For The Love Of Port

Dark burgundy in color. On the nose there's dusty cherry and blueberry fruit mingling with savory herbal notes and a faint whiff of unsweetened cocoa. Quite dry and light-bodied palate (for a port) of silky berry fruit that transitions into baking spices and mild black pepper. The finish is medium length, clean and smooth. Great little port for the price - simple enough to enjoy without having to think about it but with enough going on to pique your interest as well. 86 pts, Tasted 9/11

I've had this too with similar results; rather impressive. What puzzles me is this is only priced $1 to $3 below their LBV which I can find for $15-$16/bottle; for that small a difference I'd likely go with the LBV.

John M. wrote:What puzzles me is this is only priced $1 to $3 below their LBV which I can find for $15-$16/bottle; for that small a difference I'd likely go with the LBV.

I've noticed this as well across many producers. My completely unfounded theory is that LBVs are simply more limited production, but otherwise not really supposed to be that much better than Ruby Reserves especially if filtered. So they're priced similarly and you just run out of LBV first.

It is interesting that you can often find Reserve Rubies for only a buck or two less than their LBV counterparts. I wonder what factors into that - might be a good topic for it's own thread. In this case I think the Dow's strikes the perfect middle ground in being more sophisticated than a Basic Ruby but with a bit less depth/complexity than a good LBV.