DOW’S VINTAGE PORT 2011

Dow’s Vintage Port 2011

“Powerful, refined and luscious, with a surplus of dark plum, kirschand cassis flavors that are unctuous and long. Shows plenty of grip, presenting a long, full finish, filled with Asian spice and raspberry tart accents. Rich and chocolaty. One for the ages.” – 99/100, #1 Wine Spectator Top 100 of 2014

VARIETIES: Made from indigenous varieties Touriga Franca (40%), Touriga Nacional (36%), Sausao (10%) and 14% from a ‘field blend’ of older vine varieties
REGION: 2-flagship vineyards Quinta do Bomfim and Quinta da Senhora de Ribiera in the heart of the Cima Corgo and Douro Superior respectively
AGEING: Aged in seasoned oak casks for some 18 months then bottled unfiltered
GUARDING POTENTIAL: 20 – 50 YEARS
SERVE: Serve at 14° – 16°C
PAIRING: Matches up best with Stilton / Gloucester Cheese, Smoky Cheeses, Dark Chocolate Truffles and Nutty Desserts (Khajur Burfi) etc
CRITICS SCORES: WS/99, RP/98, W&S/97, JS/96, WE/96

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Vintage Ports | Range | Dow’s

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.