Dows 1997 Port

Vintage Port is the outstanding wine of an outstanding year. Perhaps on average only three times in a decade is the weather suitable for the declaration of a Vintage year and only a small handful of vineyards in the Alto Douro produce wines of the potential to become Vintage Port. The wine is aged for two to two and a half years in wood before being bottled, unfiltered. The pride of every shipper, Vintage Port can be purchased at once and allowed, over many years, to mature and develop a unique character, completely different from all wood-aged Port. Dow?s is perhaps best known for its Vintages, which command high prices at auction, reflecting their excellence. Professor Sainsbury in his famous Notes on a Cellar Book wrote: ?There is no shipper?s wine that I have found better than the best of Dow 1878 and 1890 especially.? More recently, The Great Vintage Wine Book denotes the Dow?s 1977: ?Dow, a copy book wine? clearly a top quality classic Port.?