2006 Dow LBV Port

[John M.]

Decant: Opened bottle at 3pm, decanted into decanter at 6:30 and tasted at 9 (long story). When I initally opened I put it in my liquor cabinet under the bar, when I opened the doors at 6:30 the whole cabinet smelled of a baked dark berry pie. No sediment.

Aroma: Slight dusty and musty smell over blackberry. A little black pepper you get from an au poivre sauce, not a pepper mill.

Color: Dark purple, squid inkish. Moderate viscosity and weight.

Taste: Dark fruit, grenadine, blackberry and a hint of sweet grass (I can never seem to nail down this sweet grass taste that shows up in a Dow's LBV profile quite often). Slightly acidic but feels great. Lush finish with those dark berries again, cassiss & blackberry--towards the moderate finish I got bits of a black licorice, touch of cooked strawberry. Alcohol was nicely resolved. Very easy and pleasurable drinking.

Unfiltered but with a T-Stopper.

Conclusion: I drank this with two friends and we all three loved this port. As a young one it was of course fruit forward, but nicely built. Lots of nice, solid flavors and subtle ones as well. I only paid $13 and wish I bought a few more at that price (Price was a mistake according to store manager). A very nice effort.

93 points