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1994 Dow Vintage Port

Posted: Sat Sep 15, 2007 7:26 am
by Erik Wiechers
As promised, the TN on the Dow 1994

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At 10 Am i decanted the bottle. Nice red colour upon pouring. Very little sediment again in the bottle. Maybe its too young ?

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The smell is heavy with lots of fruit,.mostly black fruit like blue-berries, grapes and plums. I also smell something spicey, maybe its the alcohol at this point. Its not disturbing at all because the fruit is overwhelming. Cant wait to try the first sip.
Yesterday i bought a nice blue-veined Stilton cheese for this occasion and i am very curious how the cheese will match with the wine.

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3 hours after decanting, first glass:

The colour is very dark as you can see with some red showing on the side of the glass.
The tearing is excellent when i swirl the glass. The smell is a little less dense but i still smell lots of fruit. Again i smell something spicey, but i cant determine what it is. Maybe when i taste it it will reveal itself.

The taste is a bit dry, lots of tannins, lots of alcohol and a little acid. The aftertaste is long and spicey but also sweet. I taste lots of red and black fruit. The funny thing is, i started to taste the fruit after i had some of the Stilton. Before that it was not spectacular. Maybe its way too young at this point or maybe its closing again ? Or maybe, and i hope for that, it hasnt decanted enough. Will try again in 3 hours or so.

6 hours after decanting, second glass:

Smell is still excellent, at this point i smell fruit, flowers, raisins and some faint leather. But the main smell is freshly squeezed grape-juice.
The taste has improved, maybe its the temperature, this morning the bottle came out of my storage room under the stairs. The temperature there is about 5 degrees lower then my room temperature.
It still is very complex, sweet but also lots of tannins and a little acid. I detect some old wood and cigars.
The aftertaste goes on forever, after 2 minutes i still taste sweetness. It also burns a little in the back of my throat.

All with all i liked it, but im not too enthousiastic at this stage. Maybe it was a off-bottle, maybe the wine is still way too young or is closing again but at this point i rate it 91-92
With 9 bottles left in my cabinet i try this wine again in 5 years but it could easily be stored for another 15-25 years.

Posted: Sat Sep 15, 2007 6:28 pm
by Bill Crann
Eric,
Thanks for the nice notes and photos. "94 Dow's was the first case I bought on futures and I opened my first bottle last year (10 years in bottle, so time to try) and my bottle was also very closed, even after a day. All potential, but not drinking well. I think this Dow will take another 10 years to fully come together, open up, and show well, but I do think it will be a very nice VP. The '94 Warres was drinking much better last year. I haven't opened any of the other '94's I have. Opening the Dow last year spooked me.

Bill

Posted: Sun Sep 16, 2007 11:18 pm
by Lars F
Eric,
nice pictures. I especially like the decanting picture. Did you take that yourself while decanting, or did you have help?

-Lars

Posted: Mon Sep 17, 2007 7:59 am
by Erik Wiechers
Lars,

i took it myself while holding the bottle. I have a Nikon D50 SLR. The lens i used is a 105 MM micro nikkor F2.8D if you're interested :D

It was a bit heavy but i managed to keep it steady.

Erik

Posted: Mon Sep 17, 2007 10:32 am
by Todd Pettinger
Excellent camera Erik - one of the ones I have looked at purchasing in the past (I like to think if myself as an amateur shutterbug, but unfortunately I have too many other overly-expensive hobbies and a really good camera just has never fit into the budget!)

So are you a leftie then? I notice the bottle is being poured from the left side, and most people pour from their dominant hand as it is more steady (plus with the ease of use of that Nikon, the right could be used to click the button without too much confusion.)

I ask because I have watched my left-handed wife pour using her left dozens of times! :D

Todd

Posted: Mon Sep 17, 2007 10:52 am
by Erik Wiechers
Haha, no. I am right handed.
I needed my steady right hand to aim, focus and shoot (notice the small drops of wine on the strainer) :D

Posted: Mon Sep 17, 2007 1:05 pm
by Todd Pettinger
I did actually see that, but know from experience myself, if *I* tried pouring left-handed, a great catastrophe might occur! :shock:

Good job. Look forward to your next "What should I open" poll. :D

Posted: Wed Oct 10, 2007 4:43 pm
by Mark DaSilva
I had this one in a recent tasting and really dug it. Beautiful. A very fruity wine, which I am a sucker for. But what really stuck with me was the longing aftertaste. This one makes you want more.

We dug this so much, we decided to put this into a Xmas gift basket (coming soon).

Posted: Thu Oct 11, 2007 11:00 pm
by Todd Pettinger
Mark DaSilva wrote:I had this one in a recent tasting and really dug it. Beautiful. A very fruity wine, which I am a sucker for. But what really stuck with me was the longing aftertaste. This one makes you want more.

We dug this so much, we decided to put this into a Xmas gift basket (coming soon).
I will say again - I would LOVE to get a gift basket from your store Mark!!! ;)

Once this whole cross-border shipping thing is figured out, I swear I am going to find a way to order a bunch of Port from you.

Posted: Fri Oct 12, 2007 3:00 am
by Roy Hersh
Todd,

I am happy to carry 4-5 bottles of Port across to Edmonton for you next month. Obviously, you'll have to have them shipped to my home.

Posted: Fri Oct 12, 2007 7:27 am
by Mark DaSilva
Roy,

Are you sure you can take that many across the border? I though it was only one bottle of any 750ml alcohol per person. Or maybe it was 1 litre. Not sure. We just crossed into BC last July on a long road trip and the customs agent kept asking us if we brought any across as if we were crazy that we weren't.

Check out the liquor store prices up there and you'll know why.

Posted: Fri Oct 12, 2007 7:36 am
by Mark DaSilva
Todd,

And I wish I could send the gift baskets to you guys up there!

Yeah, the border thing doesn't do any of us justice. Where's NAFTA in all this? I told you before, my brother, who lives in Vancouver, is trying to do what we do down here but keeps getting pushed back from the BC Liquor board. But it sounds like an untapped market up there if it ever gets approved. He also said the union is what drives prices so high.

I never saw your port prices when I was up there a few months ago, but the strong Canuck buck (on par these days?????? Wow!!!) would make your purchases down south laughable.

Too bad you don't live close to the border.

Posted: Fri Oct 12, 2007 6:02 pm
by Todd Pettinger
Thanks Roy for the offer - I will send a PM later tonight after doing some research.

Mark, yes, NAFTA does seem a bit forgotten when it comes to alcohol, cigarettes (not that I need those) and other luxuries. Almost like the gov't knows they got a good thing going with the hidden taxes on such goods. :? :shock: :roll:

It is just like the VAT in the UK... only hidden before things ever hit supplier warehouses. :twisted:

Todd