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Dow’s Late Bottled Vintage Port (Dow’s LBV Port) is a style of Port designed to be ready for drinking upon release. This vibrant, fruity wine bursts with blackcurrant, liquorice, mint and peppery spice, offering a full-bodied yet approachable experience. The 2020 vintage is fuller with more generous fruit than is typical for Dow, reflecting the year’s hotter profile.
Dow’s LBV Port is aged for 4 to 6 years in oak before it is bottled, making it more accessible than Vintage Ports while retaining structure. It’s lightly filtered, so no decanting is required, and this easy-drinking Port has won more awards than any other LBV. It is released in both declared vintage and non-vintage years.
Grapes are hand-harvested from premium Dow’s-owned vineyards, primarily Quinta do Bomfim and Quinta da Senhora da Ribeira in the Douro Valley. It uses a traditional field blend of varieties such as Touriga Franca, Touriga Nacional, Sousão, Tinta Barroca, and Tinta Roriz, sourced from a single vintage year chosen for high quality.
Dow’s Port is one of the most famous names in the Port trade and is owned and managed by the fourth generation of the Symington family. The family, whose experience spans over 100 years, oversees all aspects of the vineyards, winemaking, and ageing of this wine. Dows acquired Quinta Senhora da Ribeira and Quinta do Bomfim in 1890 and 1896, respectively, which made it one of the first Port firms to invest in its own premium vineyards. They are widely regarded as one of the very best Port producers.
The Dow’s Port style is always full-bodied, a little drier with more peppery and spicy notes than some other Port houses (like Grahams or Taylors, for example) because they allow their wines to ferment a little longer than most.
Dow’s LBV has enticing aromas of blackcurrant and blackberry with undertones of black chocolate which are followed by secondary notes of rock rose, a Douro wildflower, and forest elements suggesting pine needles and a hint of resin and eucalyptus. Typical Dow peppery tannins on the palate go hand in hand with a schist, earthy character lifted by mineral-like freshness.
Dows LBV is great on its own, but it also works with dark chocolate desserts or cheeses such as Cheddar, Stilton or Manchego.
Also great with a Cuban Cigar like a Romeo y Julieta No 2.
Late Bottled Port is a style of Port that falls somewhere between younger, fruitier Ruby styles and wood-aged Single Quinta or Vintage Ports.
It is a Port from a single vintage that must be aged for between four and six years in oak casks, before being bottled and released (compared to two years in oak, followed by bottle ageing for Vintage Port).
This extended oak ageing period helps to soften the wine and speeds up the maturation process so the Port is much more drinkable at an early age compared with a Vintage or Single Quinta Port. LBVs can be bottled both filtered and unfiltered.
No. Dows Late Bottled Vintage Port is lightly fined, i.e. filtered, before bottling and will therefore not require decanting before serving.
What is the alcohol content of Dow’s LBV?
It can vary between vintages, but it is typically 20% ABV (alcohol by volume), which is fairly standard for Ports like this.
What is the best serving temperature for Dow’s LBV?
It is best served slightly cool at 12–16°C, which helps to highlight the wine’s vibrant fruit, spice and freshness.
Once opened, if you keep the Port somewhere cool and dark, it will keep well for 6 to 8 weeks.
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