Dow’s 10 Year Old Tawny Port, Douro

Dow’s 10 Year Old Tawny is a blend of Ports whose average age is ten years, drawing its character from the family’s two Douro estates, Quinta do Bomfim and Quinta da Senhora da Ribeira, further upriver in the Douro Superior. The grapes are fermented in lagares at each estate’s winery, with fermentations run a little longer than usual to give the drier style typical of Dow’s. The young wines then age in seasoned oak casks in the Boa Vista Lodge at Vila Nova de Gaia, built in 1876, where the cool, north-facing site near the Atlantic allows slow maturation. Around a quarter of the original volume is lost to evaporation before bottling. Charles Symington is the winemaker.

In the glass it has a deep russet centre with a garnet edge and a hint of amber. The nose shows bright red cherry and almonds, with notes of toffee and vanilla. The palate is mouth-filling, with peppery spice and a touch of marmalade, and the finish is full, with Dow’s trademark dry edge.

Serve slightly chilled. It is a lovely match for apple tart or apple pie, chocolate mousse, crème brûlée, toasted nuts and hard cheeses. Bottled ready to drink, it needs no decanting, and once opened it will keep for up to a month.

Dow’s is one of the Douro’s great historic Port houses. Its modern identity was forged in 1877, when James Ramsay Dow merged his company with Silva & Cosens, creating a shipper famous for powerful, long-lived Vintage Ports. In 1912 the Symington family became partners in Dow’s, working alongside the Warre family, and they have been sole owners since 1961. Across the generations they have shaped the Dow’s style through Quinta do Bomfim and Quinta da Senhora da Ribeira, together with deep partnerships with Douro farmers. Today Dow’s remains a benchmark for structured, drier-style Port, celebrated for its Vintage releases and aged Tawnies, and Symington Family Estates was the first wine company in Portugal to become a certified B Corp.