Dow’s Vintage Port 2017《Terroir Collection - ZTP594B》
Region : Senhorada Ribeira and Bomfim/ Douro/ Portugal
Grapes : Mainly Touriga Nacional and Touriga Franca blend with some Tinta Barroca, Tinta Roriz (Tempranillo) and Tinto Cao
Alcohol : 20% vol
Website: https://www.dows-port.com/
⭐ Over 200years of history in making Port wine
⭐ Paul Symington, the wine maker was named as "Decanter - Man of the Year 2012"
⭐ Robert Parkerrated Dow’s as "5 stars - Outstanding Port wine producer"
⭐ Robert Parker
"You would be foolish not to buy."
⭐ Jancis Robinson
"Nature has undoubtedly done her stuff in 2000, producing a small crop ofvery concentrated, ripe wines. The port trade is every bit as justified inmaking a fuss about its 2000 vintage as its counterpart in Bordeaux."
🏅 James Suckling 98 pts
🏅 Vinous 98 pts
🏅 Decanter 97 pts
🏅 Wine Spectator 96 pts
🏅 Wine Enthusiast 96 pts
🏅 Wine Advocate 94-96 pts
🏅 Vivino 4.4
Beware: Some Ports have a splash of white paint or chalk, called a “Splash Mark”, on the bottle. It tells you which way the bottles were cellared (splash mark up). You too should then store your Port Wine with the splash of white paint uppermost. This way, all the sediment collects uniformly on the same side.
History
Founded in 1798 by Portuguese merchant, Bruno da Silva, Dow's has lengthy history of offering some of the finest Ports. The Dow's brand name was established when another partner, James Dow, joined the company. In 1912, Andrew Symington, a Scot who had been working in the industry for 25 years, became a partner in Dow's. Today, the company is 100% owned and managed by the fourth generation of the Symington family, who are today the largest land owners in Portugal's Douro Valley with over 4,000 acres.
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.
Declared Vintage Port is only made in the most exceptional years and comprise less than two percent of all Ports produced.Dow's 2000 Vintage Port came primarily from two of the Douro's finest Quintas, Senhora da Ribeira and Bomfim. Dow's was one of the first houses to invest in premium vineyards in the Douro, acquiring them in 1890 and 1896 respectively.
VINTAGE OVERVIEW
After the long dry summer, the vines are in need of water. Rainfall, even if only a little, allows the grapes to swell, the skins to soften and the sugar readings to rise. In 2000 it rained at Bomfim on the 22nd and 24th August and again on the 11th September. This was ideal and had a major impact on the quality of the wines made at this harvest. The year had started in a rather difficult way; wet and damp weather in April and May had a detrimental effect on the flowering. The ‘fruit set’ was poor and yields were dramatically reduced as a result. However the weather in June and July was good and maturity progressed well. With the pre-harvest rain, there was every prospect of a very small but excellent crop. This is exactly what happened.
STORAGE & SERVING
After about 10 years of aging in the bottle horizontally in a dark place with a constant cool temperature (55ºF). These wines will throw a sediment and will require decanting. These wines can be drunk young by those who enjoy a more fruit driven style, but will also age superbly over the decades to come.
WINE SPECIFICATION
Alcohol by volume – 20%
Total acidity – 4.68 (g/l)
Decanting: Recommended
🏅 James Suckling 98 pts
Pure grape aromas that remind me of fermenting must but then goes to stems and dried flowers. Full-bodied, medium sweet with fine-grained tannins that coat your palate. Powerful and muscular yet remains agile and beautiful. Grows on your palate. Wonderful ripe fruit in the middle palate.
🏅 Vinous 98 pts
The 2017 Dow’s Vintage Port showed a slight reduction and required more time to really open in the glass. Typical of Dow’s it has a more backward and introspective bouquet compared to its peers, scents of blackberry, clove, wild mint, cassis and vanilla, gradually gaining more intensity with aeration. The palate is simply glorious. It is built around a compelling tannic frame that seems finer than any Dow’s I have encountered apart from the ethereal 2011. There is so much energy coiled up in this Port, a sense of symmetry that is enthralling and yet you just know that it needs to be cellared for 15-20 years for it to reveal its full potential. For serious Port-lovers. One of the vintages most cerebral offerings.
🏅 Decanter 97 pts
Based on fruit from the predominantly south-facing Quinta do Bomfim in the Cima Corgo and Quinta Senhora da Ribeira in the Douro Superior, with Touriga Nacional and Touriga Franca making up 80% of the blend. This is opaque and closed in but powerfully ripe with underlying pure berry fruit. It's seemingly quite introverted compared to some of its peers at this stage, but it's still full, rich and opulent on the palate. It also shows the latent power of the vintage, made as it is in a slightly drier style (3.4 Baumé), with lovely minty fruit and full, ripe sinewy tannins all the way through the finish. Long and lithe, and very fine.
🏅 Wine Spectator 96 pts
A dense, thickly textured version, dripping with warm salted licorice, tar and açaí paste notes, while plum and blueberry pâte de fruit, chai spice and chocolate elements fill in behind. Lots of brambly grip flows underneath. Shows a very sappy feel on the finish.
🏅 Wine Enthusiast 96 pts
This is a dry while also floral wine, perfumed and enticing with its juicy acidity. At the same time, the structure is very present, showing power and dark black fruits. The balance is coming together with the rich fruits and tannins melding into one.
🏅 Wine Advocate 94-96 pts
The 2017 Vintage Port, bottled in May for release in the third quarter of 2019, is mostly a 42/38 blend of Touriga Nacional and Touriga Franca with old vines and miscellaneous others (including about 8% Alicante Bouschet) for the rest. It was bottled about a month before this tasting after 18 months in seasoned vats, but the just-bottled sample was not actually used for fear it might be in shock. This, accordingly, was actually a pre-bottling sample. It comes in with 106 grams of residual sugar.
