For The Love Of Port

At Wine Spectator's top 100. Congratulations to the Symington's for two top 5 places. #3 was 2011 Chryseia and #1 was 2011 Dow's VP.

Glad they agreed with me on the Dow's 2011 VP!

Glad I already got my order in, based on Roy's review.
The price will probably go up now.

It'll definitely go up.

I had 9 bottles of 2011 tonight, including the Dow's, Warre and Graham's from the SFE and the Dow's was the overall group favorite by far. It was a blind tasting and although both the Graham's and Warre's showed beautifully too, the Dow stole the show. It is in a great place at the moment.

Roy Hersh wrote:It is in a great place at the moment.

It just came out and it's already in a good place??? Will it surpass the '94, or how about classics like '63 and '70?

Moses Botbol wrote:

Roy Hersh wrote:It is in a great place at the moment.

It just came out and it's already in a good place??? Will it surpass the '94, or how about classics like '63 and '70?

Moses, I think it has all the potential to do exactly that!

Roy, Thank you for your extremely generous words. I'll be returning to the Guest Page shortly but thank you for your comments. As I've mentioned various times this week, and it was reinforced by Charles last night when we were interviewed on Portuguese TV - this is the result of years of very hard work in the vineyard - and without me saying anything he repeated word for word - great wines are made in a great vineyard.
Dominic

Roy Hersh wrote:I had 9 bottles of 2011 tonight, including the Dow's, Warre and Graham's from the SFE and the Dow's was the overall group favorite by far. It was a blind tasting and although both the Graham's and Warre's showed beautifully too, the Dow stole the show. It is in a great place at the moment.

Roy, I want to apologize on behalf of Edmonton for the inhospitable weather at your annual port tasting here. I'm sure the young ports helped keep some of the cold at bay. For the other members of the forum we've had a cold spell and yesterday's "high" was -15° (yes, minus).

This year I was in town but, as usual, there was already a waiting list when it came to my attention. I meant to put myself on the waiting list last week but got caught up in other issues. I called the store late Friday afternoon to see if there were any last minute cancellations but no luck.

I notice you mentioned tasting through 9 ports though the wine store website listed 7 for the tasting - Portal, Cockburn's, Warre's, Croft, Graham's, Fonseca, and Taylor Fladgate. I'm assuming the Dow and one other were added at the last minute. I'mwondering if you brought the Dow as the store itself doesn't list it.

Was the other port the Smith Woodhouse?

Mahmoud.

PS: The store in question recently won a well deserved provincial award for Excellence in Liquor Retailing. I don't know much about the award but I can't see how they wouldn't win it every year. But then, keep in mind, I'm biased.

Mahmoud,
I LOVED the cold, are you kidding? I knew of the weather prior to arrival and was thrilled to find the temps even lower than reported. I am a sucker for really cold weather, what can I say. Snow too, wish I was in Buffalo, NY right now. A bottle of 1970 Warre's was added by another FTLOP participant that evening. It closed the show. I offered to bring other 2011's but since they did not have them for sale, they said no. Dow's was another that was not offered for sale that night, sadly. People were chomping at the bit.


I fully agree with Dominic that the Dow 2011 may possibly wind up as the best Dow since WW2. And yes, Moses, it really IS in a very good place at this point in time. Open one and see for yourself.