Dow’s Colheita Tawny Port
WHY WE LOVE IT
- Colheita Ports (pronounced “Col-yate-a”) are Tawny Ports made from the very best wines of a single harvest. Although they are aged in the same way as blended tawny Ports (10, 20, 30 and over 40 years) in seasoned oak casks, they differ in that they are representative of one single year and not blended to express a consistent style with little or no variation.
- Many of the Dow’s Colheitas available today have been aged for considerably longer than the legal minumum (7 years in cask prior to bottling), and Dow’s has one of the finest collections of cask aged Ports in existence today.
- Dow’s Colheita Ports are for savouring and quite appreciation for their intense and rare flavors.
Varietal Composition: Traditional blend of Tinta Barroca, Touriga Nacional, Tinta Roriz, & Touriga Franca
Elaboration: Handpicked traditional Portuguese grape varieties are harvested in the fall and fermented for a short period of time before the addition of 100% neutral grape spirits alcohol. This step stops fermentation and reserves the wine’s natural grape sugars. It is then aged in oak casks for an average of three years before being bottled, ready to drink. Dow’s ages some of its best Ports for many years in seasoned oak casks in its ancient cellars in Vila Nova de Gaia. These wines are ‘racked’ two or three times a year and then returned to the original cask.
Tasting Notes: Soft almond and walnut aromas, losing the intense red color of its youth but gaining immense delicacy, richness and profound intensity of flavor.
PRESS
2007 – 92 Wine Spectator | 90 Wine Advocate | 90 Wine Enthusiast
PRODUCER BACKGROUND
Founded in 1798 by Portuguese merchant, Bruno da Silva, Dow’s has lengthy history of offering some of the finest Ports. The Dow’s brand name was established when another partner, James Dow, joined the company.In 1912, Andrew Symington, a Scot who had been working in the industry for 25 years, became a partner in Dow’s. Today, the company is 100% owned and managed by the fourth generation of the Symington family, who are today the largest landowners in Portugal’s Douro Valley with over 4,000 acres. For over two centuries the name of DOW has been associated with the finest Port from the vineyards of the Upper Douro Valley. Throughout the 20th Century and into the 21st, the Symington family has built on the legacy of the preceding Silva and Dow families. Generations of Symington winemakers have worked at the Dow’s vineyards: Quinta do Bomfim and Quinta da Senhora da Ribeira, creating from them Dow’s superbly concentrated wines that are intense and tannic when young, maturing towards a superlative racy elegance with age and scented with violet and mint aromas. Dow’s attractive and distinctive drier finish is the recognizable hallmark of the wines from this great Port house.