Lovely pale red colour with beautiful pink legs. Vanilla, sweet cherries and candy canes on the nose - very inviting. Exceptionally smooth in the mouth - lovely balance. Flavours of blackcurrant sweets, toffee, caramel, vanilla custard, mocha. Moreish! Long, long finish of Ribena and cassis. Fine albeit a bit spirity when first opened but masterful after 4 hours in the decanter. A beautiful wine to drink and what a truly stunning wine at 53 years old.
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Guys Port Weekend - LA (Claremont, CA): Dark amber in color with slight orange on the edge. Dark chocolate and some dark fruit on the nose. Beautiful rich flavor with touches of cinnamon, red fruit, and light herbal notes. Great long finish.
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FTLOP 17th Anniversary; 11/18/2022-11/20/2022 (Seattle, Washington): Medium ruby in color with some bricking. Aromas of strawberry and cinnamon. Medium-sweet palate with red fruit, currants, and strawberry. Very lovely acidity. Knifes-edge balance and an excellent long finish.
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In wide bottom decanter for fours, serially tasting throughout that time; seemed ideal. Vibrant, fresh, with solid secondary development, and some welcome tertiary, too. Quite delicious, and warranted several glasses, albeit smaller ones. Plenty of time still ahead. Tasty, enjoyable, and close to (my) ideal maturity.
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Best vintage port i have ever had. Incredibly balanced and smooth on the palate with a long long finish. Sweet red cherries, raisins, walnuts, almonds. Creamy and decadent. Agile and light on its feet and powerful at the same time. Structured and concentrated with a solid backbone of acid holding this beauty all together tightly. This is an aged beauty. My bottle that has been stored perfectly was in an an amazing place. What an experience. Drink now-2028.
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Tasted blind in Vintage Port of the 60's and 70's event with Winetasters of Toronto Club 1970 Dow Porto Vintage was clear medium tawny in colour, a touch deeper than other vintage ports from the 60's and the 70's. The red fruit aromas were prominent, with red cherries, redcurrants and even jamminess, followed by coffee, toffee and gingerbread. The mouthfeel was full-bodied, with medium-high balanced acidity and medium level of mature tannin. The medium-long finish showed great interplay of red fruit and oxidative flavours. The wine was rated the third at the table, but the seventh among all the guests.
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This was a very enjoyable wine. Smooth and balanced. 2 hours after being opened maintained a beautiful nose. The wine looks purple colored. The legs are slow. There is light sediment in the bottle. The body is medium/full. The wine has silky texture. The wine finishes long. The wine has medium acidity.
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Wow, the auslese and 1970 Dow VP were amazing bookends to the dinner. The bottle had no label, and was identifiable only by the cork. The fill was mid shoulder. My experience with VP, like the auslese, has been not to judge the juice by the bottle, and here again my optimism was rewarded handsomely. The bottle was double-decanted about two hours before dinner. There is a tactile sensation to this port that is hard to describe, with wave after wave of dark fruit and spice crashing down on your palate. The finish was just.....seemingly endless. I feel like it is still lingering on my tongue today. As far as pairing is concerned, some like chocolate with vintage port, and some consider it gauche. For my part, I was so enamored with this wine that I doubt I had more than a bite or two. I managed to save and recork (with a Macallan top!) a nice sized glass for dessert the next night. It was pretty much exactly as I remembered it.
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Love older ports. Drank at the end of a big wine night and this wine held its own. But after trying 8 other wines, my palate was exhausted and I could not fully appreciate this wine. My bad. Will not put a wine like this at the end of another tasting.
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Colour remains vivid although it is now pale and becoming transparent, the nose is beautifully gentle and integrated with a touch of warmth and the palate is equally softly textured and silky. A really graceful and seamless wine.
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Bottle from same source as previous note and this is moving at a snail's pace and continues to be superb. Gave this 6 hrs of slow ox and decanted into small volume decanter for another 3 hrs. which worked great.
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Last bottle was flabby (from a different source), but this one was great. Had depth flavor with prunes, blackberry tart and some earthiness. Had great acid structure and a bit of salinity so the finish was marvelous. I really like Dow's style, but I opened this at a party and it was enjoyed by a number of port lovers and non-port lovers equally so I think this one was a notch above... Putting it close to Fonseca-Taylor territory. Don't know if next bottle will repeat is all.
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2016 FTLOP Holiday Party (Sammamish, Washington): Dark ruby in color with the faintest hint of sediment. Some cinnamon and slight herbal notes on the nose. Full-bodied and well-balanced. The finish, however, leaves a little bit to be desired.
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Opened just before serving, but I should have given it a few hours. The cork was quite rotten and the corkscrew made a hole in the middle of the cork. Quite dark red for the age. Fruity aromas of prunes, forest floor and some alcohol. Fruity and a bit rustique and loose in the mouth. Appeared better the day after, with more elegance and tighter fruit. Will definitely hold for many years.
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Decanted for five hours, and evolved more during drinking. Used Durand, but cork broke (btm quarter) upon extraction. Large amount of sediment in the bottle. This 45 yr old port showed better than expected -- good fruit, not too sweet -- but still a bit hot. May need more decanter time. Probably has another 30 years in the tank.
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Drank at WWS after tasting. Brownish in color, which is to be expected at this age. Very sweet, lots of caramel, some tobacco. Still quite sweet, not particularly hot, and rather on the thin side. Definitely has seen better days but still enjoyable.
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2015 Port Harvest Tour; 9/26/2015-10/3/2015 (Portugal): Clear ruby in color. Great floral nose. Unctuous, full mouthfeel on the approach with dusty strawberry. Nice tannins on the mid-palate. Great long finish. Well balanced and well-integrated.
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The cork was completely dried out and hard as a rock so took some work to extract. This wine shows very little if any signs of ageing so I believe the drinking window extends well into the 2020s. Still very fresh and fruity with some heat. Decanted six to eight hours before drinking. Very enjoyable port experience.
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good medium red color. No evident alcohol. Well integrated flavors with dark berry fruit and tobacco. Very nice old bottle, lots of substance while also being smooth and drinkable. Great now, no need to wait longer, but not too old either.
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Belated holiday dinner - Mostly Burg and Bordeaux (Ripple Restaurant in DC): From a half bottle, this is more tertiary but slightly lacks the fruit. For me who is sensitive to alcohol, seems to show a bit of heat. Prune, dry figs, anise and sweet spices. Good palate. Quite enjoyable. I would say this is fully matured but won't decline anytime soon.
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Pasha's 40th Birthday Dinner. Amazing bottle, even better than the prior bottle. Showing no signs of slowing down and only improving. Decanted for about 2.5 hours. Was a little hot initially but heat quickly burned off. Great bouquet, vanilla, cherry. Just tremendous.
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Drunk at the pre-thanksgiving hardscrabble lake pizza fiesta. This is everything you want a 43 year old port to be. Great bouquet, very smooth, lots of toasty vanilla and plenty of sweetness. Long finish and very enjoyable with many more years left.
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Slight old leak was evident but the fill was still good. Cork slightly wet but still sound. gave his a single decant into a clean bottle and allowed to air out for about 8 hrs. Color turned dark and the aromatics came to life. This is a much sweeter showing than you get in most Dow's and there is a good presence of macerated red cherry fruit. The presence in the mouth is smooth and round without any heat and a complex mix of baking spices coats the palate and leads to a fairly long slightly sweet finish. This seems richer and more complex than this port showed over the last decade, so either i was fortunate to have a great bottle or this has entered a prime drinking spot -perhaps both. Excellent.
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Amply fruited with clean spirit and a full rich palate. There’s a hint of liquorice, chocolate, dried fig and spice to the flavour profile and it finishes clean and dry.
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London negotiant bottled (Berry Bros. photo uploaded).
Decanted for four hours with quite a bit of sediment left in the bottle. Darker ruby red in color. Full-bodied and rich wine with plummy spice and medium complexity. Some alcohol still on the finish.
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40th Birthday Bash (Heidi's, Minneapolis): A surprise bottle courtesy of my friends Anne and Neil, who had been saving this wine (from Neil's birth year) for 15 years. Lovely ruby/tan color; beautifully layered flavors of figs, red plums, nut skins, and raisins. Lovely balance; a long, rich finish. A fine, elegant Port and a real treat to taste.
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Siggy Turns Forty!!!: I only had a quick taste of this too and then gave my pour away (as I was still preoccupied with the Cheval Blanc). Very light rusty-red color. Ethereal nose. Desiree thought it smelled like cognac; I thought it had more red fruit aromas. Either way it was stunning. Equally good on the palate. Surprisingly light, but still highly impactful. Great long finish. One of the better ports I can ever remember tasting.
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Light tan color with slight salmon/pink hue. Least sediment thrown amongst the ports opened today. Almost none in fact after filtration. Very light in appearance. Nose of light roast nuts and some butterscotch. Light all spice, subtle savory components. Light and playful. Most easy drinking of the bunch.
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Dow Vintage Port Vertical (Harry's Steak House, NYC): Decanted for four hours. Fantastic nose of dried flowers and spice. Ethereal, lovely balance. Complete wine, ready to go. A hint of tobacco creeps in. Complex and delicious.
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Any Port in a storm (Chris Lipperts): Cork was fine, lovely pale colour. Good level of sweetness, fair degree of complexity, nice nutty tones. Pleasant but not a blockbuster.
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K&L Sherry, Madeira, and Port Tasting (K&L, San Francisco): Nose of floral, some fruit. More wine-like than the tawnies that preceded it. Palate has noticeable freshness, complexity hits at the end with time in the mouth. Some varied nuts. Excellent quality.
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Very weird wine that shows a tails spirit character with fusel oil smells. There are floral/algal bloom smells and the fruit is sweet and juby. Something was definitely not right with this bott…
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I also noted both the generally strong alcohol component to the wine, as well as the otherwise enjoyable mature port. Not in the same league as some of the other 70's, but still a fine wine.
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Tok Hong's 40th (Infuzi, Biopolis): Pretty good, but a bit disappointing for what it is. There was plenty of alcohol on the nose at first, so that the otherwise pleasant raisin scents took on a distinct rum and raisin character. With time, the alcohol mellowed somewhat and some violets emerged, along with savoury sweet figs, plum and red cherry notes. Rather high toned and quite vibrant. The palate was rich and thick, with more of the alcohol on the attack, chased by more rum and raisin flavours, dark cherries, lots of molasses, and reams of spice and floaty smoke notes on the finish. I expected more though - it just seemed a little narrow on the palate, and the alcochol more or less hulked over the rest of the wine. Thankfully, time in the decanter and more time in the glass helped somewhat. The acid came out, the wine became more rounded, more luscious, it took on some savoury port-wood notes and genreally became a whole lot more pleasant. Still though, I would expect more from a Dow of this age.
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The cork was so dry it would not come out. Took a while to finally extract. Sweet, molasse, nutty and long. Improves after 3 days. Not quite the Taylor we had last year but very pleasurable.
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Decanted for 4 hours and consumed over two nights, stored at cellar temperature between each night. More tawny in color than I expected. Nice nose of dusty cherry and subtle spice. Less full on the palate than I expected. A good long finish with pleasant cherry-chocolate sweetness. A seemingly very "mature" port from 1970. Still great, but perhaps just past peak.
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Garnet color in the glass, slightly opaque looking. Nose of anise, berries, currants and white pepper. Flavors of licorice, golden raisins, currants and plums. Medium acidity, medium to full bodied. Drink or hold.
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Wax capsule, perfect cork. Decanted 1-1/2 hours. Initial nose of alcohol blew off after 2 hours. Rich plum and spicy dark fruit. Dark and tastes only middle aged, not close to old. Awesome.
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Last week, we drank the second bottle of a duo we bought for the above mentioned BBR offline. This bottle was equally good. Prime drinking now, but there's no need to hurry as it will go a long way. What a wonderful port. Neither LadyR nor I made any notes, but we agreed it was around 95-96 points. We also agreed we need more.
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Cork was removed and found to be intact but completely soaked (although there was no obvious seepage), so I wonder if wine was "slightly" oxidized. Regardless, decanted about 3 hours. Nice plum and raisin nose. Very, very smooth on the palate but with fairly "empty" without much fruit or complexity. Some subtle bitterness on the finish. Perhaps a bad bottle...
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A good, albeit not great, port. A touch fruity, with a lot of young vigor and not as much complexity. However, will continue drinking it with pleasure.
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still dark colour, gorgeous rich fig and fruit cake nose, restrained power on palate, fruit and flavour blossom on midpalate and terrific length. Top port and kept its vigour on the second day.
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Fantastic. Really nice berry and cherry flavors. I didn't find the heat that others have. I let it breath for about 4 hours and then decanted for about 3. A really wonderful bottle and top 2 favorite ports that I have tried. Not showing any signs of slowing down either.
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Mark's 40th Port Dinner (Crown Wine Cellars, Hong Kong): Red [wine] colour with a little bricking just showing. Hints of strawberries and cherries on the nose with the alcohol only showing at the end. Dried dates and spice on palate with liquorice showing after 3 hours. Long rich finish. Could have been 96 but seemed to fade a little to the end of the evening.
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SWS Port Tasting (Seattle, WA): Garnet red with good concentration of color. The nose was not very intense but had notes of sweet raisins and plums. Smooth on the palate with medium weight and a little heat. Long finish with hints of dried cherries and licorish.
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The real Jeff Erhardt / Mahaffy offline (Rôtisserie Jules, London): Very ripe sweet plums, dark cherries and dates on the nose. Beautifully delineated on the palate, very precise with just the right amount of spice, a nutty quality and velvety texture. Slighlty hot on the finish, but otherwise a great Port.
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Dark, rich red color. Like an aging hollywood starlet, you wouldn't know how old this was just by looking at it. Pungent creamy fruit, this has so much life left with layers and layers of flavor. Vanilla, Cigar box, toffee, cherry, chocolate. Really needs more time though. 95+
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Seattle Tasting Group does Italians and six decades of Porto hosted by Roy Hersh (Bellevue, WA, USA): This is very youthful in color with a deep purple core. On the nose there is a hint of grapiness and mint, yet I found the aromatics to be somewhat reticent. On the youthful palate there is a refreshing blast of wintergreen, but I found the wine to show a fair bit of spirit. The structure is impressive. Others really liked this wine a lot, but I found it to be a tough comparison to the earlier, more mature ports in the flight.
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At its peak with lots of power, concentration and finesse. Note, I finished this approx two weeks after initially opened (vacuum sealed each time) and it barely lost anything from when first tasted.
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5/9/2023 - bmagic wrote: 96 Points
Lovely pale red colour with beautiful pink legs. Vanilla, sweet cherries and candy canes on the nose - very inviting. Exceptionally smooth in the mouth - lovely balance. Flavours of blackcurrant sweets, toffee, caramel, vanilla custard, mocha. Moreish! Long, long finish of Ribena and cassis. Fine albeit a bit spirity when first opened but masterful after 4 hours in the decanter. A beautiful wine to drink and what a truly stunning wine at 53 years old.
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4/29/2023 - theportguy wrote: 94 Points
Guys Port Weekend - LA (Claremont, CA): Dark amber in color with slight orange on the edge. Dark chocolate and some dark fruit on the nose. Beautiful rich flavor with touches of cinnamon, red fruit, and light herbal notes. Great long finish.
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11/19/2022 - theportguy wrote: 95 Points
FTLOP 17th Anniversary; 11/18/2022-11/20/2022 (Seattle, Washington): Medium ruby in color with some bricking. Aromas of strawberry and cinnamon. Medium-sweet palate with red fruit, currants, and strawberry. Very lovely acidity. Knifes-edge balance and an excellent long finish.
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7/24/2021 - theportguy wrote: 94 Points
FTLOP 16th Anniversary Tasting; 7/23/2021-7/24/2021 (Seattle, Washington): Cloudy in appearance with brown tones. Shy nose of chocolate and old wood. Very balanced, pleasant mouthfeel. A rich palate of red fruit and just a touch of spice. Nice, long, and balanced finish.
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4/28/2021 - William.alexander wrote: 94 Points
Been lucky enough to have been drinking this vintage for over 30 years now and it never disappoints. A perfect wine to finish my 50th birthday
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2/21/2021 - ColinR Likes this wine: 92 Points
Ruby, light-brown at rim, sediment; plums, toffee, leather, mocha; semi-sweet, pruney/cherry, smooth, medium-full body, thick legs, soft tannins, lingering finish
Decanted 2 hrs. Subtle prune, cherry, burnt sugar and earthy flavours with seamless acidity. Drinking nicely, can go longer. Enjoyed with stilton.
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2/14/2021 - Tim Heaton Likes this wine:
In wide bottom decanter for fours, serially tasting throughout that time; seemed ideal. Vibrant, fresh, with solid secondary development, and some welcome tertiary, too. Quite delicious, and warranted several glasses, albeit smaller ones. Plenty of time still ahead. Tasty, enjoyable, and close to (my) ideal maturity.
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8/31/2020 - Poisey wrote: 99 Points
Best vintage port i have ever had. Incredibly balanced and smooth on the palate with a long long finish. Sweet red cherries, raisins, walnuts, almonds. Creamy and decadent. Agile and light on its feet and powerful at the same time. Structured and concentrated with a solid backbone of acid holding this beauty all together tightly. This is an aged beauty. My bottle that has been stored perfectly was in an an amazing place. What an experience. Drink now-2028.
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7/25/2020 - LWI wrote: 92 Points
Mellow, correct, but lacking complexity and nerve.
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5/22/2020 - Slics wrote: 95 Points
Brilliant. Pale colour but good red and prune fruit, nuts and toffee. Drinking wonderfully.
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2/26/2020 - apple1813 Likes this wine: 91 Points
Tasted blind in Vintage Port of the 60's and 70's event with Winetasters of Toronto Club
1970 Dow Porto Vintage was clear medium tawny in colour, a touch deeper than other vintage ports from the 60's and the 70's. The red fruit aromas were prominent, with red cherries, redcurrants and even jamminess, followed by coffee, toffee and gingerbread. The mouthfeel was full-bodied, with medium-high balanced acidity and medium level of mature tannin. The medium-long finish showed great interplay of red fruit and oxidative flavours.
The wine was rated the third at the table, but the seventh among all the guests.
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7/13/2019 - CES911 wrote: 93 Points
Beautiful. Long finish great balance with full smooth and soft mouth appeal.
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11/25/2018 - NS51 Likes this wine: 90 Points
This was a very enjoyable wine. Smooth and balanced. 2 hours after being opened maintained a beautiful nose.
The wine looks purple colored. The legs are slow. There is light sediment in the bottle. The body is medium/full. The wine has silky texture. The wine finishes long. The wine has medium acidity.
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9/25/2018 - straight outta iowa Likes this wine: 98 Points
Wow, the auslese and 1970 Dow VP were amazing bookends to the dinner. The bottle had no label, and was identifiable only by the cork. The fill was mid shoulder. My experience with VP, like the auslese, has been not to judge the juice by the bottle, and here again my optimism was rewarded handsomely. The bottle was double-decanted about two hours before dinner. There is a tactile sensation to this port that is hard to describe, with wave after wave of dark fruit and spice crashing down on your palate. The finish was just.....seemingly endless. I feel like it is still lingering on my tongue today. As far as pairing is concerned, some like chocolate with vintage port, and some consider it gauche. For my part, I was so enamored with this wine that I doubt I had more than a bite or two. I managed to save and recork (with a Macallan top!) a nice sized glass for dessert the next night. It was pretty much exactly as I remembered it.
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12/17/2017 - rexmerlot wrote: 94 Points
Love older ports. Drank at the end of a big wine night and this wine held its own. But after trying 8 other wines, my palate was exhausted and I could not fully appreciate this wine. My bad. Will not put a wine like this at the end of another tasting.
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11/23/2017 - RGardner Likes this wine:
Light but nice. Over the hill.
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7/10/2017 - Chimer Likes this wine: 94 Points
Colour remains vivid although it is now pale and becoming transparent, the nose is beautifully gentle and integrated with a touch of warmth and the palate is equally softly textured and silky. A really graceful and seamless wine.
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4/10/2017 - bon vivant wrote:
Bottle from same source as previous note and this is moving at a snail's pace and continues to be superb. Gave this 6 hrs of slow ox and decanted into small volume decanter for another 3 hrs. which worked great.
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3/9/2017 - portman63 Likes this wine: 94 Points
Last bottle was flabby (from a different source), but this one was great. Had depth flavor with prunes, blackberry tart and some earthiness. Had great acid structure and a bit of salinity so the finish was marvelous. I really like Dow's style, but I opened this at a party and it was enjoyed by a number of port lovers and non-port lovers equally so I think this one was a notch above... Putting it close to Fonseca-Taylor territory. Don't know if next bottle will repeat is all.
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12/2/2016 - theportguy wrote: 94 Points
2016 FTLOP Holiday Party (Sammamish, Washington): Dark ruby in color with the faintest hint of sediment. Some cinnamon and slight herbal notes on the nose. Full-bodied and well-balanced. The finish, however, leaves a little bit to be desired.
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9/17/2016 - AudunG wrote: 90 Points
Opened just before serving, but I should have given it a few hours. The cork was quite rotten and the corkscrew made a hole in the middle of the cork. Quite dark red for the age. Fruity aromas of prunes, forest floor and some alcohol. Fruity and a bit rustique and loose in the mouth. Appeared better the day after, with more elegance and tighter fruit. Will definitely hold for many years.
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12/25/2015 - VlgJeff wrote: 90 Points
Decanted for five hours, and evolved more during drinking. Used Durand, but cork broke (btm quarter) upon extraction. Large amount of sediment in the bottle. This 45 yr old port showed better than expected -- good fruit, not too sweet -- but still a bit hot. May need more decanter time. Probably has another 30 years in the tank.
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12/1/2015 - cephomer Likes this wine: 89 Points
Drank at WWS after tasting. Brownish in color, which is to be expected at this age. Very sweet, lots of caramel, some tobacco. Still quite sweet, not particularly hot, and rather on the thin side. Definitely has seen better days but still enjoyable.
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10/1/2015 - theportguy wrote: 94 Points
2015 Port Harvest Tour; 9/26/2015-10/3/2015 (Portugal): Clear ruby in color. Great floral nose. Unctuous, full mouthfeel on the approach with dusty strawberry. Nice tannins on the mid-palate. Great long finish. Well balanced and well-integrated.
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3/14/2015 - LWI wrote: 93 Points
Very correct, deep fruited, some cinnamon, some complexity.
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1/11/2015 - 309VEB Likes this wine: 90 Points
The cork was completely dried out and hard as a rock so took some work to extract. This wine shows very little if any signs of ageing so I believe the drinking window extends well into the 2020s. Still very fresh and fruity with some heat. Decanted six to eight hours before drinking. Very enjoyable port experience.
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11/17/2014 - Auction Addict Likes this wine: 93 Points
Just amazing! Absolutely perfect drinking now - very smooth. Fruity.
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10/26/2014 - RayOB wrote: 91 Points
Drank at Home
Lovely classic Port with a great nose and palate. Slightly short in the finish and not as good as the '77s.
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6/7/2014 - sphBacchus Likes this wine: 91 Points
Good drinking but not quite the same depth as the '63 Fonseca consumed recently
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5/1/2014 - acidqueen wrote: 93 Points
good medium red color. No evident alcohol. Well integrated flavors with dark berry fruit and tobacco. Very nice old bottle, lots of substance while also being smooth and drinkable. Great now, no need to wait longer, but not too old either.
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3/1/2014 - EndreS wrote:
Vintage Port (Fem Bord, Trondheim): Intense and primary, very rich and sweet. Tannins very present in finish. Excellent.
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3/1/2014 - LWI wrote: 93 Points
A Portnight (Fem Bord, Trondheim): Subdued, tobacco, long, fine finish.
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1/9/2014 - dcwino wrote: 92 Points
Belated holiday dinner - Mostly Burg and Bordeaux (Ripple Restaurant in DC): From a half bottle, this is more tertiary but slightly lacks the fruit. For me who is sensitive to alcohol, seems to show a bit of heat. Prune, dry figs, anise and sweet spices. Good palate. Quite enjoyable. I would say this is fully matured but won't decline anytime soon.
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12/15/2013 - fhmesq wrote: 95 Points
Pasha's 40th Birthday Dinner. Amazing bottle, even better than the prior bottle. Showing no signs of slowing down and only improving. Decanted for about 2.5 hours. Was a little hot initially but heat quickly burned off. Great bouquet, vanilla, cherry. Just tremendous.
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11/28/2013 - sandwich Likes this wine: 92 Points
Drunk at the pre-thanksgiving hardscrabble lake pizza fiesta. This is everything you want a 43 year old port to be. Great bouquet, very smooth, lots of toasty vanilla and plenty of sweetness. Long finish and very enjoyable with many more years left.
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10/27/2013 - bon vivant wrote:
Slight old leak was evident but the fill was still good. Cork slightly wet but still sound. gave his a single decant into a clean bottle and allowed to air out for about 8 hrs. Color turned dark and the aromatics came to life. This is a much sweeter showing than you get in most Dow's and there is a good presence of macerated red cherry fruit. The presence in the mouth is smooth and round without any heat and a complex mix of baking spices coats the palate and leads to a fairly long slightly sweet finish. This seems richer and more complex than this port showed over the last decade, so either i was fortunate to have a great bottle or this has entered a prime drinking spot -perhaps both. Excellent.
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9/9/2013 - Jeremy Holmes wrote:
Amply fruited with clean spirit and a full rich palate. There’s a hint of liquorice, chocolate, dried fig and spice to the flavour profile and it finishes clean and dry.
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12/31/2012 - MusignyBlanc wrote: 92 Points
London negotiant bottled (Berry Bros. photo uploaded).
Decanted for four hours with quite a bit of sediment left in the bottle. Darker ruby red in color. Full-bodied and rich wine with plummy spice and medium complexity. Some alcohol still on the finish.
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12/1/2012 - Blake Brown Does not like this wine: 69 Points
Lots of heat from increased alcohol dominance; not very good.
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12/31/2011 - Zinfandel Joe wrote: 95 Points
The wine is "travelling well". Cork crumbled when opening. Drank well after decanting for 30 minutes. Smooth and well balanced. Nice spice.
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11/5/2011 - Siggy wrote: 93 Points
40th Birthday Bash (Heidi's, Minneapolis): A surprise bottle courtesy of my friends Anne and Neil, who had been saving this wine (from Neil's birth year) for 15 years. Lovely ruby/tan color; beautifully layered flavors of figs, red plums, nut skins, and raisins. Lovely balance; a long, rich finish. A fine, elegant Port and a real treat to taste.
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11/5/2011 - Dave Dalluge wrote: 94 Points
Siggy Turns Forty!!!: I only had a quick taste of this too and then gave my pour away (as I was still preoccupied with the Cheval Blanc). Very light rusty-red color. Ethereal nose. Desiree thought it smelled like cognac; I thought it had more red fruit aromas. Either way it was stunning. Equally good on the palate. Surprisingly light, but still highly impactful. Great long finish. One of the better ports I can ever remember tasting.
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5/31/2011 - beezer6 wrote: 91 Points
Light tan color with slight salmon/pink hue. Least sediment thrown amongst the ports opened today. Almost none in fact after filtration. Very light in appearance.
Nose of light roast nuts and some butterscotch. Light all spice, subtle savory components. Light and playful. Most easy drinking of the bunch.
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3/19/2011 - mdefreitas wrote: 93 Points
Dow Vintage Port Vertical (Harry's Steak House, NYC): Decanted for four hours. Fantastic nose of dried flowers and spice. Ethereal, lovely balance. Complete wine, ready to go. A hint of tobacco creeps in. Complex and delicious.
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3/6/2011 - EducatedDrunk wrote: 90 Points
Cork was fine, lovely pale colour. Good level of sweetness, fair degree of complexity. Pleasant but not a blockbuster.
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2/26/2011 - EducatedDrunk wrote: 90 Points
Any Port in a storm (Chris Lipperts): Cork was fine, lovely pale colour. Good level of sweetness, fair degree of complexity, nice nutty tones. Pleasant but not a blockbuster.
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12/30/2010 - ParkHill wrote: 92 Points
Sweet and wonderful. Caramel and mince-meat pie.
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12/27/2010 - Robert_Lyle wrote: 92 Points
Excellent
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12/10/2010 - rbfleming wrote: 95 Points
Nutty, pale, mature, smooth, clean. Frittatas, friends, Friday.
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12/4/2010 - zscheiner Likes this wine: 90 Points
K&L Sherry, Madeira & Port Tasting (K&L Redwood City): Really nice, with a good balance and mouthfeel, but a bit too much heat on the nose and the finish. Maybe more time in the decanter was called for.
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12/4/2010 - aagrawal wrote: 94 Points
K&L Sherry, Madeira, and Port Tasting (K&L, San Francisco): Nose of floral, some fruit. More wine-like than the tawnies that preceded it. Palate has noticeable freshness, complexity hits at the end with time in the mouth. Some varied nuts. Excellent quality.
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11/19/2010 - Wrighty wrote: 93 Points
My 40th dinner celebrations (Crown Wine Cellars (Hong Kong)): A little lost at the end but was drinking beautifully. Mellowed since last; still lovely balance.
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11/16/2010 - Jeremy Holmes wrote:
Very weird wine that shows a tails spirit character with fusel oil smells. There are floral/algal bloom smells and the fruit is sweet and juby. Something was definitely not right with this bott…
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11/14/2010 - MLD70 wrote: 90 Points
I also noted both the generally strong alcohol component to the wine, as well as the otherwise enjoyable mature port. Not in the same league as some of the other 70's, but still a fine wine.
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9/17/2010 - Paul S wrote: 90 Points
Tok Hong's 40th (Infuzi, Biopolis): Pretty good, but a bit disappointing for what it is. There was plenty of alcohol on the nose at first, so that the otherwise pleasant raisin scents took on a distinct rum and raisin character. With time, the alcohol mellowed somewhat and some violets emerged, along with savoury sweet figs, plum and red cherry notes. Rather high toned and quite vibrant. The palate was rich and thick, with more of the alcohol on the attack, chased by more rum and raisin flavours, dark cherries, lots of molasses, and reams of spice and floaty smoke notes on the finish. I expected more though - it just seemed a little narrow on the palate, and the alcochol more or less hulked over the rest of the wine. Thankfully, time in the decanter and more time in the glass helped somewhat. The acid came out, the wine became more rounded, more luscious, it took on some savoury port-wood notes and genreally became a whole lot more pleasant. Still though, I would expect more from a Dow of this age.
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5/26/2010 - acheng wrote: 90 Points
The cork was so dry it would not come out. Took a while to finally extract. Sweet, molasse, nutty and long. Improves after 3 days. Not quite the Taylor we had last year but very pleasurable.
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5/17/2010 - BradE wrote:
Classic and classy. Fruit was pure and sweet.
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5/16/2010 - ecnemergut wrote: 85 Points
Decanted for 4 hours and consumed over two nights, stored at cellar temperature between each night. More tawny in color than I expected. Nice nose of dusty cherry and subtle spice. Less full on the palate than I expected. A good long finish with pleasant cherry-chocolate sweetness. A seemingly very "mature" port from 1970. Still great, but perhaps just past peak.
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4/16/2010 - sakemakibug wrote: flawed
Artie Bucco'ed
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12/1/2009 - Employee500 wrote: 89 Points
Perfectly serviceable port, but I don't see any cause to get excited...
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12/1/2009 - wineismylife wrote: 92 Points
Dallas - A little hootch and some tender viddles on a Monday night (Dali Wine Bar, Dallas, TX): WIML92-93
Tasted December 1, 2009 at an offline.
Garnet color in the glass, slightly opaque looking. Nose of anise, berries, currants and white pepper. Flavors of licorice, golden raisins, currants and plums. Medium acidity, medium to full bodied. Drink or hold.
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6/14/2009 - Phin wrote: 95 Points
Wax capsule, perfect cork. Decanted 1-1/2 hours. Initial nose of alcohol blew off after 2 hours. Rich plum and spicy dark fruit. Dark and tastes only middle aged, not close to old. Awesome.
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4/28/2009 - ronnieroots wrote: 96 Points
Last week, we drank the second bottle of a duo we bought for the above mentioned BBR offline. This bottle was equally good. Prime drinking now, but there's no need to hurry as it will go a long way. What a wonderful port. Neither LadyR nor I made any notes, but we agreed it was around 95-96 points. We also agreed we need more.
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10/17/2008 - Wrighty wrote: 95 Points
Dinner to celebrate the arrival of my wines in HK (Crown Wine Cellars): Some mild nuts, dates, molasses. Beautiful balance. A beautiful wine that has still got a lot of time left.
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5/31/2008 - ecnemergut wrote: 83 Points
Cork was removed and found to be intact but completely soaked (although there was no obvious seepage), so I wonder if wine was "slightly" oxidized. Regardless, decanted about 3 hours. Nice plum and raisin nose. Very, very smooth on the palate but with fairly "empty" without much fruit or complexity. Some subtle bitterness on the finish. Perhaps a bad bottle...
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1/13/2008 - BradE wrote:
A good, albeit not great, port. A touch fruity, with a lot of young vigor and not as much complexity. However, will continue drinking it with pleasure.
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1/5/2008 - redders wrote: 95 Points
still dark colour, gorgeous rich fig and fruit cake nose, restrained power on palate, fruit and flavour blossom on midpalate and terrific length. Top port and kept its vigour on the second day.
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2/13/2007 - fhmesq wrote: 93 Points
Fantastic. Really nice berry and cherry flavors. I didn't find the heat that others have. I let it breath for about 4 hours and then decanted for about 3. A really wonderful bottle and top 2 favorite ports that I have tried. Not showing any signs of slowing down either.
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1/27/2007 - FtrPlt wrote: 93 Points
double chocolate with rasberries. very heavy out of the bottle
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1/2/2007 - wabi47 wrote: 91 Points
wonderful nut and creme brulee flavors, diminished only by finishing heat
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12/29/2006 - futronic wrote: 90 Points
TWC Otisabdul Offline (Provence Delices, Toronto, Canada): Ruddy/ruby red colour. Aromas of orange rind and raisins. Medium-full bodied, with raisin and cinnamon notes. Moderate-long finish, ~40s, with spice and dark fruit.
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9/1/2006 - Wrighty wrote: 95 Points
Mark's 40th Port Dinner (Crown Wine Cellars, Hong Kong): Red [wine] colour with a little bricking just showing. Hints of strawberries and cherries on the nose with the alcohol only showing at the end. Dried dates and spice on palate with liquorice showing after 3 hours. Long rich finish. Could have been 96 but seemed to fade a little to the end of the evening.
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12/11/2005 - kris.h wrote: 93 Points
SWS Port Tasting (Seattle, WA): Garnet red with good concentration of color. The nose was not very intense but had notes of sweet raisins and plums. Smooth on the palate with medium weight and a little heat. Long finish with hints of dried cherries and licorish.
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10/29/2005 - Rieslingfan wrote: 98 Points
Great Port. Still tons of sweet fruit, but resolved (or buried) tannins. Absolutely delicious. My wine of 2005.
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9/20/2005 - Russell Faulkner wrote:
Very enjoyable, smooth sily attack, layers of mixed spice, and dried fig on palate, excellent.
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9/20/2005 - Rani wrote: 92 Points
The real Jeff Erhardt / Mahaffy offline (Rôtisserie Jules, London): Very ripe sweet plums, dark cherries and dates on the nose. Beautifully delineated on the palate, very precise with just the right amount of spice, a nutty quality and velvety texture. Slighlty hot on the finish, but otherwise a great Port.
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4/18/2004 - ScottG wrote: 95 Points
Dark, rich red color. Like an aging hollywood starlet, you wouldn't know how old this was just by looking at it. Pungent creamy fruit, this has so much life left with layers and layers of flavor. Vanilla, Cigar box, toffee, cherry, chocolate. Really needs more time though. 95+
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4/18/2004 - Eric wrote: 90 Points
Seattle Tasting Group does Italians and six decades of Porto hosted by Roy Hersh (Bellevue, WA, USA): This is very youthful in color with a deep purple core. On the nose there is a hint of grapiness and mint, yet I found the aromatics to be somewhat reticent. On the youthful palate there is a refreshing blast of wintergreen, but I found the wine to show a fair bit of spirit. The structure is impressive. Others really liked this wine a lot, but I found it to be a tough comparison to the earlier, more mature ports in the flight.
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2/20/2002 - Burgundy Al wrote: 93 Points
At its peak with lots of power, concentration and finesse. Note, I finished this approx two weeks after initially opened (vacuum sealed each time) and it barely lost anything from when first tasted.
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