DOW Port : Poetry On Scenic Upper Douro Written In A Bottle
Dow Port : Poetry Of Scenic Upper Douro Valley In A Bottle
Until late 19th century, the upper reaches of the Douro Valley of Portugal were a treacherous place to visit. The place was very beautiful but remote. It took days to get there by land from Porto, and the boat trip was hardly inviting as it involved negotiating perilous white-water rapids. In 1881, work began on a single track railway line that stretched from Porto towards the Spanish border, this track passes through two dozen tunnels and even more bridges, and also passes through a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Among all the Vineyards and wineries in the region DOW has a special place. Getting there is now much more easy , thanks to new roads, and the fact that boats now have a much smoother passage, but best way to travel from Porto is along the magnificent railway line.
The train takes you as far as Pocinho, a tiny village in the Upper Douro, and it still feels as if you are travelling into the back of beyond. The journey is probably the best in the world, passes through the ravishingly beautiful scenic area snaking along the meandering river, for much of the route. Set out from São Bento station, whose walls are covered with thousands of blue-and-white glazed ceramic tiles that tell the story of Portugal’s battles and countryside in pictures.
The track finally reaches the heart of the Douro’s wine country, running very close to the river from which steep schist cliffs rise abruptly into the sky. The vineyards criss-cross this landscape like contour lines, sometimes on terraces skirted with hand-built stone walls, sometimes on machine. It’s a fantastic way to see the Douro.
For over two centuries the name of DOW has been associated with the finest Port from the vineyards of the Upper Douro Valley. Throughout the 20th Century and into the 21st, the Symington family has built on the legacy of the preceding Silva and Dow families.
Andrew James Symington, a Scotsman, travelled to Oporto in 1882 at the age of 18 to work for the Grahams, another Scottish family long established in Portugal. Not long after, ‘AJS’ left to work on his own in the Port trade, where he gradually built up a reputation as an expert taster. In 1894 he conducted the famous Burnay Port sale on behalf of the Portuguese Government. By 1905 he had become a partner in Warre & Co, the first and oldest British Port company established in Portugal, and in a few years he became the company’s sole owner.
Curiously, at this time the Warre family, who were the principal owners of Dow’s, had no remaining interest in the company that bore its name. In 1912, Dow’s senior partner, George A. Warre decided to return to England and invited AJS to manage the Douro Valley vineyards of Dow, its lodges and stocks in Gaia.
The successful partnership between the Symingtons as Port producers in the Douro and Gaia and the Warre’s in London looking after sales, lasted for half a century until 1961 when the Symingtons finally became the sole owners of Dow’s. Generations of Symington winemakers have worked at the Dow’s vineyards: Quinta do Bomfim and Quinta da Senhora da Ribeira, creating from them Dow’s superbly concentrated wines that are intense and tannic when young, maturing towards a superlative racy elegance with age and scented with violet and mint aromas. Dow’s attractive and distinctive drier finish is the recognisable hallmark of the wines from this great Port house.
The story of Dow’s is unusual amongst all the great Port houses. It began in 1798 when Bruno da Silva, a Portuguese merchant from Oporto, made a journey which was the opposite to that of the first British merchants. Bruno set up in London from where he imported wine from his native country. He married an Englishwoman and was rapidly assimilated into London society where his business acumen led to a fine reputation for his wines. But the outbreak of the Napoleonic wars put his business in jeopardy. Undaunted, Bruno da Silva applied for ‘letters of marque’ (Royal Assent to equip a merchant ship with guns) to secure safe passage of his Port from Oporto to Bristol and to London. His became the first and only Port company to transport its precious cargo of casks of fine Ports under its own armed protection across the treacherous Bay of Biscay, a strong dissuasion to attack during a period when less audacious companies saw their sales dwindle away!
One of the Douro Valley’s finest vineyards, Bomfim is the heart of the company’s greatest Ports, having provided the main structure for Dow’s Vintages since it was acquired in 1896. The property is situated in the centre of the best wine-producing area, known as the ‘Cima Corgo’, which offers an ideal balance between the relatively wet ‘Baixo Corgo’ to the west with excessively rich soils for the production of great Port and the intense heat of the ‘Douro Superior’ to the east. The area was well known to Dow’s as prior to purchasing Bomfim; the firm had traditionally purchased the production of some of the finest quintas in the vicinity.
Bomfim is a classic ‘River Quinta’ with many natural advantages: it is south-facing ensuring ample exposure to the sun; its stony schist soil affords excellent drainage allowing water to reach the vines’ deep roots; the annual rainfall is near perfect at 800mm ; the altitude ranges from 120 to 340 metres above sea level, accommodating both gentle gradients lower down and progressively steeper slopes higher up the valley side, as well as offering a variety
One of the classic River Quintas of the Douro and one of its most beautiful vineyards, Senhora da Ribeira is located 24km (15 miles) upriver from Quinta do Bomfim, a relatively short distance that belies the distinctive characteristics of each property.
Quinta da Senhora da Ribeira is set in the remote, hot and dry Douro Superior and commands a magnificent north bank position, overlooking a broad sweep of the Douro, directly opposite another Symington family-owned vineyard: Quinta do Vesuvio. The quinta was built close to an ancient and strategic river crossing, guarded by two 12th century hilltop castles, either side of the Douro. A small chapel dedicated to the ‘Lady of the River’ literally: Senhora da Ribeira, has stood here for centuries and gave the quinta its name. Travellers would make a pause to pray for a safe river passage and onward journey.
Senhora da Ribeira’s wines are some of the finest in the Douro and they complement those from Bomfim in the composition of Dow’s classic Vintage Ports. The latter would be incomplete if one of the two was absent. The quinta’s high proportion of old vines , 45% are over 25 years old, is of critical importance. The old vines are very low-yielding, producing on average less than one kilogram of grapes each, giving intense and concentrated musts which are ideal for classic Vintage Port.
This grape variety - very important for Vintage Port - now represents almost exactly a third of the total planted at the quinta.
As with Bomfim, the consistency of the climate plays a key role, although the rainfall is only half of that experienced at Bomfim: 448mm . This more extreme climate, hot dry summers and cold, equally dry winters results in wines which has unique depth of colour and complexity.
Senhora da Ribeira has one of the most advanced specialist wineries in the Upper Douro, combining the best of traditional winemaking practice, evolved over centuries, and the latest state-of-the-art automated systems. Seven granite ‘lagares’ for foot treading are now complemented by three ‘robotic’ lagares, designed by the Symington family and installed in the quinta’s winery in 2001.
It has long been recognised that traditional treading produced some of the finest Ports, but there are some drawbacks involved in traditional treading; temperature control is difficult, there is a limit to how long people are willing to tread and they need to sleep.
The winemaker’s options are therefore limited, he cannot order treading at different times through the night, or pull people off the picking team at will. Furthermore, emptying the traditional lagar takes a long time; in the meantime the fermentation process is accelerating away. A further handicap arose over recent years, when an increasing scarcity of labour obliged the Symington family and other producers to look into less labour-intensive vinification solutions. The Symingtons opted to devise a mechanical means of replicating the proven method of foot treading.
The result was the Symington ‘robotic lagar’, a fully automated treading machine which has revolutionised winemaking in the Douro Valley. They are very expensive but the results have been so good that an increasing proportion of Dow’s finest wines are now made in the robotic lagares.
Both these vineyards are privately owned by members of the Symington family who work in Dow’s. They are located quite close to Senhora da Ribeira, producing outstanding fruit which is very much in the same style as that of the main Dow vineyard. All three quintas are clearly visible from each other. The grapes from these two properties are vinified at Senhora da Ribeira’s winery and produce some of Dow’s very best Ports.
As with Senhora da Ribeira, Santinho and Cerdeira benefit from a south-facing aspect and also share the same climatic profile. Between them, these two vineyards have a total of 18 hectares under vine, planted primarily with the Touriga Franca and the Tinta Roriz varieties. The Touriga Franca is a natural choice owing to the supreme quality of its fruit and aromatic properties and also because of its ability to thrive in a dry environment. Santinho and Cerdeira are both A-rated vineyards and in exceptional years they contribute to Dow’s classic Vintage Port.
An excellent tour and port tasting experience. Maybe not as spectacular as some of the tastings in Porto itself but worth the train ride or drive out to Pinhao to partake in.
A day long tour takes one through the process of making the wines and ports for Dow
What a lovely place to visit! The young staff is very friendly and ready to answer any question.
Address: Travessa Barao de Forrester, Apartado 14
Vila Nova de Gaia, 4401-997
Until late 19th century, the upper reaches of the Douro Valley of Portugal were a treacherous place to visit. The place was very beautiful but remote. It took days to get there by land from Porto, and the boat trip was hardly inviting as it involved negotiating perilous white-water rapids. In 1881, work began on a single track railway line that stretched from Porto towards the Spanish border, this track passes through two dozen tunnels and even more bridges, and also passes through a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Among all the Vineyards and wineries in the region DOW has a special place. Getting there is now much more easy , thanks to new roads, and the fact that boats now have a much smoother passage, but best way to travel from Porto is along the magnificent railway line.
The train takes you as far as Pocinho, a tiny village in the Upper Douro, and it still feels as if you are travelling into the back of beyond. The journey is probably the best in the world, passes through the ravishingly beautiful scenic area snaking along the meandering river, for much of the route. Set out from São Bento station, whose walls are covered with thousands of blue-and-white glazed ceramic tiles that tell the story of Portugal’s battles and countryside in pictures.
The track finally reaches the heart of the Douro’s wine country, running very close to the river from which steep schist cliffs rise abruptly into the sky. The vineyards criss-cross this landscape like contour lines, sometimes on terraces skirted with hand-built stone walls, sometimes on machine. It’s a fantastic way to see the Douro.
For over two centuries the name of DOW has been associated with the finest Port from the vineyards of the Upper Douro Valley. Throughout the 20th Century and into the 21st, the Symington family has built on the legacy of the preceding Silva and Dow families.
Andrew James Symington, a Scotsman, travelled to Oporto in 1882 at the age of 18 to work for the Grahams, another Scottish family long established in Portugal. Not long after, ‘AJS’ left to work on his own in the Port trade, where he gradually built up a reputation as an expert taster. In 1894 he conducted the famous Burnay Port sale on behalf of the Portuguese Government. By 1905 he had become a partner in Warre & Co, the first and oldest British Port company established in Portugal, and in a few years he became the company’s sole owner.
Curiously, at this time the Warre family, who were the principal owners of Dow’s, had no remaining interest in the company that bore its name. In 1912, Dow’s senior partner, George A. Warre decided to return to England and invited AJS to manage the Douro Valley vineyards of Dow, its lodges and stocks in Gaia.
The successful partnership between the Symingtons as Port producers in the Douro and Gaia and the Warre’s in London looking after sales, lasted for half a century until 1961 when the Symingtons finally became the sole owners of Dow’s. Generations of Symington winemakers have worked at the Dow’s vineyards: Quinta do Bomfim and Quinta da Senhora da Ribeira, creating from them Dow’s superbly concentrated wines that are intense and tannic when young, maturing towards a superlative racy elegance with age and scented with violet and mint aromas. Dow’s attractive and distinctive drier finish is the recognisable hallmark of the wines from this great Port house.
The story of Dow’s is unusual amongst all the great Port houses. It began in 1798 when Bruno da Silva, a Portuguese merchant from Oporto, made a journey which was the opposite to that of the first British merchants. Bruno set up in London from where he imported wine from his native country. He married an Englishwoman and was rapidly assimilated into London society where his business acumen led to a fine reputation for his wines. But the outbreak of the Napoleonic wars put his business in jeopardy. Undaunted, Bruno da Silva applied for ‘letters of marque’ (Royal Assent to equip a merchant ship with guns) to secure safe passage of his Port from Oporto to Bristol and to London. His became the first and only Port company to transport its precious cargo of casks of fine Ports under its own armed protection across the treacherous Bay of Biscay, a strong dissuasion to attack during a period when less audacious companies saw their sales dwindle away!
One of the Douro Valley’s finest vineyards, Bomfim is the heart of the company’s greatest Ports, having provided the main structure for Dow’s Vintages since it was acquired in 1896. The property is situated in the centre of the best wine-producing area, known as the ‘Cima Corgo’, which offers an ideal balance between the relatively wet ‘Baixo Corgo’ to the west with excessively rich soils for the production of great Port and the intense heat of the ‘Douro Superior’ to the east. The area was well known to Dow’s as prior to purchasing Bomfim; the firm had traditionally purchased the production of some of the finest quintas in the vicinity.
Bomfim is a classic ‘River Quinta’ with many natural advantages: it is south-facing ensuring ample exposure to the sun; its stony schist soil affords excellent drainage allowing water to reach the vines’ deep roots; the annual rainfall is near perfect at 800mm ; the altitude ranges from 120 to 340 metres above sea level, accommodating both gentle gradients lower down and progressively steeper slopes higher up the valley side, as well as offering a variety
One of the classic River Quintas of the Douro and one of its most beautiful vineyards, Senhora da Ribeira is located 24km (15 miles) upriver from Quinta do Bomfim, a relatively short distance that belies the distinctive characteristics of each property.
Quinta da Senhora da Ribeira is set in the remote, hot and dry Douro Superior and commands a magnificent north bank position, overlooking a broad sweep of the Douro, directly opposite another Symington family-owned vineyard: Quinta do Vesuvio. The quinta was built close to an ancient and strategic river crossing, guarded by two 12th century hilltop castles, either side of the Douro. A small chapel dedicated to the ‘Lady of the River’ literally: Senhora da Ribeira, has stood here for centuries and gave the quinta its name. Travellers would make a pause to pray for a safe river passage and onward journey.
Senhora da Ribeira’s wines are some of the finest in the Douro and they complement those from Bomfim in the composition of Dow’s classic Vintage Ports. The latter would be incomplete if one of the two was absent. The quinta’s high proportion of old vines , 45% are over 25 years old, is of critical importance. The old vines are very low-yielding, producing on average less than one kilogram of grapes each, giving intense and concentrated musts which are ideal for classic Vintage Port.
This grape variety - very important for Vintage Port - now represents almost exactly a third of the total planted at the quinta.
As with Bomfim, the consistency of the climate plays a key role, although the rainfall is only half of that experienced at Bomfim: 448mm . This more extreme climate, hot dry summers and cold, equally dry winters results in wines which has unique depth of colour and complexity.
Senhora da Ribeira has one of the most advanced specialist wineries in the Upper Douro, combining the best of traditional winemaking practice, evolved over centuries, and the latest state-of-the-art automated systems. Seven granite ‘lagares’ for foot treading are now complemented by three ‘robotic’ lagares, designed by the Symington family and installed in the quinta’s winery in 2001.
It has long been recognised that traditional treading produced some of the finest Ports, but there are some drawbacks involved in traditional treading; temperature control is difficult, there is a limit to how long people are willing to tread and they need to sleep.
The winemaker’s options are therefore limited, he cannot order treading at different times through the night, or pull people off the picking team at will. Furthermore, emptying the traditional lagar takes a long time; in the meantime the fermentation process is accelerating away. A further handicap arose over recent years, when an increasing scarcity of labour obliged the Symington family and other producers to look into less labour-intensive vinification solutions. The Symingtons opted to devise a mechanical means of replicating the proven method of foot treading.
The result was the Symington ‘robotic lagar’, a fully automated treading machine which has revolutionised winemaking in the Douro Valley. They are very expensive but the results have been so good that an increasing proportion of Dow’s finest wines are now made in the robotic lagares.
Both these vineyards are privately owned by members of the Symington family who work in Dow’s. They are located quite close to Senhora da Ribeira, producing outstanding fruit which is very much in the same style as that of the main Dow vineyard. All three quintas are clearly visible from each other. The grapes from these two properties are vinified at Senhora da Ribeira’s winery and produce some of Dow’s very best Ports.
As with Senhora da Ribeira, Santinho and Cerdeira benefit from a south-facing aspect and also share the same climatic profile. Between them, these two vineyards have a total of 18 hectares under vine, planted primarily with the Touriga Franca and the Tinta Roriz varieties. The Touriga Franca is a natural choice owing to the supreme quality of its fruit and aromatic properties and also because of its ability to thrive in a dry environment. Santinho and Cerdeira are both A-rated vineyards and in exceptional years they contribute to Dow’s classic Vintage Port.
An excellent tour and port tasting experience. Maybe not as spectacular as some of the tastings in Porto itself but worth the train ride or drive out to Pinhao to partake in.
A day long tour takes one through the process of making the wines and ports for Dow
What a lovely place to visit! The young staff is very friendly and ready to answer any question.
Address: Travessa Barao de Forrester, Apartado 14
Vila Nova de Gaia, 4401-997
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