Quinta da Senhora da Ribeira was originally acquired by Dow’s in 1890. Since then, Senhora da Ribeira has been a fundamental component of Dow’s Vintage Ports. The property is situated in the Douro Superior, the most easterly and hottest and driest sub region of the Douro valley. The vineyard aspect is south. The Senhora da Ribeira wines are made at the property’s specialist winery where the grapes are trodden and fermented in modern lagares.

The very hot climate through the summer at this vineyard results in highly complex and concentrated wines but very low yields. Colors of the musts in the fermentation tanks are always purple-black due to the very high skin to juice ratio. The old vines add further to the intensity of the wine as they make up a very large percentage of the vineyard. The resulting wine can be described as being the essence of Vintage Port, with powerful wild red-fruit flavours, leading into rich black chocolate notes, the whole balanced by complex, attractive and peppery tannins.