Dow's Quinta do Bomfirm Vintage Port is a magnificent and complex fortified wine that has been produced exclusively from the finest grapes grown in the company's vineyard located in the heart of Portugal's Douro Valley.

Quinta do Bomfim 2006 Vintage Port shows a lovely bouquet of red fruits and spicy aromas and the palate is full of jammy red fruit and notes of spices, mint and chocolate.They will usually mature a little earlier than the very rare declared years, but can be every bit as good as some other Vintage Ports. The current generation’s great grandfather, Andrew James Symington, took ownership of the Quinta in 1912 when he became a shareholder in Dow's, which had originally acquired the property in 1890. Dow’s Port is one of the most famous names in the Port trade and today is owned and managed by the fifth generation of the Symington family. The weather in the vineyards is the principal determining factor: conditions must be ideal throughout the growing season, as well as during the subsequent harvest.

The earliest harvest on record in 2017 followed a growing season of drought and high temperatures, the resultant wines being very concentrated with good structure resulting in the first back-to-back declaration with 2016 for many years. The very high percentage of Touriga Franca and Touriga Nacional planted on the estate result in the powerful aromas of mint and violets in the finest Ports from Bomfim. The vibrant purple colour of a great young Port has softened to a delicate green-gold after 20 long years in seasoned oak casks under the watchful eye of the master blender and the Dow’s head lodge man.At any one time only 6 or 7 casks in the ancient cellars of Dow’s in Vila Nova de Gaia are available to be bottled for this very rare and fine Port, the remaining barrels of Port in cask are on the long and slow journey to reach this pinnacle of the Port tasters art. The concentrated wines of 1991 are still for keeping, though Ports from the lighter houses are just beginning to emerge. The Millennium vintage of 2000 was wonderfully rich and ripe, approachable in style but worth keeping. Three innovative robotic lagares have now been installed at the winery, and Vintage Port is made there in non-declared years and released en primeur.

A useful resource for hunting down that rare bottle or a birthday-year wine for a loved one’s special day. Dow’s is one of the legendary estates in Portugal, and for us their Bomfim is the most accessible single Quinta vintage Port, and offers a wonderful feminine note whilst also having the ability to age for a very long time. The nose is just beginning to evolve into musky, dried plum and raisin aromas with whiffs of tree bark, nutmeg, cumin and cloves.Full-bodied and wonderfully sweet, with intense aromas of raisin, raspberry and cherry and a long, long finish.