The Story
Dow’s Vintage Ports are only produced in years of exceptional quality and represent only a very small part of the total company’s production in that year. On average only two or three times every ten years are the weather conditions sufficiently good to allow for the making of Dow’s Vintage Port.
Throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, Dow’s Vintage Ports have been landmark wines in virtually every great year, consistently setting the standards amongst all Port houses. Vintage Ports such as the remarkable Dow 1896, the 1927, 1945, 1955, 1963, 1966, 1970, 1980 and the Dow 1994 are all legends in the history of this great wine. These Ports are still magnificent today, even when 50 or over 100 years old. Few wines can claim this quality and this pedigree.
Dow's Vintage Ports are drawn from the companies' finest vineyards; Quinta do Bomfim and Quinta de Senhora da Ribeira. Each property contributes to the Dow’s unique and distinctive style. When young, Dow’s Vintage Ports are purple-black, austere, complex and intensely concentrated, full-bodied and balanced with very fine peppery tannins.
Over the centuries, the Dow winemakers have evolved a style that suits the house’s key vineyards; fermentations are a little longer, resulting in a drier Port Wine that has become the hallmark of Dow’s. Abundant fruit flavours with hints of ripe blackberries, give elegance and poise to Dow’s. The nose is deep and powerful with strong overtones of violets when young, these mature into fine cinnamon and rose-tea aromas with age. The very high percentage of Touriga Franca and Touriga Nacional planted on the vineyards result in the powerful structure and aging potential of Dow’s Vintage Ports
Dow’s Ports avoid an over-rich style and requires a very high degree of skill in wine making and great experience in selecting the finest wines of each year and each vineyard. These wines are aged in seasoned oak casks for some 18 months and are bottled without any filtration or fining whatsoever. Dow Vintage Ports can be enjoyed when vibrant and young or they can be allowed to age for many years in bottle into a soft and delicate wine of velvet-like elegance.
In the 1920’s, the celebrated Oxford Professor George Saintsbury underlined Dow’s outstanding reputation when he wrote in his famous ‘Notes on a Cellarbook’ (first published in 1920), “There is no shipper’s wine that I have found better than the best of Dow’s 1878 and 1890 especially.” James Suckling, one of today’s leading authorities on Vintage Port was equally impressed by another legendary wine - the Dow’s 1896 - “The ancient {1896} Port still had an amazing ruby colour with a garnet edge, and it smelled of raisins, black pepper and berries. It was full-bodied, with masses of fruit intertwined with layers of velvety tannins. It was superb.” In 1998, when this wine was 102 years old, he awarded this Port an exceptional 98 points.
Wine Information
1904 Dow’s Vintage Port
I purchased two bottles of this good-looking Port from Christie’s about 18 years ago.
The first one was served with our “Vine Club” 1000 points dinner approximately 10 years ago, and it was then almost a perfect wine with very enjoyable, lively fruit and complexity with a long, warm and silky ending. I assumed then that this wine would probably last forever.
So it was quite a nasty surprise to find out that the second bottle, which was of an identical shape and form as the first one, was a fairly small and feeble wine. The more so, since I gave it as a birthday present to my very good friend, who of course, because of his kind nature, wanted to share it right away with all the guests.
Although the colour looked as dark and deep as before, that glorious and most attractive bouquet from the first bottle was completely gone, and it was now very plain and simple. Rather undemanding, unattractive Port without the class and finesse of the first one. Dry and weak finish. Unfortunate gift without any hope of better days, so let us close the chapter on that wine.
The third occasion when I had the opportunity to taste it over again was just a year ago in London at the home of my friend. Yet again a satisfactory bottle (same bottling as before) with a very dark colour, plenty of fruit and flavours, a little less powerful and aggressive than the first one, but had plenty of charm. Long and well balanced with lots of life to come.
Lovely to drink, and an unforgettable present to anyone who is celebrating soon his or her 110th birthday now.
