- 1/2 teaspoon of salt, black salt is great!- cracked pepper to tastePreparation:Preheat the oven to 350 FCrostini: lay the bread slices on to a cookie sheet, and with a brush, coat the top of the slices with olive oil.  Bake for 10 minutes, or until the slices are golden brown. Cool the crostini.While the crostini cool, chop the eggs and the onion and mash the avocado. Gently combine the eggs, pimento, onion and avocado in a bowl, and add salt and pepper.Place about 2 tablespoons on each crostini and place on a platter. Garnish with a drizzle of olive oil.

Rosemary infused Poached Pears in White WineServes 10

You will need:- 10 perfect Bosc Pears with stems intact if possible- 2  5 inch springs of fresh rosemary- 1 cup water- 1 cup sugar- 2 bottles of Esporoa white wine- 5 small Rosemary sprigs for garnishPreparation:For the rosemary simple syrup:In a small sauce pan combine water, sugar, and rosemary sprigs. Bring to a boil and then let it steep for 1/2 hour.For the pears:Place pears, wine, and rosemary simple syrup in a stock pot along with the sprigs and bring to a boil on high heat. Once boiling, turn down the heat to low and let simmer for 15 minutes. Leave the pears in the poaching liquid for 1/2 hour.To serve:Plate the pears in individual bowls with 1 cup of the wine poaching liquid and garnish with rosemary. This should be served room temperature. It's a great make ahead dessert!All Esporao Wines are available at Whole FoodsThe White Wines used in this post were: Esporao White Reserva 2013 and Verdelho 2013This post was sponsored by Esporao Wine Company, but as you know, I only promote or suggest products that I use and Iove.Photo credit: Deborah Whitlaw Llewellyn