On the way to Portugal’s Douro Valley to meet winemaker Pedro Pocas. Looking forward to walking through the old vines on his stunning estate set amongst the terraced slopes of this corner of northern Portugal. My travelling companions are Gabriela Pereira, one of our Product Developers and a native Portugese speaker, and my brother Simon who is our copywriter and coming along to record The Quest.

Our aim is to find the ultimate Tawny Port to partner after dinner chocolate tasting. If we succeed in finding the right port, we will have it bottled ready for launch in the winter.

Three years ago we bottled our first vintage of Chateau Chocolat, a complex red wine made from rare old vines and selected to partner our dark chocolate. We serve it in our Boucan restaurant and have it in most stores. It has grown quite a fan club and soon will be available by the case online. Time for a very special tawny port stable mate!