For The Love Of Port

I think it is time to start with the Virtual tasting of the month. I'll try to taste it over the week-end and I'll post pictures as soon as I can.

I vote for that Virtual Tasting!
Altough I must admit that i did not knew that Dow's had a Crusted Port!!!
I only have the Churchill's bottled 1998 and the new bottled 2001 and the Graham's Crusted.
Next monday I'll phone my distributor for Dow's and I'll spank him!!! :twisted:

I'll start with my tasting notes, I have the 99 bottling version. It was not decanted

Deep ruby color, though not opaque with light brown edges. Nose is powerfull on notes of dried prunes and sweet tobacco leaves. Mouth is very sweeth, silky texture with no hard tannins, good concentation on dried fruits, dates and figs, finish is on licorice and sweet dried prunes with a small bit of alcohol. Simple and very pleasant 15.5/20

For the money, I think some LBV with good concentration and purity gives me more for my bucks than this Crusted Port though it is really well made and I have no problems putting that money when a wine is well made.

Now for longevity, I think it is drinking good right now already showing some secondary flavours palate of dried fruits and the color has already some brown edges, tannins are resolved. It can surely hold on some years but for me, there is no reason to hold this more except for experimentation.

Fred,

Thanks for starting this one, I am going to be a week or two before I am able to taste mine. Some prior comitments are setting me a bit behind in tasting this one

My Dow's crusted will be the next wine I open - probably this weekend.

Stewart was here tonight and it was fitting and proper that we should explore the 1999 Dow's Crusted Port together while determining the future of FTLOP's Forum/eNewsletter/Website.

Decanted for 2-3 hours and the decanter was empty in about 65 minutes from the time we started drinking. Dark magenta color with ruby rim. Aromatically pleasing with primary plum, hints of blueberry, and a backdrop of tobacco which was unmistakable. Altogether it had a rather "fresh" and youthful nose to it.

Not much in the way of sediment, in fact it was quite fine. Dow's Crusted delivered a light to medium body weight that was soft on the palate with VIRTUALLY no signs of tannins. The mouthfeel was mostly smooth and the the fruit was ripe, sweet and reminiscent of blackberry and boysenberry pancake syrup, which was tasty but lacked depth. If I did not know better, I'd have guessed this was a Graham's Six Grapes. Some gentle alcohol showed up on the medium length finish. 87 points.

Decanted this 2 1/2 hours ago. Almost no sediment when I decanted, although a bit did come out when I rinsed the bottle out. A nice nose of marrionberries and plums. tastes of plums, leather, and spice with a slight bit of heat on the finish, which is integrating nicely since I first opened the bottle. As others stated not much tannins. So far, I like this one and am very delighted to see where this goes over the next 4 hours or so. I think I will save some of this for tomorrow just to see how it evolves over 24 hours.

For the $19.00 i paid I think it is a great deal. Much closer to it's big brother, VP, than to an LBV. I would rather buy this one than an LBV. To bad more producers don't sell a crusted.

I tried to post a pic of bottle, but could not get it to show. If someone could let me know how, I will post the pic of the bottle.

5 1/2 hours after decanting and not much change. The little bit of tannins that were there are now completly gone. The finish is about the same. I saved about a 1/2 bottle for tomorrow, just to experiment :twisted:

I just finished the remaining 1/2 bottle I saved. It stayed about the same with no real noticable change for the better or worst. Overall, I enjoyed this bottle and would buy one again if the price was around the same. To bad not more producers market one here in the USA

Andy,

I've noticed that it takes about 3 weeks for LBV's to change noticeably in my wine cooler.

18 days into the month and I finally got round to opening a bottle. This was a Dow's Crusted, bottled in 2000.

Deep red in colour with a youthful purple edge. Quite tough to decant due to the fine sediment in the bottle.

Not much on the nose, a touch of sweet black fruits and a hint of vanilla. Lovely sweet entry with a nice balance of acidity. Lots of blackcurrants and ice cream. Some minty complexity with lots of layers of fruit coming through.

Suprisingly long aftertaste of fruit pastilles and chocolate. 88/100.

Overall I thought this a pleasant wine that held its own against LBV's from the same price bracket (I paid £13 / $24 / E18). One day I'll try and find a crusted port with 15 years of bottle age and see how that tastes.

One day I'll try and find a crusted port with 15 years of bottle age and see how that tastes

I have just one bottle of Dow crusted in my cellar - a 1964!

As it's my only '64 bottle, I'm inclined to wait for an occasion when I'm entertaining someone who was born in that year - but I might be tempted sooner!

Tom

Tom,

I'd be interested to see how it is after all these years. Since Crusted ports aren't really made for super long term cellaring, I'd bet it's more on the decline at this point. The 1999 bottling I posted about was obviously not ment for long term cellaring. But I have no idea if they blended it for longer term storage back in the '60's, or if it is simillar to todays crusted blend.

I opened a Graham's crusted from 1985 a few months back, and that was still looking fresh and young.

I've no reason to suppose that there has been any change in the production methodology - it's a fairly simple brew - essentially a multi-vintage VP.

But I would agree that my Dow '64 will probably be looking tired when I get round to opening it.

Tom

I have been silent on this virtual tasing because I have been traveling and very busy in my profession, something I do not consider virtuous at all...however, when I went to my favorite local purveyors of port , no Dow Crusted in stock.
One merchant agreed to check with her wholesalers and I will get a bottle next Thusday, June 29. I plan to open a bottle and post some notes.

My merchant friend received her delivery yesterday and I bought 2 bottles of the Dow Crusted. I note it was bottled in 1999, which implies the wine may not be from vintage 1999.
I was expecting a plastic/cork stopper but this had a "real" cork.
Nice ruby color. I think the reason it my be showing maturity as some above have written is because the wine may be older than 1999. It makes me wonder how it is made.
This had a nice density and mouthfeel to it. Lots of sweet dark berry fruit, hints of mint.Good ,if not long finish. Nice minty, fruity nose. I like the style, I like the wine. Good choice for the virtual.
I give it 89 but as stated many times, these LBV's and NV blends are what they are-- good value, drink now, real ports. They are not to be compared to vintage 20-50 year classics.

We probably should create a different rating system for these. Maybe a thumbs up x 1,2,or 3 or maybe a *** rating or maybe happy faces!

I note it was bottled in 1999, which implies the wine may not be from vintage 1999

No. Crusted port bottled in 1999 will have no vintage '99 wine in it at all.

Crusted is essentially a 'multi year vintage port' - instead of bottling wine from a single vintage, the shippers produce a blend that accords with their house style, using wine from a number of vintages and quintas.

However, there is nothing to stop them making the wine from a single year's production, if that produced the desired result, or indeed making it from the output of a single quinta.

I was expecting a plastic/cork stopper but this had a "real" cork

I should hope so!

Crusted is bottled, cellared and served in exactly the same manner as a vintage port.

Tom

Confession Time

I bought my Dow's Crusted at the beginning of June ready for this VT. I opened it one evening in desparation after realising that every other bottle I owned was lying down at cellar temperature. I wasn't in the mood to take a tasting note (bad day at the office) so thought "I'll have a glass or two of this tonight and then take a note for the VT tomorrow"

You can probably guess the rest of the story :? it must have been a really bad day at the office meaning that there was none left for the next evening

Anyway, I enjoyed this wine - my first Crusted - but did not rate it above many filtered LBV's or Special Reserve's I have tasted recently at 2/3rds the price.

Derek

Derek Turnbull wrote:Confession Time
Derek

Derek,

Anything that starts off with "Confession" is always a funny story...thanks

I had trouble opening the bottle. The cork was stuck and I ended up ripping out the top half of it. Then I butchered the bottom half and eventually ended up pushing it down in to the bottle. Do you guys have a recommendation for a cork puller? Decanted for ~2-3 hrs. Sorry guys, I can't pick out all the tastes in this. Overall, I would say that this has medium strength, and is less dark and grapey than Graham's 6 grapes. I'm not sure if this is due to decanting, but the "ripeness" feels like a LBV that I've kept in my wine cooler for ~1-2 weeks. In other words, not too young and not over the hill. Pleasant to drink. I give it a 6++, where 6+ seems to be my average rating for lbv's and rubies.

My wine buddy thought it was only "ok", which means a score near 87 or so.