For The Love Of Port

Was poking around online and some reviewers said the 1948 Dow was undeclared, but 1947 Dow was?

Wine Spectator, "This undeclared wine is very close in quality to the '47, which was declared. Lovely aromas of custard, berry and cherry follow through to a medium-bodied, soft and velvety palate, with just the right amount of sweetness.--Dow vertical. Drink now."

Yet there are pictures of bottles with the Traditional Dow label that say 1948 Vintage Dow...

So, which is it? 1948 is correct, 1947 or both? Seems odd to have back to back vintages?

I don't know if both were "officially" declared but I know they did produce both vintages, in addition to a 1948 Dow's Quinta do Bomfim. It is very possible that the 1948 was bottled then it was decided not to release it and it was retained for in-house use only.

Very occasionally, post-war bottles of Dow appear in dealer lists, tasting notes, and at auction; with unexpected vintage dates.

I believe some of the early Bomfim SQ's were bottled with just the word 'Dow' on the capsule, and possibly the cork also. As labels were often fixed after the bottles had been laid down, this may have resulted in some Dow Bomfim bottles being labelled simply as Dow.

I want to gather more information on this.

Another curiosity arises with the labelling of early Malvedos SQ's.

I have yet to find a bottle of Malvedos with an early (pre Symington) label, other than bottles labelled as Malvedos Crusted port.

My suspicion is that this was a labelling idiosyncrasy by the Graham family, but again, more information is needed.

Tom

I've seen the 1947 DOW vintage on auctions - became to expensive

On the lable it said "Bottled in 1950" - 3 years after the vintage - not 2 - so in principle - is the DOW vintage port 1947 by definition an LBV?

Quite wierd...

Best regards
Henrik Lilja

Henrik Lilja wrote:I've seen the 1947 DOW vintage on auctions ... On the lable it said "Bottled in 1950" - 3 years after the vintage - not 2 - so in principle - is the DOW vintage port 1947 by definition an LBV?

In my 30 second search, I couldn't find the regulations, but I think an LBV is 4-6 years. And while most people think of vintage being bottled 2 years after harvest, I did find this at the IVDP web site:

Vintage Port ... Produced from the grapes harvested during a single year and bottled two to three years after the vintage ...

O.k., I found it in what I believe to be the current regulations:
http://www.ivdp.pt/pt/docs/legislacao/213.pdf
This states that initial samples must be supplied to the IVDP between January and June in the second year after the harvest, and all bottling must be completed by July 30th of the third year. I don't know what the regulations were in place in the 1940s, but expect something similar.

I thought 3 year aging before bottling was common then?

I thought 3 year aging before bottling was common then?

Never common, I think, but not that rare. In the post-war period, maybe 5-10% of VP's have been third year bottled.

However, that requires the text on the cork being taken as gospel. I believe that many (possibly most) corks used by the UK bottlers were shipped from Portugal ready branded, doubtless with the assumption that the wine would be bottled soon after it arrived.

When sales were slow, some wine would probably have been bottled a little later than expected, and, quite possibly, not in the year indicated on the cork..

Tom

Tom is correct.

As to regulation changes, when the most recent nomenclature for the special categories of Port changed a few years back, the first place it ever appeared in English, was in the newsletter, translated from the Portuguese by Mario Ferreira. You can find it in the article archives or by checking back in the .pdf files for the old newsletters.

According to the Vintage Port Site http://www.thevintageportsite.com/decla ... tages.aspx (which I believe is run by the Symington family) 1948 is rated 99 out of a 100 point scale and is classified as a classic vintage. Seems to be a declared vintage according this is site.