Magnums of Dow Port dinner: 1963 – 1994 plus other Ports

[nicos neocleous]

TN: Magnums of Dow Port dinner: 1963 – 1994 plus other Ports

Prologue
Winter is the season to be Porting! I do love a good bottle of Port, shared amongst family and friends. When my Port Brother Roy Hersh was visiting me in London 4 months ago, I received an invitation to a Dow Magnum Port dinner. Accepting the invite was a difficult decision....for about 3 seconds until I confirmed my place! This would be a worthy event to look forward to in the depths of dark January.

The Venue
The legendary Port oasis The Bunghole was our preferred choice of Port drinking haven. Located in High Holborn, it was formerly known as The Bunghole, but is now a Davy’s wine/port bar.

The Dinner
We chose a three course dinner from the decent menu. A crab salad starter was more than adequate to begin with. My medium rare fillet steak with frites did a fine job of sating my hunger. Stilton with chunky biscuits was a classic, especially with fine Vintage Port.

The Players
There were 12 of us hardcore Port fanatics at the table in the VIP private function room in the basement. My thanks to Alex Bridgeman in particular and Mr Julian for organising the festivities. There were old faces and new faces.

What a Great Idea!!!
The first Prize and winner of the ‘Nicos Offline Scholarship Award for 2013’ for best offline invention must go to the designers of the tasting sheets (Alex and Julian). In the bottom right hand corner were the outlines of glasses. These were for each offliner to shade in as they drunk water through the evening. This way, each person could keep track of their hydration requirements and try to avoid a hangover! Genius!! I then talked about converting this to an App for my iPhone and things took off from there.

The Ports
The Dow magnums were sourced from Dow directly. The Port Magnums were double decanted approximately 30 – 60 minutes before we started to drink them. They were tasted/drunk over a period of 4 hours. The bottles were also double decanted. We had separate glasses for each Port.

After the Dow Magnums, we also drank a further four bottles of Port. I took notes on the first one (1985 Warre). I have awarded points (which I very rarely do these days) for ease of ranking.

1) 1963 Dow - magnum
Light strawberry red with a terracotta rim. A herby nose, pot pourri, marzipan. A couple of sips reveal a slick stream of light red dry fruits with a hint of alcohol. It softened a little through the evening and was my second favourite of the evening. 93/100.

2) 1970 Dow - magnum
Mid strawberry red, noticeably darker than the ’63. A dry nose herby, with a somewhat medicinal character. Precise and compact, power length, bold alcohol. 91/100.

3) 1977 Dow - magnum
Ah, the notorious 1977 Dow. I must have drunk about 20 bottles of this over the past 12 years. 2 corked bottles for me so far, so not a good average. Strawberry red. A dry pot pourri nose, aromatic. Yummy, slick, enjoyable but not as complex as the bottles that I have had. Perhaps it needs another 10+ years, or a longer decant? 91/100.

4) 1980 Dow - magnum
Time for the young prodigal powerhouse that is the 80 Dow. My sincere thanks to Roy Hersh for introducing me to this all those years ago in Seattle. This is one of the very best Ports made in the decade of the 1980’s, with fewer than 5 Ports that are, in my opinion, better. Dark cherry red. A reduced nose initially with hints of dark chocolate and dark purple plum. The palate showed a silky red plum stream with no alcohol evident. A really good length, drinkable now but with a long future ahead. If you have any bottles, count yourself lucky. If you have not tried it at all, or not for a while, but yourself a bottle, decant it for 8 hours and enjoy. Decades of life ahead, 94/100 and the winner tonight.

5) 1985 Dow - magnum
Dark cherry red, a nose of cherry liquor and a tad dry herb. Tight palate, some hot alcohol with a positive seam of dry fruit. A bit closed? 90/1000

6) 1994 Dow - magnum
Dark plum red. The nose displays hints of dark chocolate and dark plum. Slick, velvet palate no alcohol, good length. Leave alone for another decade. 92/100.

7) 1985 Warre
For a number of years, this was my house Vintage Port and I have shared approximately 30 bottles over the last 16 years. Dark plum red, a fairly closed nose and a seemingly simple yet ready to drink Port. Perhaps a longer decant time would have brought out more of the aromatics and palate.


Epilogue
Hurrying along High Holborn to catch one of the last tubes home, I reflected on how enjoyable the evening had been. The dishes had been tasty. The Ports ranged from good to excellent. However, the evening would not have occurred without like-minded friends, from all walks of life and from all over the world, meeting together to share in their passion for Vintage Port.

[Andy Velebil]

Nico's,

A fantastic tasting this was and great to see you again. Thanks for the notes (and I'll split them out into individual ones in a bit so everyone can access them easier inthe Tasting Note Data Base).